Veg. food in Supermarkets

Yugo

Very occasionally we take a trip to Newry from Dublin every once in a while. The Sainsbury's there has a much, much wider selection of lovely veg food. especially frozen, than we get in our supermarkets. Why is this ? I can't imagine Northern Ireland is a rampant hot bed of vegetarianism! It must be the supply chain coming from the UK, but ever sensing a conspiracy, is there some other reason for it??!

It's a great idea to have a veg forum as long as it doesn’t become a sandlefest.

A couple of parting shots - reading the other threads in the forum:

In my experience - always be wary of dishes in restaurants that are described as the 'Vegetarian' option. This means 'We have cobled some sh!te together scraped from the bottom of the fridge, cooked it for four days, and put cheese on top'. A good restaurant won't label a vegetarian dish as simply 'vegetarian'. Good 'uns are painfully thin on the ground here though and is it really only 8 veggie restaurants in Dublin ? I went to Juice once a few years ago and I'm still waiting for my main course..

Did you ever wonder about the fact that Humans are the only species that drink the milk of another species? Saw that somewhere and it made me think. That can't be right! Having said that I'm not vegan myself.. I love cheese too much...

Tar.Aldarion

Yugo wrote:

and is it really only 8 veggie restaurants in Dublin ? I went to Juice once a few years ago and I'm still waiting for my main course..

i'm not from dublin,i just found 8 in a quick google.I'm sure there are more.

Stark

Yugo wrote:

Did you ever wonder about the fact that Humans are the only species that drink the milk of another species? Saw that somewhere and it made me think.

I know :eek: And my god, you wouldn't believe the other stuff we get up to that other species don't do :eek:

Yugo

I know And my god, you wouldn't believe the other stuff we get up to that other species don't do

...what, you mean like posting stupid comments on websites?

seamus

Yugo wrote:

I went to Juice once a few years ago and I'm still waiting for my main course..

The UK generally has a better selection of foods, not just veggie ones, if you go into UK supermarkets. I guess this is due to the wider variety of peoples - and if one branch in a chain stocks something, they all tend to.

In Ireland, we're very poor on the uptake for vegetarian food. Go to a restaurant outside of the pale, and you'll be lucky to find more than one "vegetarian" option, which more often than not is a normal dish, like stir-fry, just sans-meat. Go to a Burger King or a McDonalds outside of Dublin FFS and ask for a veggie burger - "Ah no, we don't do dem here bai". Even in Dublin, many chains don't (Dublin Airport's McDonalds only has one vegetarian foodstuff - chips, and even they're cooked in animal fat). Not to say that the fast food chains are good, but given their generally wide appeal, they're usually the first to stock the little things.

embraer170

(Dublin Airport's McDonalds only has one vegetarian foodstuff - chips, and even they're cooked in animal fat).

I don't think that's the case.

However some McDonalds chips do have a beef extract.

plink

embraer170 wrote:

I don't think that's the case.

However some McDonalds chips do have a beef extract.

as far as i know mc d chips are fried in 100% veg oil and are suitable for veggies...thats here
but the US theres beef extract in the fries.

humbleCounty

Stark wrote:

I know :eek: And my god, you wouldn't believe the other stuff we get up to that other species don't do :eek:

yup sex for fun, but thats hardly a bad thing now is it?

Peanut

plink wrote:

as far as i know mc d chips are fried in 100% veg oil and are suitable for veggies...thats here
but the US theres beef extract in the fries.

I thought they sorted all that out after the lawsuit?? :rolleyes: oh well!

Superquinn carry some Sainsburies stuff down here so you can occasionally get good veggie burgers etc., I think it's just the large UK population forces the wider choice though, in fairness Tesco, M&S etc. are very good with labelling stuff as vegetarian or not.

(Also there's a nice veggie fast-food place in the upstairs foodcourt of the Castle Court shopping centre in Belfast, I'm still waiting for someone to open something similar in Dublin....yes I may be waiting a while )

Gadgie

Stark wrote:

I know :eek: And my god, you wouldn't believe the other stuff we get up to that other species don't do :eek:

Like playing tennis?

leftofcentre

I am in Belfast, so we get a good selection. Essentially its because all our supermarkets are uk chains, so we get all their usual stock.

The veggie fast food place peanut is on about is called V2go check out their site: http://www.v2go.co.uk it does a lot of quorn stuff. I have not tried it yet, must give it a bash.

I personally find it easy enough to get veggie food in most parts of ireland. There is that whole quality organic food gig going on, just avoid the meat and 2 veg places and you will be fine.

FakePlasticMan

my wife was in McDonalds in Blanchardstown recently and I asked her to pick me up whatever veggie burger they sell..assuming they'd have their version of BK's VeggieBurger..and there sole vegetarian offering was... a Big Mac ..without the meat.. I kid you not..and worse still..they charged the Big Mac price!!

Thankfully I rarely ever darken their door ...

Oh..and in regard to Juice... I've been there several times and it would definitely be one of my favourite restaurants..my wife..who is a meat eater..loves it as well..and we've never had a problem with service..maybe was a bad night..:-)

and as far as I'm aware..it is the only licenced vegetarian restaurant in Dublin City centre ..so yeah..they are thin on the ground!!

leftofcentre

MCdonalds up North do Quorn chicken style burgers, mind you they are pretty minging. Your best fast food bet is the BK Spicy Beanburger, they are not bad.

Doctor Benway

leftofcentre wrote:

MCdonalds up North do Quorn chicken style burgers, mind you they are pretty minging. Your best fast food bet is the BK Spicy Beanburger, they are not bad.

Isn't there some sort of issue around how vegetarian they are? I'm not sure, but they don't have the Vegetarian Society beside those on the menu, while the veggie burgers do.

Also, McDonalds (in the Republic) do have a vegetarian sandwich thing. It's only in the places where they're doing those deli rolls, and they're not very nice.

Just go to a normal chipper and get onion rings and chips instead.

TheBigLebowski

Doctor Benway wrote:

Isn't there some sort of issue around how vegetarian they are? I'm not sure, but they don't have the Vegetarian Society beside those on the menu, while the veggie burgers do.

Also, McDonalds (in the Republic) do have a vegetarian sandwich thing. It's only in the places where they're doing those deli rolls, and they're not very nice.

Just go to a normal chipper and get onion rings and chips instead.

By normal chipper, I take it you mean, the likes of Macari's or Roma or other Italian or 'Traditional' chipper variation. If so, these are certainly not vegetarian as they are soaked and cooked in animal fat (lard) and obviously so are the onion rings and any other fried food you'll get there.

I think there is some kind of issue with the way the beanburgers are cooked i.e. they throw them in the same frier as the chicken burgers ar whatever, whereas the veggie burger is microwaved.

Peanut

TheBigLebowski wrote:

By normal chipper, I take it you mean, the likes of Macari's or Roma or other Italian or 'Traditional' chipper variation. If so, these are certainly not vegetarian as they are soaked and cooked in animal fat (lard) and obviously so are the onion rings and any other fried food you'll get there.

I think there is some kind of issue with the way the beanburgers are cooked i.e. they throw them in the same frier as the chicken burgers ar whatever, whereas the veggie burger is microwaved.

I don't know if they all use animal fat however I would think the chips would be thrown in the same frier oil with the batterburgers etc.

That's right about the beanburgers, they can't guarantee that they will be fried separately, although the ingredients are all veggie. They had a nutritional leaflet before explaining this.

jrey1981

McDonalds used to do a nice veggie burger, but they just do a Quorn rubbish one now...

Burger Kings is a bit too spicy for my liking...Supermacs would be my only option now if I was going to have one anywhere

vibrant

Yugo wrote:

Very occasionally we take a trip to Newry from Dublin every once in a while. The Sainsbury's there has a much, much wider selection of lovely veg food. especially frozen, than we get in our supermarkets.

I noticed that there is a much wider selection of veggie foods in Sainsbury's all right, but I also noticed that they were ridicilously fatty!

I can't remember specific examples now, but the fat grammes on things like vegetable pies and so on were totally off the scale.

For comparison's sake, Tesco sell a little veg pie in their frozen veggie section, and it's got about 60g of fat in it! So that's not too desireable either.

Anyone think much of the Marks and Spencer veggie range (now expanded to an exciting 5 items, or so it feels). I like the kiev things, the rest of the range is very over priced (something like 5 euro for 2 stuffed peppers?!)

Peanut

vibrant wrote:

Anyone think much of the Marks and Spencer veggie range (now expanded to an exciting 5 items, or so it feels). I like the kiev things, the rest of the range is very over priced (something like 5 euro for 2 stuffed peppers?!)

Hmmm yeah they're ok I guess. They used to do the 3 for 2 offer on them, but haven't seen that for a while.

It's good that M&S have a lot of veggie labelled food, but it just doesn't seem very interesting or something, can't quite put my finger on it..
Another thing, I don't like the way all of their pasta is eggy.

Having said that, their cafes are one of the few places I can get a vegetarian sandwich without mayonnaise on it. Why does mayonnaise have to be plastered on every frickin' pre-made sandwich out there? I mean come on...