What Vegetarians Want to Eat

 I’ll admit, I’m writing this at the request of a friend who called me to say, “I’m going to start carrying a peanut-butter sandwich in my purse when I go to the next fancy dinner.  I’m tired of being served a heaping plate of over-cooked vegetables.

“Can you believe I was served 14 spears of asparagus, eight baby carrots, with tops, as if that added anything?  Underneath this layer were several heaping servings of broccoli and zucchini? There were more veggies under those.  I was so disgusted after trying to get through all those spears; I ended up just drinking wine.”

“Do chefs realize that vegetarians want, and need, a protein-filled entrée?”  Are vegetarians served vegetables because chefs, as a group, don’t understand them?  Maybe chefs think they are called vegetarians because they just eat vegetables. For the most part that’s true.  But there are distinctions among vegetarians. My friend doesn’t eat any fish, fowl or flesh.  “Anything with a head,” is how she puts it. She does eat a small amount of eggs and dairy products although she limits them.