…and so it begins

I struggled with a name. While I am still uneasy about the regionally of this blog vs. the general nature of the title, Vegetarian Foodie, I can no longer ignore the other side to the vegetarian foodie existence not being covered in the other blogs to my satisfaction: Dinning out with a passion for refined cuisine and an unwillingness to sacrifice excellent food for the sake of vegetarianism. Because, yes I’m a vegetarian, but I’m not a tree hugging salt of the earth hippie. I don’t do yoga, I don’t grow my own food, I don’t want my sandwich on whole wheat, and I am certainly not accustom “not as good” food for the sake of my morals; because I didn’t become a vegetarian to make any statements, I was merely an inquisitive 12 year old to whom it made sense. I am just like anyone else with a refined palate and passion for dining out, but I don’t eat meat, and I refuse to settle for the lame ass “seamed or roasted vegetable” “grilled portabella” “veggie burgers” offered by feeble chefs because they feel they need to make a vegetarian concession – although there are exceptional examples of each of these dishes.

Some people ask me if I think it is fair for a vegetarian to give a bad review to a restaurant that otherwise serves delicious meaty dishes – it depends. The majority of food I eat is not vegetarian, but it does happen to be vegetarian, and this is why I think it is fair for ME to pass judgment. I believe it is impolite to force a chef/restaurant to change a dish to my (or anyone’s) liking and it is unfair to be upset if this dish isn’t good. But if a restaurant chooses, on their own accord, to include meatless dishes on their menu then I consider them fair game. It is a waste of my time and money for a chef that is incapable of cooking vegetarian to offer it – a bad vegetarian dish on a menu is not compassionate, it is greedy.

So, I seek to show you just how good vegetarian dining can be! Or as someone who had known me for years once said “Wait, what! You’re a vegetarian, but your food always looks so good!” Um, yeah, I know!