Catering for Vegetarians

According to recent polls, seven per cent of adults in the UK are vegetarian - and the number is rising. Are you doing all you can to meet the needs of this growing sector of the market?

Catering for vegetarians, or simply offering imaginative meat-free dishes on the menu, is something that concerns some publicans. The chances are that a significant number of your customers would appreciate your making the effort, increasing your trade in the process.

Estimates of the number of vegetarians in the UK vary, probably because it is not an absolute term - it's not uncommon to find people who eat fish, and sometimes even chicken, who describe themselves as vegetarian. However, statistics compiled by the Vegetarian Society based on a number of recent polls and surveys suggest that:

• there are about four million vegetarians in the UK, which is seven per cent of the adult population
• 5,000 people a week in the UK become vegetarian
• 10 million people in the UK no longer eat red meat.

Some people give up meat for health reasons, believing that a vegetarian diet is better for them, others believe that farming animals as food is morally wrong. BSE and the foot-and-mouth outbreak have also had an effect. As a publican planning a menu, whatever your views on the issue, the question is really whether you want to make sure that you are meeting the expectations of this increasingly large section of the market.

The reality is that you are unlikely to be catering for many strict vegetarians in the pub environment (see Drinks box, above right). However, many of your customers, particularly women and younger people according to the statistics, are likely to have made a lifestyle choice to cut down on or cut out meat, especially red meat. They will be looking for a menu which offers positive choices - which normally means more than slipping a veggie burger onto the barbecue or offering an extra big portion of vegetables as a substitute for the roast in a Sunday lunch.

Food labelling​

Since there is no legal definition of "vegetarian", it is a matter for you as to which dishes on your menu you label as suitable for vegetarians. If there is any doubt, for example if a customer feels a description is misleading, it is a matter for local trading standards departments to adjudicate, and to take enforcement action if it is justified.

The Vegetarian Society has established its seedling symbol which can be used to confirm that a dish or product meets the society's standards. As well as awarding the symbol to packaged food products, the society has a Food and Drink Guild which can authorise pubs and other caterers to use the seedling symbol on menus and publicity material. The society has also campaigned for a national, legally enforceable definition of "vegetarian" for use on menus and food packaging. Vegetarian Pub of the Year​

Pubs with an imaginative vegetarian menu are still unusual enough that they can expect to attract customers from a fairly wide catchment area.

"The popularity of vegetarian food has grown over the past few years," said Carol Turner, licensee of the Bird in Hand, a freehouse in Wreningham, near Norwich, Norfolk.

"However, most pubs still offer a couple of vegetarian alternatives to the main menu. You simply can't get away with that any more if you really want to attract vegetarians. People will go a long way to find the type of food they want "

When it comes to knowing what makes a good vegetarian pub menu, Carol's credentials are impeccable - the Bird in Hand was the winner of the Vegetarian Pub of the Year category in the Pub Food Awards 2001. Vegetarian food has been included on the menu since Carol bought the pub 11 years ago, and around 35 per cent of the pub's menu is now vegetarian, rising to 55 per cent if seafood is included.

"We offer a dedicated vegetarian section within our bar menu, as well as providing vegetarian selections in our daily bar specials and on the daily specials board. We ensure our menu offers a choice of vegetarian snack items, starters and main courses, and since both the bar specials and daily specials board are changed daily, we are able to offer a variety of different dishes reflecting whatever fresh seasonal produce is available."

Carol believes that customers' expectations of the types and range of food on offer have increased because people tend to travel abroad more widely. In the case of vegetarians, that means a much wider range of fresh vegetables and sauces.

"There's so much you can do. We make all our dishes ourselves." The pub is fortunate enough to be able to "make extensive use of our chef's flair and creativity, which ensures we maintain our reputation for quality and variety".

Packaged products​

For pubs with limited kitchen space or without the financial resources to employ a professional chef, as the Bird in Hand does, there is still the option to cater for vegetarians with frozen and packaged products available from the leading foodservice companies.

Even if you only offer a basic freezer-to-microwave-or-fryer offer, there is a growing range of vegetarian products available. Chilled and frozen vegetarian versions of pub menu staples such as sausages and burgers, breadcrumb-coated products, pies, cold meats and even mince for hotpot and lasagne are readily available. Packaged foods also enable publicans to easily consider the needs of children as well as adults when offering vegetarian options. Frozen cheese and vegetable products in burger and finger form are easy to cook and serve with children's favourites such as chips and baked beans.

"Vegetarian food is fast becoming more popular with children, particularly since nutrition and healthy eating have become part and parcel of everyday learning at school." says Annie Freel, senior product manager at frozen food specialist McCain.

The Vegetarian Society can provide details of suppliers of vegetarian products, as well as approved suppliers of ingredients to enable you to make your own vegetarian dishes.

Drinks

One reason you may not have seen too many strict vegetarians in your pub is the fact than many alcoholic drinks use animal products somewhere in the production process. For example:

Beer​

Cask-conditioned ales uses isinglass, derived from the swim bladders of tropical fish, as fining to clear material such as yeast from the liquid. Keg beers and lagers also often use isinglass during the pasteurisation process.

Cider​

Most main brands of cider will have been fined using gelatine, which is derived from animal bones and skin.

Spirits​

Some blended whiskies and brandies are aged in sherry casks to improve their flavour, and the sherry may have been fined using animal products. Some vodkas are passed through a bone charcoal filter.

Wine​

As with beer, the fining process for wine often uses animal-derived ingredients such isinglass, gelatin, egg albumen, casein (from milk), chitin (derived from the shells of crabs or lobsters) or, traditionally although thankfully now quite rarely, bull's blood.

Colourants​

The red food colour cochineal (E120) is extracted from insects. It is sometimes used in red wines, soft drinks and speciality spirits.

There are vegetarian alternatives available. Kent family brewer Shepherd Neame's recently launched Whitstable Bay ale is approved by the Vegetarian Society, while London's Freedom Brewery (pictured above) produces vegetarian lagers. ​

The Vegetarian Society or a specialist drinks supplier such as Vintage Roots can advise.

Getting it right​

The Vegetarian Society has issued guidelines to help caterers understand what a vegetarian menu should of