COLUMN October 2022
LIFE & TIMES EDITED BY KATHY CLUGSTON
Kathy Clugston is a freelance radio presenter. She chairs the long-running BBC Radio 4 programme ‘Gardeners’ Question Time’ and presents the weekly entertainment show ‘The Ticket’ on BBC Radio Ulster.
JUSTICE FOR VEGGIES This month, Kathy discusses her frustration at the small portion sizes of veggie dishes on offer at cafés and restaurants. I am no good at complaining. At least not in person. Ask me if I’m happy with a meal or service I am about to pay a decent sum for and despite all evidence to the contrary - the barely touched plate of undercooked food, the wonky fringe, the streaky paint - “YES!” I’ll exclaim, “Lovely! Thank you SO much!” I honestly don’t know what my subconscious thinks would happen if I simply and politely expressed my dissatisfaction, but it just won’t let me. Email is different, though. In putting virtual pen to paper I find myself more articulate and less embarrassed. I did it recently after an evening a quite a fancy fancy restaurant. While my companion feasted on a huge portion of steak, potatoes and veg, I, for about the same price, was served a vegetarian dish of 4 tiny ravioli with a smear of tomato sauce and a few green leaves. “It wouldn’t have filled your tooth”, as our friend Hazel would say. Stomach rumbling, I smiled and thanked and tipped, knowing I’d have to stop off for a curried chip on the way home and composing the email I would later send to the manager with photographic evidence of our disproportionate portions. It is often the plight of the non-meat-eater to be underfed. I’ve been vegetarian for most of my adult life. I can’t remember the exact moment I renounced meat but the BSE crisis in the 1990s was definitely a factor as was somebody explaining to me, in detail, how sausages are made. Becoming veggie was a slightly left-field thing to do back then, often provoking amazement and/or pity, as in the TV sitcom The Royle Family when Nana is introduced to Anthony’s new vegetarian girlfriend and exclaims: “Oh Emma, what a shame for you! Can she have some wafer-thin ham, Barbara?” The best you could hope to find in a restaurant back
then was a margherita pizza or cheese omelette, and if you went on holiday to somewhere like France or Spain, the “vegetarian” dishes contained at best fish, at worst lumps of chicken or bacon. And if you were vegan, well, good luck. But it’s a whole new meat-free ball game now. Plant-based is the new jam. Although only a small minority of us are fully vegetarian or vegan - an estimated 3% of the UK population, 4% in Ireland - look more closely and you’ll see that among the under 20s, that figure is much higher - around 11% in the UK and rising, with concerns about the environment often cited as the main factor. Nearly 15% of UK adults consider themselves ‘flexitarian’ - that is, mainly vegetarian with the occasional bit of meat or fish. When all the major supermarkets start producing meat-free ranges, you know it’s more than a short-lived fad. So what’s my point? Well, it’s more of a plea really to the restaurants, cafés and caterers of Northern Ireland to lavish the increasing number of us who want to eat no or less meat with the same love and attention as you do carnivores. Things have improved and many places now cater brilliantly for a range of dietary needs and preferences, but I am still astonished by the number of restaurants that still have only one vegetarian option. Some don’t even have the decency to make the only soup they serve vegan, which is such an easy thing to do. These places are missing a trick. They’re not just catering for a small
Illustration by Megan Rafferty.
coterie of plant munchers, meat-eaters also enjoy vegetarian and vegan dishes. Many omnivores would happily tuck into a butternut squash tart or a mushroom wellington or a chickpea curry, so why not give everyone more choice? On the subject of quantity, I am a strong, sturdy girl who loves her food, so please do not give me the side dishes of the meat course - i.e. a few potatoes and veg - and call it dinner. I know risotto can be nice, but I do not want to eat another one ever again. I will forgive a stuffed aubergine if there is some protein involved. And if it’s pasta I’d like a proper bowlful please. The fancy restaurant responded to my irate email with a refund and a promise to do better, so I will be going back. With some scales and a tape measure, obviously.
THIS MONTH’S OBSESSIONS: THE REST IS POLITICS – Popular UK podcast by former Labour spin doctor Alistair Campbell and Ex-Tory MP Rory Stewart, who meet in the middle ground to chew over big political stories and answer questions from listeners.
them. Great if you have fifteen minutes to relax/nap. Said to reduce eye strain and other tensions. BLACK BEANS – empty a tin into a pan and heat with garlic, cumin or paprika and salt for a tasty side-dish.
SPACE MASKS – Jasmine-infused eye masks that heat up as you wear 26
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