Idea for The Villages Restaurants to serve more healthful food; CBV
 

Hi, We were recently in Salt Lake City eating at Oasis, a popular restaurant there. Next to menu items were the letters CBV. Stands to Can Be Vegetarian. This is so helpful for folks who are vegetarian or want to eat some plant based meals. Many dishes can be made vegetarian without much trouble.....usually just eliminating the meat. Here, it's a different story in the County Club restaurants. There are some exceptions like Glenview which serves a delicious veggie burger.
So please, restaurants when you update your menus, remember CBV

Vegetarian doesn't equate with healthier. Overprocessed grain-based and tofu-based "meat analogues" are vegetarian, and are actually really unhealthy to include as a regular part of your diet.

That said, I'd love to see healthier options. Not merely vegetarian or vegan, but good quality meatless options. A GOOD hummus. Salads with home-made non-ranch (seriously what is the southern obsession with ranch dressing, BLECH) dressings. Pizzas with home-made sauce, and less cheese. Sauteed string beans with olive oil and garlic. More eggplant dishes (I wouldn't eat them but many people love that stuff and we need more of it). More balsamic glaze and less hollandaise sauce. More fresh, not thawed, Florida fish with fresh lemon juice and fresh dill instead of fatty creamy Sysco lemon sauce. Pan-cooked chicken in sauteed veggies instead of deep-fried breaded chicken. More whole-grain breads plus rye and sourdough breads for those looking to reduce wheat but not needing to eliminate it.

Pizza with less cheese. I'll vote for that. Most places put so much cheese on pizza, that I stopped buying it.

If vegetarian options were profitable, there would be both more vegetarian options and vegetarian restaurants. Since they are not, there is not.

The world will not conform to you, you must confirm to it.

The problem is they are so often uninspired. Hence, OBB's post.
Make them GOOD, make them interesting.....and they will come. ;o)

Many places around the country have really good vegetarian restaurants that have been in biz a long time.

Less than 2% of Americans over 65 identify as Vegetarians.

If you see any Vegetarian meals on a Menu, it's only there so that vegetarian friends of people who prefer a more normal diet, can still come to the restaurant and find 1 or 2 vegetarian choices.

Restaurants don't really want Vegetarians' business. It's not worth it. No profit and finicky, picky eaters are a PIA for restaurants.

Can I assume that you are not a Vegetarian?

Sorry, but the term "delicious veggie burger. " is an oxymoron

I think any of the population here that is 75 or older just wants to eat what they want to, more interested in taste than purported "health". For the younger people who are into fad diets, fine. They can choke down all the algae and seaweed they want.

Even better than your golf posts!!! :BigApplause::BigApplause::BigApplause:

Can I assume that you are not a Vegetarian either?

Like post #1, the term "really good vegetarian restaurants" is also an oxymoron. And most of those are in California, so res ipsa loquitur

If I ever get to be dictator, those people will be sterilized:1rotfl::1rotfl::1rotfl:

My most recent visit to my dad's house was another "clear out dead mom's stuff" weekend. I went through the cookbooks and found one that I took home with me. I was a vegetarian for a very short period of time (less than two years) when I was in my 20's. I also followed a macrobiotic diet for around a minute during the same decade. I like red meat, fish, poultry, and bacon. I do not like eggplant, avocado, artichoke, or tofu and the idea of "meat analogue" makes me want to blow chunks.

The cookbook was recipes for dishes made by Claire Criscuolo, who is well known in New Haven for founding Claire's CornerCopia vegetarian restaurant. The recipes are all vegetarian, many are vegan. Claire's was one of the restaurants I loved, when I lived up there. A top two place to go whenever I was downtown. The other was Mamoun's Falafel Restaurant, a few blocks away from Claire's.

Claire's had people coming from all over New Haven county, and people who visited from out of town, out of state, and even out of the country, would make sure to stop in for a meal as well. Sometimes the line would be out the door onto the sidewalk, just to get to the counter to place an order. The individual-sized loaves of bread are always served still warm (sometimes hot) from the oven, and comes with any salad ordered by the customer. The Lithuanian Coffee Cake is amazing, as good as my mom's. She made a mouth-watering Spinach Fettuccine Alfredo at one point, that was made with her own hand-made spinach noodles. People run her clear out of her eggplant rollups (again - not something I'd ever eat but it's a hugely popular dish). She works magic with stuffed grapeleaves and her carrot cake is to die for.

Vegetarian food can be healthy, hearty, delicious. In fact, most people eat vegetarian food. They just don't call it that. It's food that doesn't contain meat, and in many cases, that includes not containing fish or poultry. Do you like cole slaw? That's vegetarian. How about string bean casserole, without any bacon in it? That's vegetarian. Have you enjoyed a nice fat slice of key lime pie with a graham cracker crust lately? Vegetarian. Ever eat a plain normal salad? Vegetarian. Eggplant Parm? Vegetarian. Avocado toast? Vegetarian. A toasted garlic bagel with cream cheese? Vegetarian. Peanutbutter and jelly sandwiches? Vegetarian.

I think some people just have some really weird fear of the word itself, but they eat the food all the time without even giving it a second thought.

Big difference between eating vegetables and eating vegetables exclusively , but you already know that

Incorrect. Youp post merely reveals that you've been minimally exposed to such establishments...or not at all.