And now for something completely different: a food rant!

It started out by reading a blog review of a restaurant where the vegetarian fare involved mushrooms and spinach a lot. I fail to understand why it is that cafes and restaurants approach vegetarian as being mushrooms, spinach and eggplant. I HATE mushroom, spinach and eggplant with a passion that exceeds that of Casanova's passion for women.*

Eggplant, spinach, mushrooms = uncreative vegetarian fare in my book.

There are other veggies I admit to hating (sweet potato, taro, swedes), but they very rarely make an appearance in vegetarian cooking in restaurants, so it's not too bad. I realise it makes me sound fussy, but there are loads of foods that everyone doesn't like. Think about your own pet hates with food...

Perhaps it just seems unusual for a vegetarian to say that they don't loooooooove all vegetables. There are loads of vegetables out there that are delicious and amazing and different and sadly often not included in what seems to be de rigueur for restaurants doing vegetarian food. Funnily, I find most people who aren't vegetarians themselves but are cooking for vegetarians in non-restaurant settings tend to show far more creativity.

Anyhoodle...

Then, following links from the site I was on and poking around looking at vegetarian blogs and foodthoughts and even looking at raw foods I'm sitting here thinking, "Why is this making me feel like Fran in Black Books when her friend harasses her into doing yoga with her, tells her wheat is 'poison' and not to eat peas? Hmm... I wonder!"

Suddenly I'm understanding why some people dislike vegetarians - particularly if it's the sort of "Ohh, I only eat yellow things on Tuesdays that don't cast shadows" kind of vegetarian with holier-than-thou attitudes. The raw food movement in particular reminds me of an article I read earlier today about orthorexia (When healthy eating turns into a disease from The Guardian).

I think it's good to do a detox now and then, eat as healthily as possible, try not to over-consume meat products if you're an omnivore (and also try not to over-consume products in the upper tiers of the food pyramid if you're vegetarian), etc. Personally, I try to get my hands on as much organic produce as possible, which makes the local deli stocking fantastic fruit, vege and organic breads incredibly good.

But people also need to be sensible about things. Not go all food extremist and declare a food-jihad on wheat, dairy and soy.

*Actually, I don't mind spinach in things like spanakopida or spinach and feta triangles. It's nice to have it hidden with some other more tasty ingredients. But spinach alone? Ugh.