It’s a busy old time of year for national food weeks. No doubt most people are still recovering from last week’s double whammy of excitement when the bunting was being hung not just for British Sandwich Week but also National Donut Week. I was tempted to kill two birds with one stone by slapping a jam donut in a bap but fortunately common sense kicked in before I could acquire the necessary ingredients.

This week, it’s the turn of the veggies to celebrate as National Vegetarian Week runs its course. It is an awareness scheme to promote inspiring vegetarian meals and the benefits of a meat-free lifestyle. Today you would have to have lived under a stone to be able to say that you have never had an inspiring veggie meal although not everyone is convinced of the benefits of a meat-free lifestyle.

Most mainstream restaurants realised a long time ago that it didn’t make good business sense to slap a veggie option on the menu merely as an after thought. The more forward thinking places make as much effort with their vegetarian options as they do with their meat-based ones. Indian and Middle Eastern restaurants have always been veggie friendly. One Bistro at Downstairs, the Ashoka group, Assam’s and The Dakhin all lay on fairly extensive veggie spreads in Glasgow.

In Edinburgh, The Raj goes to town with veggie options while Martin Wishart goes so far as to offer a vegetarian tasting menu.

This hasn’t stopped exclusively veggie and vegan restaurants from carving their own niche. In Edinburgh, Bann’s and Hendersons have long enjoyed a glowing rep while in Glasgow many of the notable veggie/vegan options such as Mono/Stereo/The 78 and the 13^th Note come with a side order of bands and club nights.

While not exclusively veggie, Tapa Coffeehouse in Glasgow’s Southside is not far off and they are now serving from their new Spring menu. Who needs donut week when you can have their babaganoush with lemon and tahini, roast peppers & grilled courgettes?

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