Who can resist having a medium-rare slab of filet mignon, perhaps with some béarnaise sauce, on their dinner plate?
That would be true vegetarians, that's who. But no judgment here.
After all, vegetarians reap healthy rewards, including having lower blood pressure and a lower risk of chronic diseases.
Carnivores, on the other hand, can't imagine not having a juicy burger, or even chicken and fish. But just because meat-eaters love their meat doesn't mean they limit their dietary options, come supper time.
Curious to hear about the palates of strangers on the internet, Redditor TinyRobotParts asked:
"Meat eaters of reddit, what is your favorite vegetarian/vegan dish?"
Got that napkin tucked into your shirt with fork and knife at the ready?
Then, let's go. The following home chefs shared their favorite dishes grown from the earth.
Put It In A Pot
"Veggie soup. Simple to make, a lot of room to experiment and individualize it to your liking."
"It's also healthy and cheap."
Shaking The Bag
"So I cube some sweet potatoes and toss the chunks in a big ziploc bag."
"Then I add olive oil and spicy BBQ rub."
"Shake the bag so the oil and rub coats the potato chunks and then slow smoke at 225 until soft."
"It's flippin delicious" – Ron_F'kin_Swanson
Indian food was brought up repeatedly as having the best-tasting vegetarian/vegan dishes.
"Amazing Use Of Potatoes"
"Nobody else makes vegetarian food that seriously tastes insanely good across so many different dishes. It rarely even feels like its vegetarian because of their amazing use of potatoes and other high calorie veggies."
So Many Options
"Even as a meat-eater, baingan bhartha is my go-to at Indian places, followed by aloo gobi. And there's so many dishes that can be made veg without too much issue - korma, saag, biryani, even vindaloo. Pretty much the only thing I've found that doesn't really work is murgh makhni (aka butter chicken), and even then I've had some passable versions, just not quite to my taste."
Palak Paneer
"Palak paneer is my absolute favorite. There's no Indian restaurants where I live, and my attempts at making it myself have been less than successful."
"I live in a very small town in Wisconsin currently, and we literally have like five or six Mexican restaurants but zero Indian or Thai."
"As soon as I can I'm moving back to Cincinnatinati, specifically Westchester/ Sharonville. Indian buffets and Pakistani restaurants every 5 ft. It was glorious."
Mediterranean cuisine offers plenty of delicious vegetarian options for omnivores.
Simple Pasta
"too many but for example, spaghetti aglio/olio (with garlic and olive oil)"
"Crunchy Cheese Pizza"
"Eggplant parmesan is one of my favorites too. It's like a little crunchy cheese pizza and I could eat the entire eggplant in one sitting by myself."
– Struana
Falafel Is Not Awful
"Falafel sandwich, with extra tahini, poured on. The places that do it really well (which is rare) are the best restaurants on earth to me. So amazing."
"Plenty of people might be like 'eh not for me'. Then they try it and their mind is blown."
I'm a meat-eater through and through, but I have found that, as I got older, I like less heavy meals.
While Margherita Pizza is technically not a vegetarian dish since it has no vegetable toppings, it has become my favorite non-meat dish.
I found that the simplicity of the pie's basic ingredients made it more flavorful than having it topped with ground sausage and pepperoni.
But if I had to go with a favorite vegetarian dish, I would say vegetarian lasagna is right up there.
Suddenly, I have this sudden urge to eat my way through Italy. Who's coming with?