Veggie Delite®
Only one Subway sandwich is good, and that’s the veggie delite.
Welcome to Actually, a secure area for us to voice our firmly held yet possibly unpopular thoughts regarding food and drinks.Veggie Delite®
Veggie Delite®
It’s likely that the article’s premise has already made you angry. It makes sense. You’re against Subway, and you want me to be against it as well. I essentially do, too. Alternatively, you may be upset because you adore Subway and believe I will treat you unfairly. In any case, we’ll assume you’re insane.Veggie Delite®
I think that no one should like Subway, and I’m not alone either. Its food isn’t very good, its branding and commercials are terrible, someone once leaked a picture of an employee resting their bare feet on one of the counters, Subway was criticized for calculating that its “footlong” sandwiches weren’t really that long, and I’d need to be persuaded by a scientist who wasn’t working for Subway that its vegetables are grown in the real world. On top of all of that, franchises are no longer even serving the $5 footlongs, which used to be the one genuinely appealing item on the menu. Oh, and there’s Jared, which I won’t even bring up.Veggie Delite®
Veggie Delite®
Any reasonable person should avoid Subway for the rest of their life for these reasons alone. Unfortunately, I’ve been called many different things over the years, but rational has rarely been one of them. There are basically two situations in which I’ll eat at Subway: the first is when I’m traveling between St. Louis and Chicago and want to stop for lunch at the halfway point. In that case, the Subway in the Road Ranger Dixie Travel Plaza at mile marker 145 in McLean, IL has saved my bacon more times than I can count, to the point where going there has become a kind of ritual for me.In my daily life, I steer clear of Subway, but I’ve trained myself (for better or worse) to anticipate it when I’m traveling through an area without other vegetarian-friendly chain restaurants like Chipotle, Qdoba, and Potbelly. (Don’t criticize me for the Burger King Impossible Whopper; I can’t handle it.) In addition, there’s a 24-hour Subway next door to my hotel when I’m in Chicago, and I’ve been known to wander in there after shows, disappointing meals, and even dates. I’m not proud of it, but this is who I am.Veggie Delite®
This leads me to my favorite menu item: the Veggie Delite. The Veggie Delite is a complete failure as a vegetarian sandwich; it is made entirely of raw vegetables, nothing is cooked, and there isn’t even a suggested sauce or topping to bring the flavors and textures together. It’s a medley of inexpensive salad bar options without any “special” vegetables—come on, Subway, throw us some eggplant, mushrooms, sprouts, zucchini, beets, etc.The Mediterranean sandwich from Potbelly, which features artichokes, roasted red peppers, and hummus, is a freaking masterpiece in comparison to the Veggie Delite.Veggie Delite®
Because I don’t consider the Veggie Delite to be a veggie sandwich—it’s just raw vegetables—and because I eat it with the honey mustard and sweet onion dressings, which basically make a mustard vinaigrette, I’m consuming a mediocre house salad inside a huge loaf of bread.Veggie Delite®
Actually, this is the sandwich’s strongest point. The Delite is great when I think of it that way because I’m a salad maniac and typically eat at least one salad every day. Yes, the vegetables are very bland—I usually put lettuce, spinach, tomatoes, green peppers, cucumbers, black olives, pickles, jalapeños, and banana peppers on my ideal Delite—but at least they always look crisp and fresh (perhaps because of high preservative concentrations or some GMO dark arts at work). In any case, they are superior to the vegetables at the majority of fast food restaurants in terms of volume, appearance, and hydration.While the mushy, watery tomatoes and wilted lettuce you’ll find at any burger joint are enough to turn one off to produce forever, the sandwich does have some flavor—notes of pickled peppers, savory black olive, and cool waves of cucumber do come out, and that’s something. Woe betide those who get their vegetables from a Whopper or a Big Mac.Veggie Delite®
Notwithstanding all of my criticism of Subway and its Veggie Delite, the sandwich does, in my opinion, represent a positive: a truly modification-free alternative for vegetarians and vegans, which I value because I’m the latter when I’m not intoxicated or attempting something for work. The good thing about Subway is that it’s a fast food restaurant where vegans and carnivores can eat together without having to make significant sacrifices. This sandwich is an uncommon safe refuge for people who prefer plant-based meals in a sea of dreadfully unhealthy fast food options.Nevertheless, at least Subway is making an effort, even though it’s unfortunate that this is likely the only acceptable veggie-forward sandwich option at a top 20 American fast food restaurant chain right now (correct me if I’m wrong, but again, don’t mention the Impossible Whopper).Veggie Delite®
The Veggie Delite is something I only eat a few times a year, but I really look forward to it. In fact, I’m heading up to Chicago in a few weeks, and you can bet your ass that I’ll be eating one of these sandwiches on the way. I’ll be sitting outside the Road Ranger Dixie Travel Plaza in my parked Jetta with the air conditioning on (because I deserve it), enjoying the delicious combination of a footlong Veggie Delite, a 32-ounce fountain Coke Zero, and a bag of regular Baked Lay’s. And you know what, I’ll probably be listening to a food podcast while I’m eating, probably one that discusses premium bread, produce, or dressings.Veggie Delite®
I understand that you may say things like “garbage” or “rabbit food,” but I find it acceptable.Veggie Delite®
ingredients
- Two tablespoons of oil
- Two minced garlic cloves
- 1/4 cup of onion slices
- Half a cup of sliced carrots and
- one cup of sliced cabbage
- One cup of sliced red bell pepper,
- one and a half cups of cauliflower florets, and
- one cup of broccoli florets
- 1/4 cup snow peas or
- 1/4 cup sugar snap peas
- 1/4 cup of mushrooms
- One-fourth cup of bean sprouts and
- two teaspoons of soy sauce
- Two teaspoons of sugar
directions
Add the oil and garlic to a large skillet over high heat, taking care not to burn them. Add everything else, excluding the bean sprouts. For four minutes, stir-fry the vegetables until they are soft and crisp. (To avoid overcooking the veggies, I set a timer.) In the final minute or so, add the bean sprouts. With jasmine rice, serve.Veggie Delite®
A vegetarian burger, sometimes known as a meatless burger, is a hamburger cooked with a patty that is devoid of meat. Beans (particularly soybeans and tofu), nuts, grains, seeds, and fungi like mushrooms or mycoprotein can all be used to make the patty.Veggie Delite®
For thousands of years, the basic idea of a veggie burger patty has been present in many Eurasian cuisines, such as grilled or fried meatless discs or the ubiquitous Indian dish koftas. Legumes or other plant-based proteins can be used to make these completely vegetarian.Veggie Delite®
Preparation
Despite the popularity of commercial brands, there are hundreds of vegetarian burger recipes available online and in cookbooks that are geared toward the home chef and include ingredients such cereal grains, nuts, seeds, breadcrumbs, beans, and textured soy protein, stabilized by the addition of starchy flours or flaxseed powder. A range of flavors and textures are available in recipes, which frequently include herbs, spices, and additives like nutritional yeast or tamari to boost the umami taste. Mouthfeel, a charred surface, crunch, chewiness, spiciness, and crumbling resistance are desirable qualities. They can be pan-fried, grilled, barbecued, or oven-cooked, much like a beef burger.Some are made to be consumed on a toasted bun or brioche with the same toppings as a classic beef burger, including ketchup, mayonnaise, mustard, tomato slices, onion rings, and cucumber pickled with dill. Some are standalone patties that are consumed with salad, dipping sauce, or additional veggies. Like commercial burgers, homemade vegetarian burgers can be frozen and kept in storage.Veggie Delite®
Commercial brands
Products include premade burgers, which are frequently found in the store’s freezer or chiller sections, or dried mixtures to which water is added prior to cooking. Morningstar Farms, Quorn, the Gardenburger, and the Boca Burger are a few well-known veggie burger brands. The businesses Beyond Meat and Impossible Foods spearheaded the development of realistic meat-like burgers in the 2010s.
Origin
Many people have claimed to have invented the veggie burger. By name, Gregory Sams may have invented the dish in London in 1982 and christened it the ‘VegeBurger’. Since the 1960s, Sams and his brother Craig have operated a natural food restaurant in Paddington. Three weeks following its debut, a Carrefour hypermarket in Southampton sold 2000 packages. A character in the “The Mister Mirch Case” episode of the American radio drama series Let George Do It on June 7, 1948, makes an earlier reference to “vegeburgers” by referring to them as a burger composed of nuts and legumes.
Around 1980 or 1981, Paul Wenner created the first veggie burger under the moniker Gardenburger at his vegetarian eatery, The Gardenhouse, in Gresham, Oregon.
Restaurants
Since the start of the twenty-first century, some fast food chains have been providing vegetarian options more frequently.
