Nation’s Restaurant News: Vegetables Take Center Stage

Eating your vegetables is no longer a chore for American diners. According to a recent Nation’s Restaurant News article, attitudes are changing towards plant-based dishes, and vegetable dishes are receiving a boost from promotions by The Culinary Institute of American and Panera Bread.

While restaurants are starting to offer more side-dish offerings that include vegetables, others are creating vegetarian or vegan meals swapping out meat for tofu, Portobello mushrooms, or beefsteak tomatoes.

When the USDA reported that one-third of all vegetables consumed by Americans are potatoes, and encouraged consumers to broaden their horizons when it came to their vegetable choices, chefs took notice.

Cooking techniques are also changing due to the trend. Traditional pasta is being traded in for vegetables that act as noodles in a dish. Peeling vegetables like squash or zucchini can create pasta-like strands that can give any meal a healthy transformation.