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    The terrible rise of the butternut squash

    I dunno how many of you chaps are vegetarians, but if you are, I wonder if you've also noticed the terrible rise of the butternut squash.

    If you go for a Sunday lunch at a Wetherspoons or a Toby Carvery, to name but two, the main veggie option is now one of these revolting mushy gourds.

    It's truly baffling. The ascent of the butternut squash must surely be the work of a non-vegetarian, probably in league with some farming consortium who have a warehouse with a butternut squash mountain to shift.

    The last thing you want, as the centrepiece of a savoury meal, is a block of sweet, citrussy pulp.

    #2
    The terrible rise of the butternut squash

    It makes a good soup.

    Obviously it's rise in the UK has escaped me, but I suspect it's to do with the fact that name sounds nice (and goes well on a half-arsed menu with words like coulis and shiitake mushrooms). I have made good dishes with it, but I reckon it's overused in the US (where I presume it originates), and it sounds like it is becoming so there too.

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      #3
      The terrible rise of the butternut squash

      We've been getting loads from the allotment recently. They do indeed make great soups, but also excellent pies and cakes. They are also good roasted, giving a nice contrast in flavour to pork, especially. Yum.

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        #4
        The terrible rise of the butternut squash

        Well I love it. Not as nice as sweet potato, but it's a good accompaniment. I think you can use it in pies etc instead of pumpkin but I've never tried it.

        Why can't we get pumpkin here, by the way?

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          #5
          The terrible rise of the butternut squash

          I like butternut squash. It's nice sliced, covered in garlic and herbs and roasted. The other great thing about the butternut squash is that it would walk onto any edition of That's Life's rudely shaped vegetables section.

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            #6
            The terrible rise of the butternut squash

            Hang on... I don't mean sliced, I mean segmented. Or wedged, if you prefer.

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              #7
              The terrible rise of the butternut squash

              Rarely, if ever, have I been as down with SR as I am on this one. Vegetarian options are rare enough this days without them consisting of something involving goats cheese and red onions or fucking butternut squash. It's turnip, that's what it is! Mashed turnip, concocted and devised by restauranteurs who would sooner have vegetarians on their menus than on their premises.

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                #8
                The terrible rise of the butternut squash

                I think you're all missing the point. If you like using butternut squash for making soup, or in whatever other recipe of your own, that's fine.

                But look. It's 2pm on a Sunday. You're in a pub settling down for a proper old-fashioned Sunday lunch. You've got your roast potatoes, Yorkshire pud, broccoli, peas, sprouts, carrots, parsnips (fulfilling the token 'sweet veg' slot), cauliflower, stuffing balls, and a lake of (veggie) gravy.

                What you want, in the middle, is something savoury to slice up, like a nut roast or a Quorn/Linda McCartney meat substitute. And what you get is a fucking orangey abomination that doesn't go with that sort of food at all.

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                  #9
                  The terrible rise of the butternut squash

                  Yorkshire pudding with the rest of the food? That's the wrong bit.

                  Mind you, I agree with the idea that butternut squash would not go there in that mass of stuff.

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                    #10
                    The terrible rise of the butternut squash

                    I actually can't stand Yorkshire pudding so I pass mine on to Mrs Rhino, but you take my point.

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                      #11
                      The terrible rise of the butternut squash

                      Indeed. Butternut squash is delicious roasted as an accompaniment to a main dish, but it isn't a centrepiece dish.

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                        #12
                        The terrible rise of the butternut squash

                        wingco wrote:
                        Vegetarian options are rare enough this days without them consisting of something involving goats cheese and red onions
                        Oh man, exactly. Last Sunday, our favourite pub had run out of veggie roasts so we trudged around looking for an alternative, and were lured in by a pub with a chalkboard outside promising 'SUNDAY ROASTS'. When we got inside and read the menu, the carnivore option was the full gravy-dripping works, but the veggie option was roasted red peppers stuffed with goat's cheese. For Sunday dinner??? FUCK OFF!!!

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                          #13
                          The terrible rise of the butternut squash

                          Its rise is in inverse proportion to the disappearance of the nut roast, isn't it?

                          When I were a veggie, my Mum very proudly served us up a nut roast for xmas dinner, which shows how far it penetrated into mass consciousness (she was otherwise largely an '...and chips' cook).

                          Edit: or even in 'direct correlation' you might say...

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                            #14
                            The terrible rise of the butternut squash

                            Can't you just eat around the meat?

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                              #15
                              The terrible rise of the butternut squash

                              Yes, buying but not eating the meat is an excellent idea. That'll stifle the industry

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                                #16
                                The terrible rise of the butternut squash

                                Or perhaps have it wafer thin?

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                                  #17
                                  The terrible rise of the butternut squash

                                  Which one is butternut squash? The round stuff with the hard green shell?

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                                    #18
                                    The terrible rise of the butternut squash

                                    Goats cheese and red onions are a good combo when packed into a pastry-based dish.

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                                      #19
                                      The terrible rise of the butternut squash

                                      Fnarr.

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                                        #20
                                        The terrible rise of the butternut squash

                                        What has happened to the vegetarian option in the UK, by the way? It used to be a fantastic place for eating well, but of late things have got really bad. It's like the 90s were a golden age, and now the novelty's worn off and people can't be bothered.

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                                          #21
                                          The terrible rise of the butternut squash

                                          Vegetarianism and "a proper old-fashioned Sunday lunch" are pretty much contradictory terms really, aren't they?

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                                            #22
                                            The terrible rise of the butternut squash

                                            Vegetarianism isn't like the Premier League, you know. It isn't where statistics began.

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                                              #23
                                              The terrible rise of the butternut squash

                                              Not really. I mean it depends on what you mean by old-fashioned, but you could make the argument that potatoes are too new-fangled to be in an old-fashioned sunday lunch. But you wouldn't obviously.

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                                                #24
                                                The terrible rise of the butternut squash

                                                Mrs E likes butternut squash. To be fair, she does a risotto with the stuff, with fresh sage, which is quite nice. Though not as good as her chicken risotto. Not by a mile.

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                                                  #25
                                                  The terrible rise of the butternut squash

                                                  Hofzinser wrote:
                                                  Vegetarianism and "a proper old-fashioned Sunday lunch" are pretty much contradictory terms really, aren't they?
                                                  Why? The foremost point of vegetarianism is that you don't want animals to die just so that you can eat. It doesn't entail changing your tastes.

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