I've been a strict vegetarian for 25 years now and in that time the experience of eating out has improved a lot for vegetarians, but, in my view, it still has a long way to go.

Step into any run of the mill restaurant these days and amongst the bewildering list of dishes will be the odd one marked with a 'V'. Better than none, but still pretty restrictive.

In the bad old days there were no green 'V's on the menu at all and the fish dishes were often offered as an option. It's surprising how many people have 'vegetarian' friends who eat fish, sometimes even chicken, and assume that is the norm. The maxim I keep to is pretty simple - 'No product of slaughter'.

If you see 'Please ask for vegetarian dishes' on a menu, don't bother. I can tell you what it is. It's an omelette. If there are no vegetarian dishes available, you find yourself having to mix and match side orders and starters to make up a meal. Not very satisfactory, especially when you end up paying as much as you would for a main meal from the menu.

Of course there are some wonderful vegetarian restaurants out there, but they are still few and far between and are hard to find outside of towns and cities. Italian or Indian restaurants usually have quite a few veggie dishes, so they are often a good choice.

Unlike the green 'V's on supermarket packaging or the Vegetarian Society logo, the 'V's on restaurant menus are not regulated in any way, as far as I know, and can vary in their interpretation of what is and what isn't vegetarian. I've found that you have to double check them by examining the ingredients of a dish. Next time you see a green 'V' next to a menu item such as a four cheese pizza, why not ask if the cheeses used are all vegetarian and observe the perplexed look on the waitress' face. Don't bother asking if the 'V' means that it won't be cooked with animal fat or utensils used for cooking meat. A bit of staff training here would go a long way.

Anyway, after all, you could always have the fish..