veganism: I know how difficult it is for vegetarians and vegans to get a good meal when going out with friends. Some resturants don't even have salad! I think a petition should be started because vegetarianism and veganism is so popular now and if there are no meals to suit our needs, then I think that is just horrible.|||They are actually required by law to cater to any specific dietary requests- you don't NEED a petition! I do however think that a WISE restaurant proprietor should definitely have at LEAST two vegetarian options and one vegan one as I even though I am a meat eater, I do have days when I just DON'T want to eat animal products at all and when you are limited to dubious salads as the only meat free dish at a 'restaurant' it's pretty off-putting!|||I think this really should be the case everywhere, not just in Australia. I doubt a petition will make any difference though, the likelihood of a law forcing restaurants to have such menu items is extremely unlikely. However, I would be surprised if you couldn't request something vegetarian. They might have something not on the menu, or make something without the meat. That is, unless it's say, a fast food joint. I don't live in Australia, but I went to the Keg with my gf's family, which is a steakhouse that had absolutely NOTHING on the menu vegetarian. I had been to a different location that had a veggie burger but this one didn't have one, so I asked the server. Turned out they had some veggie mushroom fajitas they just don't put on the menu, so I got that. Maybe it is different in Australia, but I've yet to find a restaurant that wouldn't specially make something. Just ask. They want to make money, it's unlikely that they will not work with you.|||I think they should have a vegetarian/vegan section on the menu like they do in thai/indian places. (Even though the vegetarian meals at thai places contain fish sauce and shrimp paste, aka not vegetarian). They have options for meat eaters so why shouldnt have have options of non-meat eaters.|||YES! 10% of the world claims to follow a vegetarian-type diet. I think a petition would be a great way to let restaurants know that vegetarians and vegans need options, too. I live in the United States (you know, that place that has supersize meals bigger than your head?) and a lot of restaurants don't have any vegan options and I have to customize dishes.|||there should atleast be a vegetarian option at every restaurant. vegan isn't as popular so i don't think it's as necessary, but it would be nice. i work at a restaurant and the only vegan/vegetarian food is a salad.:-(|||As a citizen I believe we citizen have right to petition.|||real silly that restaurants do not cater to vegetarians and vegans. restaurants would make a lot more money|||I don't think a petition would do much. Who would you present it to? And what would they care? - unless it was a guarantee that they would get all the signatories to come in and buy their food. If the petition doesn't translate into bums-on-seats, then it's a waste of time and money changing the menu. And vegetarians only make up around one in twenty Australians, so they're not a very big potential client猫le for a restaurant. I've been to very few restaurants with absolutely nothing I could eat. Even if you can't find something on the menu, chefs will often make you something which is not there in black-and-white. You only have to ask - salads are quick and easy for chefs to put together - so much so that many don't even bother to put them on the menu. Alternatively, you can ask for one of the non-vegetarian menu items which is *almost* vegetarian "minus the bacon" or "minus the prawns" or minus whatever other ingredient it is that makes it non-vegetarian. It's normally as simple for the chef as leaving out mushrooms or peanuts or whatever for someone who is allergic. Just ask *nicely* and it shall be done for you. (If you ask in a pain-in-the-backside way, you risk getting something more than you asked for. So, always be nice to waiters and chefs, if you really don't want their saliva or other yucky things mixed in with your food - that advice works for non-vegetarians just as much as it does for vegetarians.) Most restaurants have a copy of the menu on the front window, so you should be able to tell, before entering, whether there's something there you can eat. If there isn't, then just go to the next restaurant (luckily, restaurants normally travel in packs of three or four, for protection - heck, even the Maccas, KFCs, Red Roosters, Hungry Jacks, Subways, et al. are opening up next door to each other these days!).