i am not a vegetarian and many of my favourite foods involve seafood: fish, shell-fish and crustaceans. in fact, the only seafood i have met that i do not like is kina. however, there are many reasons why someone may choose not to eat meat (seafood included): environmental, animal welfare and health. living with a vegetarian for several years i have noticed, and been dissapointed, at the lack of diversity and imagination in vegetarian dishes at restaurants - that is, if we are lucky enough that they do even have such an option. notwithstanding the comments of the famous french chef , i believe that any chef worth their salt should develop at least a few innovative vegetarian recipes for their repertoire. making a great dish out of a good cut of meat is easy - all the flavour is already there. making a good vegetarian dish requires skill.

so, to encourage, and educate, people to the joys of vegetarian cuisine i have compiled a few of my favourite vegetarian recipes (although i've also included some of my all-time favourite seafood recipes too, but please check out the forest and bird society for information on which seafood is in danger or fishing of which does the greatest damage).