Tofu - used to go to restaurants in NY Chinatown and they made it taste good. Of course, many of the dishes also contained chicken stock or some other meat product.
Am not a vegetarian at all - but I sorta like tofu when done well. It picks up so many flavors.
Have known some vegetarians, with varying preferences, and one vegan who said she would live to 175 years. She was in her seventies and looked twenty-five years younger so maybe she might have made it until she got bored driving slowly behind a big rig and decided to pass over a double line. Nice lady, RIP.
None of those folks were judgemental. Or is they were they kept quiet about it.
The author does make a good point. The vegetarian stuff you find at grocery stores is well, not very tasty. Every couple of years go to a company picnic where they do serve veggie burgers (along with tons of hamburgers) and will try a bite. Always hoped the stuff would taste at least decent but the veggie patty with one bite out gets tossed.
I do feel sorry that most meals that strict vegetarians can find at most restaurants are not very, well, ambitious.
There are many great ways to make really good dishes without meat. But until vegetarians constitute enough of a customer population most restaurants have no incentive to go beyond the boring dishes.
When vegetarians have the power of the buck, they will get better grub.