In European culture it goes back several hundred years; in India the religious principle of non-violence which drives vegetarianism goes back centuries and has influenced European ideas, and cooking from the 18th century until the present.
In New Zealand, according to Janet Mitchell, of the University of Otago, vegetarianism goes back at least to the beginning of the 20th century.
Some early recipe books contained vegetarian recipes and Sanitarium Health Food Recipe Book, the first cookbook specially for vegetarians was published about 1926.
However, most of the recipes were for meat substitutes, suggesting the concept of a main meal dominated by meat was hard to replace.
"Vegetarian recipes began to gain popularity in the 1960s when a new 'awareness of the Earth' and environmental issues stimulated by Rachel Carson's book Silent Spring became evident," she says.
In the 1970s and '80s vegetarian dishes no longer aimed to provide meat substitutes and Chinese, Italian and other ethnic dishes entered the repertoire.
A greater variety of ingredients and products also became available, such as tofu, tahini, hummus, alfalfa sprouts, tabouli and chickpeas, making vegetarian food more exciting and popular.
She even points out "additional evidence of the popularity of vegetarian dishes for the general population is also seen at buffet meals where vegetarian dishes have to be labelled 'vegetarians only' to deter omnivores from upsetting the numbers catered for, indicating vegetarian dishes are almost mainstream".
