You don't have to be a vegetarian to grill vegetables.

We think you know that, but we're not sure.

Even Food Network star and chef Bobby Flay -- who never met a hunk of meat he couldn't toss on a hot grate -- makes plenty of room for vegetables on his grill.

We especially like his treatment of zucchini and yellow squash, which he grills, then marinates. You think he's got the order reversed, don't you? Trust us, he doesn't.

Why all this emphasis on vegetables? Like it or not, the landscape of the dinner plate has changed. No longer are enormous steaks crashing down onto the center of the plates of people who care about moderation and balance.

We're assuming you care, since there are no photographs of hunks of meat to pull you into this page. Instead, you're seeing vegetables on their way to the grill and then to the dinner plate.

We're not saying you can't have meat -- we ate some for dinner last night -- but we are suggesting you pay more attention to what else goes on your plate.

These days, the thinking goes like this: The veggies take up two-thirds of the plate, and the meat (or some other source of protein) gets the space that's left.

Steven Raichlen -- "Mr. Barbecue" in our book and the author of a gazillion grilling cookbooks -- spotlights vegetables in his healthy-grilling recipes. You'd expect that. But he also gives vegetables plenty of room in his other recipes, including his take on grilled corn with mayonnaise, of all things, slathered on after cooking.

Hard to believe, but both Flay and Raichlen pack so much flavor into their vegetables that you may decide you don't need that steak after all.
Contact Jann Malone at (804) 649-6820 or jmalone@timesdispatch.com.