my experience about restaurants lying to vegetarians and sneaking in meat

[Guest guest]

Alexis, don't you just hate that? It's like you have to interrogate

the chef or snoop around the kitchen in some places to make sure

you're getting veg or vegan. One " trick " is to explain to the

waitstaff that you're terribly allergic to all meat, fish, sealife,

fowl, etc., and that you could get violently ill if you ingested

any. Restaurants don't want to risk being sued. They may tell you

that there is nothing there for you, in which case you can leave, or

they may make certain sure that they are preparing a truly vegetarian

or vegan meal for you. And I don't know that this would be a lie on

your part, since you said that you had gotten ill at a place that

said they served vegetarian and didn't. One really bad culprit is

the base they cook everything in. I'd listed a major marketer of

bases and other restaurant supplies earlier, and all but one of the

bases has dead animals in it. I always ask about what type of base

their so-called vegetarian food is cooked in. It's not enough that

they just don't use lard, etc. Often as not, staff will come back

and tell me that the veggies, etc., are cooked in a chicken or beef

base. But I'm lucky to be eating in Eugene Oregon for the most part,

and most though not all staff and chefs are familiar with the terms

" vegetarian " and " vegan. "

 

Where I lived previously, our vegetarian club sent letters to all of

the restaurants in the small towns offering to list them free in our

newsletter as well as which meals were veg or vegan, as long as they

understood fully the definitions (we sent precise definitions of

each) and would guarantee that the menu items met our

definitions. We also mentioned the allergy thing in our letters, and

we sent self-addressed-stamped envelopes. Boy, did we get a huge

response back! It was great to see what new meals most of the

restaurants added to their menus. Some were extremely creative with

the vegan meals.

 

One point to include is why it's important for them to cater to

vegetarians and vegans. While we're a small minority of diners, we

usually choose the restaurants for a group. For example, I've

frequently dined with groups of six, eight, or more. They always ask

me where I would like to dine so I can get a decent meal. So I

choose the restaurant. So, the one vegetarian or vegan may well

determine where six, eight, or more people will eat. It's a matter

of economics for the restaurants involved. I would suggest working

with the restaurants you'd like to dine in (though don't bother with

the chains -- they have no autonomy), help them put something not

only suitable but also delicious on the menu, then patronize them and

make sure all of your vegetarian and vegan friends know that good

food is available there.

 

Sherry in Oregon

 

At 05:34 PM 3/16/2006, you wrote:

>I have had some bad experiences with restaurants where I live in

>north central florida. At one restaurant, I asked the waittress to

>ask the cook if the cheese ricotta shells had any meat in them. The

>waittress came back a few minutes later and told me that there was no

>meat in them. Later on that night, I found meat pieces in the stuffed

>cheese ricotta shells. At another restaurant, they told me the

>vegetables was not in meat fat or broth. I ate them and got sick.

>They were indeed cooked in lard. At a third restaurant, they lied

>about the alfredo sauce having no meat products in it. There also was

>a fourth restaurant that put meat products in all the food and

>neglected to tell me. Two of these, I later learned on a website on

>places that were safe for vegetarians to eat at, had listed the stuff

>I ate as not vegetarian at all. It is such a shame restaurants will

>pull such stunts just to make money and not be honest with their

>customers. It does make eating out much more difficult for

>vegetarians. And one of the places, I listed here had a vegetarian as

>the waittress (she had told me this when I told her I was a

>vegetarian). I also have to add that some pizza place I went to put

>cheese on a peperoni pizza and called it a cheese pizza. Luckily, I

>found out after only one bite and had a sympathethic waittress

>waiting my table who was a vegetarian, too and made them make another

>pizza that was only a cheese pizza with absolutely no meat on it and

>to not charge me for it at all. Don't these places know that if you

>upset the customer's eating preferences, they will probably not come

>back (and I have never visited any of the previous restaurants again)

>and tell all their friends about it. I do have to add one positive

>experience (sorry for the long post) about a Sonny's BBQ place I

>visited. The waittress was honest about what was vegetarian and there

>was plenty of vegetarian side dishes that I could eat. So some

>restaurants do care about their customers.

>

>

>

>

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

That's because we are a freaking hot bed of anarchists and dissidents just

waiting to over-throw the administration according to the FBI and Bush. If

you keep telling people how lucky we are to live here in vegan heaven we

will never get to eat at Lotus again since they will have a waiting list of

weeks. Hush! Silencio! Remember, I know where you live.

linda

 

" Sherry Rose " <sherry

But I'm lucky to be eating in Eugene Oregon for the most part,

> and most though not all staff and chefs are familiar with the terms

> " vegetarian " and " vegan. "

[Guest guest]

I'm working on accumulating a " critical mass " in Eugene of liberal

vegetarians and vegans! ;-)

 

Sherry

 

At 07:45 AM 3/17/2006, you wrote:

>That's because we are a freaking hot bed of anarchists and dissidents just

>waiting to over-throw the administration according to the FBI and Bush. If

>you keep telling people how lucky we are to live here in vegan heaven we

>will never get to eat at Lotus again since they will have a waiting list of

>weeks. Hush! Silencio! Remember, I know where you live.

>linda

 

 

 

[Guest guest]

Apparently we really need it though considering the new parking garage for

Whole Foods that we have to pay for.

With this critical mass idea of yours we will have to save PT then since she

knows of no other's like her down south....she really should have settled

here...think she would have fit right in. LOL I think that the FBI now

defines all liberals as anarchists and dissidents.

linda

 

 

" Sherry Rose " <sherry

 

 

 

> I'm working on accumulating a " critical mass " in Eugene of liberal

> vegetarians and vegans! ;-)

>

> Sherry

>

> At 07:45 AM 3/17/2006, you wrote:

> >That's because we are a freaking hot bed of anarchists and dissidents

just

> >waiting to over-throw the administration according to the FBI and Bush.

If

> >you keep telling people how lucky we are to live here in vegan heaven we

> >will never get to eat at Lotus again since they will have a waiting list

of

> >weeks. Hush! Silencio! Remember, I know where you live.

> >linda

>

>

>