Anyone here vegan?

Doom_and_Gloom

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

Yep...I didnt ask. Why would I?

Unless like the pub I went to yesterday and they have v-vegetarian, vg - vegan, gf - gluten free etc on the menu itself or you are in a veggie/vegan only place you are living in a world that the majority is omnivorous so should assume nothing is veggie/vegan unless you ask! How is that not obvious? Places are not obligated by law to have veggie/vegan options. It is, unfortunately, a courtesy. Or more likely they know profits are more if they offer a veggie/vegan option.

Spendless

Doom_and_Gloom wrote: »

Unless like the pub I went to yesterday and they have v-vegetarian, vg - vegan, gf - gluten free etc on the menu itself or you are in a veggie/vegan only place you are living in a world that the majority is omnivorous so should assume nothing is veggie/vegan unless you ask! How is that not obvious? Places are not obligated by law to have veggie/vegan options. It is, unfortunately, a courtesy. Or more likely they know profits are more if they offer a veggie/vegan option.

I'll be honest as I or Mr S do the ordering if eating out on behalf of DD and I pretty much haven't if the description is enough for me to think it's a vegetarian dish. So if it says something like mushroom stroganoff I'd sort of assume this was ok. In chains they do put the listings like you've said, but not in independent places (or at least not around here). If it was a bit more ambiguous like 'special ragu' even if every other offering had meat in it, I would query exactly what was in it.

I did ask at a chain recently why their breaded mushrooms didn't have a V sign on then, the waitress asked the manager, who explained that though there was no meat in them because they aren't fried in a different fryer to meat products, they don't meet the criteria to be classed as vegetarian from the vegetarian society, hence no v by the sign.

ETA - I've just read your comment about profits, that made me smile. At McD's here DD sometimes orders what her friend calls the 'burger no burger'. She asks for a cheeseburger cos she likes the salad, sauce etc but asks them to leave the burger out. The price is still the same.

pelirocco

Doody wrote: »

Vegan food buying for oneself and sometimes eating out is so much easier now. I became vegetarian around '73 and in those days finding a vegetarian cheese was a challenge! It took me around 10 years to change over to being completely vegan and wish I'd done it sooner. Now any mainstream supermarket will have a vegan margarine, vegan ice-cream and non-dairy milks. The vegan womble is a good source of info on UK products. https://www.veganwomble.co.uk/

B12 is an issue. Both for carnies and vegans. Animals reared for consumption are given B12 supplements, so that is why meat is a reliable source. Some people talk about getting it from unwashed veggies. Very bad advice - take a supplement. Spirulina is not a good source either.

Well done for your three days into the new world. Enjoy life with a clean conscience.

nutritional yeast is good for B12 , Omegas can be difficult too
I do agree taking a supplement covers all bases (make sure its vegan tho )

pelirocco

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

I've had an equivalent situation pretty recently when eating lunch out here - I fancied a "special" and saw several up on the board and all the others were obviously meat and therefore took the view that the one that wasnt obviously meat must be a solitary little vegetarian thing one could choose. So I chose it - and part way through realised it had meat in it.

I gave the cafe/restaurant rather a strongly-worded comment about not even as much as offering one vegetarian "specials" option and that that was the least they could do for customers.:cool:

Yep...I didnt ask. Why would I? - as meat-eaters arent made to "ask" if something is suitable for them - as it automatically is. Vegetarians (and vegans) should have the same courtesy extended to us - ie of not having to "ask" (shades of "Beg your pardon...ever so 'umbly Gov - but would you be ever so kind and do something suitable for me. I know you don't want to and it will be ever so inconvenient in your opinion". Yeh...right...

This is what gives veggies and vegans a bad

I always check the menu , theres normally something on there i can eat, even if it means being creative and asking to leave something off or combining bits from menus ...and if its not possible or nothing i fancy i go elsewhere ( just like meat eaters do )

moneyistooshorttomention

Well - one interesting statistic I read recently is that 20% of the 18-24 age group are either vegetarian or vegan - so definitely time for places to eat out at to up their game and cater appropriately.

According to those statistics - then that translates into = out of, say, 10 main choice options at least 2 have to be vegetarian or vegan. Not a lot considering that, if I were running an omnivorous cafe or restaurant I'd be bargaining on around half the choices I made available being vegetarian or vegan in order not to discriminate (after all - lots of omnivores fancy a change sometimes too). Just good business sense..:)

Tiglath

Reading this thread with interest. I've been pondering the whole issue of food recently - we're going to be keeping rescue chickens in the New Year and I realised the illogic of caring for live ones and buying dead ones to eat. I've taken the plunge and went vegetarian today. Nice to have a thread to chat on

Jojo_the_Tightfisted

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

I've had an equivalent situation pretty recently when eating lunch out here - I fancied a "special" and saw several up on the board and all the others were obviously meat and therefore took the view that the one that wasnt obviously meat must be a solitary little vegetarian thing one could choose. So I chose it - and part way through realised it had meat in it.

I gave the cafe/restaurant rather a strongly-worded comment about not even as much as offering one vegetarian "specials" option and that that was the least they could do for customers.:cool:

Yep...I didnt ask. Why would I? - as meat-eaters arent made to "ask" if something is suitable for them - as it automatically is. Vegetarians (and vegans) should have the same courtesy extended to us - ie of not having to "ask" (shades of "Beg your pardon...ever so 'umbly Gov - but would you be ever so kind and do something suitable for me. I know you don't want to and it will be ever so inconvenient in your opinion". Yeh...right...

Not really. Food allergies, ethical/religious choices and dislikes are a thing for omnis as well. Just because somebody chooses to eat meat or fish, that doesn't mean they automatically like/can have a ton and a half of dairy added to everything, especially when the veggie options are always going to consist of milk, cheese and eggs (and often with honey as a selling point).

I know somebody who stopped having beef and dairy when the badger cull started, as they reasoned that the cull isn't there for the benefit of chicken or sheep farming pressure groups - whilst they are content with their decision to continue to eat meat, they weren't prepared to support the part of the industry that they hold responsible for the cull. Another feels that commercial honey is wrong because of the way the bees are left with sugar water, the killing of unwanted Queens, because concentrating upon their welfare means that the solitary bees, hoverflies and suchlike that actually pollinate the majority of crops and wildflowers are ignored and being able to hire a few hives during peak blossom means that the producers will continue to spray and kill all other potential pollinators - so whilst they again accept the practice of farming animals to eat, they feel that it is unsound ecologically to support commercial hives by eating honey.


Vegan food, is generally trustworthy (when you can find it - even the supermarkets that have made a big thing about catering for vegans hardly ever stock it in the majority of branches), whereas the Free From ranges, however, can be misleading - a Tesco white sauce that made a big fuss about no milk, no egg, no gluten, etc, turned out to have tiny lumps of reformed 'ham', so small, you couldn't see them through the jar, for example.


The only way stores and restaurants know that there is a worthwhile level of demand for vegan/completely animal product free food is for people to ask and keep asking - after all, whilst you complained after the fact, from their point of view, they didn't miss out on a sale (even if they refunded it, the original price and order goes onto their figures), and some people will say nothing in your situation - it's only by asking before buying that they realise there's a demand and that they are missing out on potential sales.


The thing I'd most like to see places hauled up for, though, are the ones where, as Gordon I-Swear-Because-I-Think-It's-Big-And-Clever Ramsey claims, they deliberately put meat/animal products into vegetarian/vegan food. Preferably with massive fines and an instant loss of their Food Hygiene rating on the basis that they obviously cannot follow rules upon cross contamination. :mad: