to expect not to find ham in my vegetarian omelette!

[giraffesCantZumba]

!lovely nurse ordered it especially for me yesterday. On sheet it only veg option. It came folded over. I ate some then noticed inside its full of meat! Lucky i am not veg for religious or health reasons!

[LordOfTheFlies]

Oh I've had some strange offerings (been vegetarian for 31 years)
Mainly fish- "because vegetarians eat fish,they're not animals)
MIL giving me pepperoni pizza. She thought it was pepper.
She gave DH soup- it only had 'a bit' of chicken in it.
Salad in France had ham in it( I did ask if it was vegetarian and DSis speaks excellant French).

YANBU and You Are Not Alone!

[LilQueenie]

yuk I was given a telling off from one nurse because she hadnt been informed I was veggie. Then she came back with a yoghurt ....which included gelatine!

[LordOfTheFlies]

Stick with the chocolate its safer! Hope you escape soon!

[JellyBeansOnToast]

Ahh the number of times I have been abroad and they have simply not understood the concept of being vegetarian, esp in Eastern Europe, where my family is originally from.

'I don't eat meat.'
'Oh. Do you eat beef?'
'No. No meat. No animals.'
'Okay. How about pork?'
'No! No MEAT!'
'Right, sure. Chicken?'

Not as bad as the time an airline lost my vegetarian meal and just removed a piece of meat from its bed of mashed potato. I could still see lumps of beef floating about

[giraffesCantZumba]

staff are fab. Its the kitchen fault here. Took photo of menu card and dinner. I feel sick cos eaten it but its bad for people with health or religious reasons not to eat it! It was well hidden too!

[Sirzy]

Yanbu. If you requested vegetarian then it should be vegetarian.

[LostMyIdentityAlongTheWay]

That is appalling. Worthy of complaint to the hospital. I dread to think what a practising Muslim or Jew might have made of that! Dreadful. You are DNBU!!!

[shelfy74]

Yanbu. I was once offered black pudding for breakfast as the veggie option in a Blackpool b&b. And when in hospital recently the "ethnic" menu as they'd run out of other veggie meals. Beef curry was suggested.

[TidyDancer]

I've had the 'vegetarians eat fish' crap while trying to buy sandwiches before. FFS, people really can be stupid can't they?

I can perhaps understand the mistake WRT yogurt, but the rest of this thread is utter madness!

[Deesus]

IMVHO It can sometimes be confusing as I know several 'vegetarians' who variously eat fish, gelatin or in one ridiculous case chicken but no other meat .

If I were cooking for a veggy I would ask them exactly what they do & don't eat as it's not always straightforward. And yes I agree that if you eat fish you're NOT veggy but some people don't see it in the same way....

[giraffesCantZumba]

surely a hospital should know the true meaning of the word vegetarian though

[Deesus]

They should giraffes I agree!! Was just pointing out that it can mean different things to different people. And putting meat in it sounds like a genuine mistake to me rather than the hospital really thought veggies could eat meat..

[LordOfTheFlies]

In the defence of non vegetarians there is alot of confusion.
Many people call themselves 'veggie' if they don't eat red meat or chicken. (Pescatarian or something)
Alot of people don't realise what gelatine is made of.
Worcester sauce- contains anchovies but Good Housekeeping had it in a veggie recipie (and got complaints)
I don't eat meat/fish/chicken and people say "Oh you're a vegan".
"No I'm lacto-ovo"

Just smile benignly and mentally smite them with a blow that would knock the bollocks off a mighty elephant.( Quote from Paul Whicker,the Tall Vicar from Viz)
We vegetarians are nice,calm,forgiving people.
With notable exception.

[LordOfTheFlies]

Cross posts with Deesus

[Deesus]

No probs lordoftheflies you put it very eloquently!

[GwendolineMaryLacey]

I had a great document at work that I used to give to veggies/vegans travelling out to Eastern Europe. I think it was called the Vegan passport (I might be making that up!) and it explained the whole concept.

[TidyDancer]

Thing is though, Deesus, people who serve/sell/make food professionally really ought to go by the actual definition of vegetarian when preparing such food. If people wish to label themselves vegetarian while not actually being so, that's fine and entirely up to them, but when I buy food that is specified to be meat-free, I should be able to have an expectation that it is, in fact, meat-free.

[Andrewofgg]

I used to have a vegetarian colleague who pointed out that the animals which meat-eaters like to eat generally don't eat meat (there are exceptions e.g. dog in Korea). From which she concluded with a dead straight face that as the price of meat rose meat-eaters would eat vegetarians :)

[Deesus]

tidydancer I agree! As my post above says I think putting meat in a veggie omlette sounds more like a genuine mistake than the hospital not understanding the definition of vegetarian!

[TidyDancer]

Oh sorry, just read that back, and it sounds like I was disagreeing with you, I wasn't, I promise, I was commenting. :)

And yes, I think you're right, but I don't think it's an acceptable mistake really.

[Deesus]

Lol...no worries tidydance Am 12+2 and laughably hormonal so I'm taking lots of stuff the wrong way at the mo!

[earlyriser]

The veggie option (never heard of vegan) when i was in the maternity unit having dd was 'fishcakes' labelled as the veggie option too.

I took my own food in when i had ds

[missymoola]

Urgh, I hate it, I asked recently what the veggie option was at at a cafe candlelit supper and it was mushrooms with cheese for starter, and mushroom risotto for main, with a side of mushrooms. Most cheese isn't vegetarian.

Vegetarians that eat fish are in fact pescetariasns (sp?).

[earlyriser]

missymoola Vegetarians who eat cheese, are in fact, pests