To have asked him to choose a different sandwich

You should be cringing with embarrassment that you asked that. Even if it was about an allergy you would be wrong to ask him. Items on the shelves are for anyone to buy for whatever reason. You don't get to vet people's choices.

I just can’t understand the general response here. Why should it be rude or offensive to politely ask someone if they really need something or whether another would suit because of your requirements. He just has to say, no I want this one. No need for his wife to comment.
Most places I’ve lived in outside the UK, this would be totally ok and would be an opportunity to exchange pleasantries. On MN almost all behaviour can be seen as cause to be on the defensive. Lighten up and be pleasant

The entitlement of some people.

Vegetarianism is your life choice. Not his. YABU.

Cheeze used to have animal fat added to it. This practice ended around 40 years ago though.

@Everythinggreen

Delusional? 🤣 ok.

It's delusional to think so. Maybe if you look at chain places like Wagamama there will be more vegan with additional veggie options, although Wetherspoons chain have a huge amount of veggie options and limited vegan.

But go to local independent Italian, Chinese, Indian, Thai, lebanese restaurants and you're hard pushed to get even more than one vegan option and even rarer to be able to join anyone for Sunday lunch anywhere. That's not me slating them cos any restaurant is well within their rights to offer what they offer. You must just be lucky (or should I say unlucky) that everywhere you go caters for vegans more than veggies.

Unbelievable arrogance I'm afraid. Entitled too.

Are you 3? That is the only way you’d be being slightly reasonable in your behaviour although you’d still get told off for being rude.

I would not have
minded at all if you asked me. I would have accommodated if I could or politely declined if I could not.

No way is anyone that cheeky! If you are fair play, but the concept of asking someone to give me their sandwich because it’s what I’d prefer is cringeworthy.

😳

That's how it used to be for vegetarians. But now instead of the more varied vegetarian options we'd finally got there's now more vegan in most places I've been to. Veganism is newer to the 'trend' scene than vegetarianism and yet we're suffering for it.

Your “philosophy” is just a pretentious preference.

@SmileyClare that's cracked me up, thank you! The 'ingredients' 😁

So as someone who is a vegetarian for philosophical reasons, why did you actively encourage a stranger to choose a meat sandwich?
That's a bit strange.
Surely, the most philosophical thing to have done was to silently cheer him for choosing cheese (are we just ignoring the fact that everyone knows the dairy industry is far more cruel than the meat btw?) and picked another vegetarian product.

It's upsetting me how close to my username yours is, and some people could confuse us, because what you've said has actually offended me.
You CANNOT compare your dietary preference to an allergy. You are choosing to not eat meat, people with allergies life may be at risk if they eat the wrong thing. So saying you would sacrifice the last gluten free sandwich for someone is absolutely NOT the same thing. There must have been multiple other things you could have eaten from a coop! P.s processed sandwiches are almost always cross contaminated from an allergy POV, so your cheese sandwich had probably rubbed shoulders with a dead animal at some point anyway!

Yep- it’s got all the ingredients:
-in a supermarket ✔️
-“bat shit” female shopper - The Antagonist ✔️
-faux innocent op with her good ethical choices- The Victim ✔️
-pious vegetarianism ✔️
-trivial subject matter ✔️

There’s some comedy value but about as much truth as an episode of Hollyoaks

I'm not vegetarian either and I very rarely eat meat sandwiches.

@WhamBamThankU I think that depends on where you live. Certainly far from true where I am, there are loads of vegetarian options and if I'm lucky one vegan option. Then for me it's either the one vegan option or nothing. English heritage places are terrible for this. Jacket potato with baked beans, no vegan spread, side salad or anything just literally those 2 things or nothing.

Cheeky chancer! I haven’t heard that term in a while. But honestly - I have kids with allergies, so it’s a medical necessity as to what they can and can’t eat and I wouldn’t dream of doing this! Does medical need trump philosophical choice I wonder?!

so Many vegetarians/ vegans - eat less meat / animal products .
A shopper does this suddenly not an issue .

tbh it was the question asking if he was veggie that was invasive .

There's no harm in asking but it does depend how it's said. Assuming you asked politely and without pressuring the man, his wife massively overreacted!!!

Medsy · Today 13:36
I asked really politely if there was any chance he would change his mind and he seemed to be hesitating when the woman came from behind me and said "excuse me? That is so rude!". I just ignored her and said thanks anyway and good luck to the guy.

Obviously should have read more. So she did not really go batshit did she.

@ManchesterGirl2 exactly. It's the act of buying the meat sandwich that leads to more being produced.