to expect chips to be vegetarian?

[hugoagogo]

and if they aren't that this should be made clear?

I understand that some people enjoy chips cooked in lard or goose or duck fat and that is fine with me as long as I know.

BUT as a general rule vegetables should be vegie no?

Goose fat!

'Prepared' beans have fat and spices, on the assumption you want to use them in meaty stew. It's really hard to find plain ones. We also found a vegetable patty / burger, all veg except a smidge of meat bouillon. Just not made for a vegetarian market.

OHforDUCKScake, they are, really. I know because I had to put DS on a wheat and dairy free diet and read every ingredient on everything I gave him. This was under the instruction of the Paediatrician. He was then admitted to hospital for an unrelated problem and they kept trying to give him ham and chips for every meal. Apart from anything else, he needed good nutritious food, not crap but they did not know whether the chips were ones with or without whey powder on them.

YABU!!!!!

Chips and roast potatoes are traditionally cooked in beef dripping.

As a vegetarian it is your responsibility to find out if the chips are vegetarian or not, after all you are the one with the restricted diet. You only have to ask.

YABU to expect them to be vegetarian.

You should ask if it's not clear. Is it really that hard to ask?

It was only in my late teens when I was dating a wanker guy who worked in a fish and chippie that I discovered that it was cooked with the fish, shortly afterwards my little sister came home from work at a restaurant and said about how the chips were cooked with meat and fried in a mix of oils and lard (more because of how 'cleanly' they were in that kitchen!).

I thought that they had to have a sign up but apparently they don't.

Lottie: I remember buying chickpeas in France and eating half the tin before discovering a huge hunk of meat in the bottom when I was a kid!

Yabu. Why should there be signs up everywhere to acomodate your diet choices?

Oh, and no to signs. As other people have said, you should ask. Also, when we live in a country which does things traditionally like using lard for veg, why would you not check?!

Though saying that, I'd assume in chain restaurants that they are veggie unless stated otherwise, such as Toby Carvery, because they used to make a point on their menu that all of the veg was vegetarian except for that cooked in with the meat and that would be labelled.

There was an episode of QI a while back where Stephen Fry read out a list of all the products that contained pig - it was a ridiculously long list, not just food, and a whole load of stuff you wouldn't expect. It made me think that if you are a vegetarian or vegan on ethical grounds, it's impossible to keep animal products out of your life, because they're everywhere.

Oh it's possible Hackmum and there are reference books regularly updated on the subject for exactly that reason. You do have to take personal responsibility though.

Anyone who limits their 'vegetarianism' to avoiding visible or obvious meat products will not be close to being a true vegetarian (though IMO, they are doing something that makes a big difference to their diet, which, in line with whatever reasons are behind their choice, is much, much better than doing nothing or feeling intimidated into inaction by the impossibility of perfection).

YANBU.

I don't think it's unreasonable to make that assumption. But I seem to be a lone voice.

Lottie about goose fat! I think everything should be labelled. It's taking away consumer choice and being able to make an informed choice is important. Horse meat in beef burgers?

I asked for vegetarian iron tablets, surprisingly difficult to get hold of.

Rummikub: Try simplysupplements.net for veggie iron, they are quite good and cheap.

Oh, the goose fat is on the labels, so you do just have to read and it's highlighted on the front, in that are desribed as 'prepared' beans. It's just that it's quite hard to find 'plain' unprepared beans or chickpeas, or in brine, the way we get them here.

So the wider point is, you need to have some awareness of the food culture of the place you're in and not make assumptions based on what you choose to do at home - which applies equally to being aware of British food culture and the long tradition of cooking chips in beef fat, of course.

That's good that they are labelled as such. I do check labels and gelatine is in a surprising number of items. I was most annoyed that Kellogg's mini maxi used gelatine.

I do agree about having awareness about processed food but do feel that eateries, supermarkets and manufacturers should help make choices clearer.

Thanks for that info pixie. Much appreciated.

I would never assume chips were veggie, as it's common to use animal fat in cooking. I don't think this needs to be made clear. You can't label everything - it is the responsibility of the customer to ask

Chips in animal fat = lush.

YABU. And I say that a former veggie.

I have two veggie teens. They ask first. Just the sensible thing to do, surely?

To answer your op, op, I do think that anywhere serving chips should say what they are cooked in. Its a small thing and makes it easier for vegetarians or the people who prefer not to eat animal fat.

Yanbu.

I don't. Most of their consumers won't be interested. You are asking because of a lifestyle choice not allergy.

You wanna know, you ask.

I was veggie for years. I always asked.

Also, if lots of people ask, then don't buy if they are cooked in dripping, the shop might start using vegetable fat. At least, that was my hope.