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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to think the vegetarian who was served and ate chicken by mistake in Nandos is overreacting?

362 replies

musicboxwoundbyakey · 30/12/2013 14:51

Sorry Mail link

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2531093/I-feel-like-not-body-anymore-Vegetarians-outrage-going-Nandos-served-chicken-mistake.html

She asked for grilled halloumi cheese pitta and was served chicken. Which she ate half and didn't realise as she was talking to her friend.

She tried to make herself sick and had to sent home from work the next day as she was so upset and feels her body is not her own anymore.

How you wouldn't be able to tell the difference between cheese and chicken is a little beyond me. The cheese would be gooey and runny and chicken would have chewy - and they both have completely difference tastes??

It doesn't mention this in the article but the server always comes over and says - "chicken burger with medium sauce" etc so surely they probably said chicken pitta to her too??

But maybe iabu because she has never had meat before for religious reasons.

OP posts:
JohnnyBarthes · 30/12/2013 18:34

Jessie I'm an absolutist when it comes to killing people to eat Grin

I've never been a Hindu (confused teenage or otherwise) but your explanation seems a good one - it makes perfect sense to me that a religious objector to meat has a bigger reason to be upset than one avoiding it for health or environmental reasons. That's my relativist side, there.

Rufustherednosedreindeer · 30/12/2013 18:47

Did not say that anyone on this thread said vegetarians are fussy buggers, no one here would be that mean would they? Grin

And you should be able yo go to a place that says it does veggie meals and assume that you would actually get a veggie meal, it's not fucking difficult..... Except for Nandos obviously

JohnnyBarthes · 30/12/2013 18:58

I have to say that in 18 gazillions of years of restaurant work, serving countless vegetarians, vegans, coeliacs, people with allergies and intolerances, those with religious requirements and a fair few genuine WTF fussy buggers with pretend dietary foibles, that I never served someone with a verboten foodstuff. Ever.

There's no excuse, imo.

DM woman is still a bit ridiculous however.

Norudeshitrequired · 30/12/2013 19:09

I wasn't appalled at the idea of perhaps having consumed horsemeat during the scandal. I was appalled that it wasn't clear if the horsemeat was safe for human consumption or contained bute or other harmful drugs. Horsemeat, beef, sheep etc as long as it's safe it's all meat.
I would be appalled if I went to nandos and ordered my fave chicken pitta and they gave me some veggie crap, but I wouldn't go taking time off work or bleating to the newspapers in the hope that I get a huge compensation payout for the emotional trauma.

Original poster
musicboxwoundbyakey · 30/12/2013 19:17

And you should be able yo go to a place that says it does veggie meals and assume that you would actually get a veggie meal, it's not fucking difficult..... Except for Nandos obviously

No but mistakes happen unfortunately. Not saying that's an excuse but it was a genuine mistake.

And reading this thread shows you that it isn't just Nandos.

OP posts:
MerylStrop · 30/12/2013 19:20

I was vegetarian from age 6 to age 37, vegan for 5 of those years and still don't really eat much meat.

I think she has a nerve to be so disgusted. Halloumi and chicken are utterly dissimilar in appearance, texture and flavour. Unless she had never tried Halloumi before either?

I am amazed that someone claiming to be so food conscious, would be so disinterested in what was on her plate as not to look at it or register what she was eating. Pretty disgusting in itself.

HappyShittyNewYear · 30/12/2013 19:20

She didn't take the whole next day off work, that was typical exaggeration.

TheBigJessie · 30/12/2013 19:43

I've never eaten halloumi or chicken but from the pictures on page 2 of the thread, they look bloody similar.

Mind you, it once took me half an hour to realise the reason why my young children weren't eating the potato skins loaded with cheese was because it... wasn't cheese. It was bacon. Delivery mix-up.* Turns out my children are vegetarian by choice.

*I also gave them vegetable pasties in town. In a buggy. And they've each had a fruit shoot.

LynetteScavo · 30/12/2013 19:46

TheBigJessie Vegetable pasties, as opposed to sausage rolls, are quite acceptable.

FreudiansSlipper · 30/12/2013 19:48

why would someone who is so concerned about eating meat eat in a restaurant that specialises in chicken

yes she is upset but the drama Hmm

i know muslims who only eat in halal restaurants because they do not want to eat pork or pork products there are plenty of restaurants that have a very varied vegetarian option nandos is not one of the

mewmeow · 30/12/2013 19:50

A few people on here appear to have a deep seated problem with vegetarianism and are using this thread to to assert it. why on earth would anyone have a problem with vegetarianism? :s Confused

I'm genuinely baffled, it can't possibly do you or anyone else any amount of harm. If anything it could be to your benefit from an environmental point of view. Can someone shed any light on a possible legitimate reason for this dislike of someone's healthier, greener, more humane dietary choice?

RandyRudolf · 30/12/2013 19:52

mewmew possibly because it's different and some people can't cope or even accept that in other people. Such a shame.

LynetteScavo · 30/12/2013 19:54

I don't get the anti-vegetarian thing either. Confused

I actually think the world would be a better place if almost everyone was vegetarian.

The days of needing to eat meat are long gone for most of the world.

TheBigJessie · 30/12/2013 19:55

Lynette what about cheese pasties from Greggs, though? Although they were too snobby to eat more than half of those. Xmas Grin it had to be samosas (cultural, innit?), Greggs cakes, or Moroccan Vegetable from the expensive pasty shop. Xmas Grin

RandyRudolf · 30/12/2013 19:55

Wise words Lynette Smile

FreudiansSlipper · 30/12/2013 19:57

oh yes some can not take someone being different

how is being vegetarian being different. how many people are, what 20% of the population it is hardly being different

the drama of the story is what is annoying, nandos is famous for its chicken its dishes are mainly chicken. is the halloumi grilled on a different grill, if not (i would hope so) it will be covered in chicken fat

JohnnyBarthes · 30/12/2013 20:00

I get the anti-vegetarianism. It's the same objection people have to any 'ism'.

It's a bit childish, yes, but it grates whenever people take the moral high ground.

RandyRudolf · 30/12/2013 20:01

Many vegetarians get an inquest as to where they get their protein, Vit B, calcium etc etc? funny how some people suddenly become nutritional experts once they're speaking to a vegetarian.

FreudiansSlipper · 30/12/2013 20:14

i came back from travelling a vegetarian, yes i was asked those questions as i had been a meat eater before but hardly a big deal people are just interested, some do not get it but i think it is far from being different now, being a vegan yes

i eat meat now

the thread is about a women having selling a non story to the dm. really if you are that bothered about eating meat would it not cross you mind that the grills may have animal fat on. like i said before i know muslims who will only eat in halal or kosher restaurants becaues they do not want to eat pork or pork products

nandos would not be top of my list if i was eating out with a vegetarian if i knew they feared eating meat that much, which i understand what i do not is why you would choose nandos with all that chicken about

MadAsFish · 30/12/2013 20:17

I've been a vegetarian for more than 30 years and frankly compared to some of the truly awful experiences I've had mostly in France abroad

I love it here, but this is definitely a hard place to be a vegetarian. I sometimes call it the land of a thousand and one ways with pig.

And I'm all about the cake, too.

topic: I think she's overreacting a bit.

Rufustherednosedreindeer · 30/12/2013 20:25

I completely agree that she is over acting, as I've said

I tried getting a veggie dish for a takeaway Chinese and an Indian I was buying in asda for extended family to eat....mission impossible

Having said that if you fancied beef or lamb or any meat apart from chicken you were bang out of luck as well

And I know it's my fault for shopping in asda before anyone says that.....it's just that it was the closest Blush

kungfupannda · 30/12/2013 20:30

I sympathise with her - I've been vegetarian for 26 years and I've been accidentally given meat on a couple of occasions, resulting in me being quite sick - I'm told you can lose the ability to process meat after not eating it for a long time.

But I've never felt the need to go to the papers about it. Why would you do that? Confused

Rufustherednosedreindeer · 30/12/2013 20:33

Not over acting.....over reacting!

But only in going to the media

Mignonette · 30/12/2013 20:35

People who care about animal welfare would never eat in Nandos.

She wasn't too concerned with the sanctity of the life of the animals they serve there and the brief horrible lives they led prior to their slaughter.

Mignonette · 30/12/2013 20:38

Just to qualify, I have no issues with Vegetarians. The man I love is one as are all of his three children. I will only eat certain types of meat and fish (non intensively reared, preferably wild game such as rabbit, free range chicken from a local farmer who I know) now and I am finding this increasingly hard to justify.