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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 17:24

It's a bit different killing pigs to make bacon than it is to kill a person, no matter how well they were cured. And resorting to eating fellow (already dead) passengers on an Andean mountainside is something else entirely.

Mussels though, how can anyone get upset about mussels? I can't help but think eating molluscs and small crustaceans is more ethically OK than the dairy industry (whatever species' milk we're talking about).

RandyRudolf · 30/12/2013 17:24

It's funny how we can be squeamish about such things isn't it. In China they eat cats and dogs, in Thailand bugs on sticks. In India cows are sacred and Muslims don't eat pork. Everyone has their reasons to eat or not to eat.

RandyRudolf · 30/12/2013 17:26

It's a bit different killing pigs to make bacon than it is to kill a person, no matter how well they were cured

Well, to kill and animal or to kill a person, murder either way as permission hasn't been given. I think I'd be more inclined to eat a human if it gave me permission over an animal that couldn't. Just my opinion.

cafecito · 30/12/2013 17:28

Same thing happened to me in Nando's circa 2007.. ordered vegetarian pitta, served chicken pitta, pregnant hungry and distracted ate half the thing... end of lifelong vegetarianism

JohnnyBarthes · 30/12/2013 17:28

No foolish yip-yapping from this omnivore, Silver

My issue with the whole horse meat thing was the lack of traceability and accountability - that meat could have been unfit for human consumption (as in acutely poisonous rather than just bad for you, iykwim).

TondelayoSchwarzkopf · 30/12/2013 17:30

I don't think the woman is being unreasonable in complaining.

However, I don't get why religious vegetarians seem to be privileged over people who are veg for health and / or ethical reasons. I would have thought it was poor service regardless of your reasons for being veg.

JohnnyBarthes · 30/12/2013 17:31

I am thinking of that episode of the IT Crowd now, Randy Grin

Rufustherednosedreindeer · 30/12/2013 17:32

For goodness sake!

Three friends of mine wanted to go out to dinner, they fancied nandos as they had never been

So I as the lone vegetarian should say " we are not going because even though they offer a veggie substitute it is pre dominantly a chicken restaurant"

Great...people already think vegetarians are fussy buggers, let's add to that!

If morally you don't want to eat in a place that sells meat that's great but I would quite like to eat out with my family and friends

And there are no veggie places in my village, or my town and not that many in the surrounding areas

RandyRudolf · 30/12/2013 17:34

Must leave now to do a quick supermarket run. I might suggest to the manager that he trails a human flesh shelf Grin look out for evening news ..women escorted out of supermarket

Thants · 30/12/2013 17:36

Firstly holoumi cheese is firm and chewy when cooked and secondly they probably told her it was a holoumi wrap and someone had plated it wrong. Not that they exclaimed chicken wrap and she accepted it. My vegetarian friend was served chicken in a wrap at Nandos too and did vomit as soon as she tasted it. They were very apologetic and gave us vouchers and our money back but clearly they aren't very careful with their veggie food. Hopefully this story going to the press will make them change procedures so they can cater appropriately for vegetarians.

mewmeow · 30/12/2013 17:38

I don't know why people expect the mirror/mail/sun to have real news anyway, it's always at this level of importance.

There could be a bomb gone off in the middle east killing 50 locals and the low-grade British tabloid's front page stories would be the queen has a new pair of slippers or something.

I personally (in this particular instance) think it must've been horrible for her, and have a lot of sympathy. I think time off work was justified given the longevity and importance of her vegetarianism. However, I don't always have as much sympathy and some of these so called news/ real life event stories are absolutely ridiculous.

Thants · 30/12/2013 17:41

People didn't say this about the horse meat scandal. Meat eaters get given different meat and are allowed to be disgusted but veggies aren't when given meat at all?

LadyIsabellasHollyWreath · 30/12/2013 17:44

Nandos veggie options are delicious though, and it's really sad if their vegetarian customers are let down by unreliable staff. Whilst this woman does seem to have gone a bit OTT, it's probably a good thing overall if it highlights their slightly flaky practice and gets a memo sent round to all the managers to spell out to the staff in words of one syllable that this stuff matters - let's face it, if they can't be trusted with vegetarians then can they be trusted with allergies?

redshifter · 30/12/2013 17:46

I don't get why religious vegetarians seem to be privileged over people who are veg for health and / or ethical reasons

Neither do I.

In fact I have more respect for people who make dietary choices for health/ethical reasons than for people who do so for silly and weird religious reasons.

Onesleeptillwembley · 30/12/2013 17:50

The only time I went to Nandos they served me a pile of shit. It took me a week to recover.

riskit4abiskit · 30/12/2013 17:50

I love nandos and always find the service to be good. They definitely announce not only your dish but also the Spice level. So I am with the posters who said the lady in question was probably not listening.

Also the food is often sticking out the side of the pitta or bun so you can see what it is too.

Also they are good with kids in our local.

(Don't work for nandos btw!)

TheBigJessie · 30/12/2013 18:02

Johnny you think dead pig and dead human are completely different. Which is fine. But you're taking that position as a universal view.

From this thread (I won't click the Mail, grrrr! Xmas Grin) I have gleaned that the lady is Hindu, as many people are. I won't pretend to be a theological expert as I haven't been a Hindu of any kind for 15 years (and when I was, I was a relatively confused teenage one Xmas Wink), but it's a totally different mindset from middle of the road Sunday roast and veg, or even vegetarians who find meat immoral. If she's a Hindu, she believes in souls and that souls are reincarnated as different kinds of lifeform, based on their deeds in past lives. She isn't approaching this from the angle of "completely different creatures" but the one of "that had a spark of godhead just like me and I ate part of it".

I hope I haven't offended any current Hindus with my broad brush explanations. If I have, I sincerely apologise.

BackOnlyBriefly · 30/12/2013 18:07

Saying you dislike the choice that vegetarians make may be foolish, but it's not racist. The fact that lots of people in India are Hindu and quite a lot of Hindus are vegetarian is beside the point and making that connection sounds racist to me.

What next? If someone says they don't like dancing would someone say "Ha! black people are good dancers so you are racist".

Also Laurie, if Akak is one of those who would put a dog before a human then it's ok to despise her/him for that. I'm with you on that one, but since when is it appropriate to bring in posts on other threads on different subjects to bolster your argument on this one?

BackOnlyBriefly · 30/12/2013 18:15

Btw on the horsemeat thing. I didn't feel shocked that I might have eaten horse. Since I eat meat anyway, I don't have any moral objection to horse, cat, dog or whatever.

I was a little concerned that they had no idea what was in it. I'd prefer my meat to be healthy and undiseased.

I have dealt with that issue by cutting out the processed stuff where you can't tell what's in it. That's probably a good move anyway.

LaurieFairyCake · 30/12/2013 18:16

I think it's about consistency Back - it's obvious from Akaks position on other threads that he views his dog above others children.

I don't think there's a problem with saying that posters have similar thoughts in other threads Confused

There's nothing in the Mumsnet guidelines that says that every post you make is independant of another.

Original poster
musicboxwoundbyakey · 30/12/2013 18:17

yabu. How would you feel if you were accidentally served human? I KNOW that it is not the same

Then what a stupid comment to make.

I think anyone who went to Nandos and had a human burger would be worthy of a news story in any paper.

There was enough scandal about horse meat.

OP posts:
GlitzAndGiggles · 30/12/2013 18:17

I'm sorry but surely you'd notice. Halloumi is pretty salty and a bit rubbery (I love it however). Nandos did serve me chicken which was pink in the middle though. Might have to contact a few papers £££

TheBigJessie · 30/12/2013 18:19

rufustherednosedreindeer

So I as the lone vegetarian should say " we are not going because even though they offer a veggie substitute it is pre dominantly a chicken restaurant"

Great...people already think vegetarians are fussy buggers, let's add to that!

Very good point, Rufus! Can you imagine the chorus of YABU if you started a thread asking if it was reasonable to refuse to go with friends to restaurants that served meat? I've seen people claim it's vegetarian bridal couples duty to provide meat at the reception on here! And now it's "well, if it was really important to her, she wouldn't have set foot in Nando's"...

Original poster
musicboxwoundbyakey · 30/12/2013 18:20

So I as the lone vegetarian should say " we are not going because even though they offer a veggie substitute it is pre dominantly a chicken restaurant"

Great...people already think vegetarians are fussy buggers, let's add to that!

Erm ... no. But if you by accident ate meat which would cause you such distress that you cried yourself to sleep and couldn't work the next day and felt the need for country to know about it then yes I would expect you to pick your restaurants more carefully.

I haven't seen anyone call vegetarians fussy buggers on this thread (or any other), being a vegetarian does obviously add a limit on what you can eat but it certainly doesn't make you fussy.

OP posts:
TheBigJessie · 30/12/2013 18:22

FFS, MNHQ needs to add an edit function. I left out an apostrophe.

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