to think that the vegetarian option should consist of more than a pizza with the pepperoni picked off

[Patinkin]

Italian day at school. Options for school dinner were lasagne and pizza. Both of which had meat in/on. The staff behind the counter picked off the pepperoni to make the pizza "vegetarian". This is not ok is it? I know different vegetarians are more/less strict but that wasn't actually supplying a vegetarian option was it? Or is it just me?

Oh of course. It was at a school the kids must be lying

not acceptable at all op

I'd have to eaten that when I was vege. You can always tell as it still tastes of the fat and maybe leaves behind a hole or pink patch.

not right at all to be lying to kids like that.

Not eaten

That was a bit silly of them. They could've just served a Cheese and Tomato pizza. Taking off the pepperoni off doesn't make it a veg option because it's been contaminated by the meat.

Yanbu at all, very poor show. Could they have not made margarita pizzas or veggie pasta.

I think making a vege option for Italian is simple as simple can be. I am conscious that, as a vege, I may see vege option as easier than a non-vege would. However, cheese and tomato pizza - how hard is that?
I also wonder if I expect too much too. But if they are serving food to children they must have some knowledge of differing dietary requirements. Have to. Right?!

When we holidayed in Germany, the only restaurants serving vegetarian food were the Italians!

Head's response - it didn't happen and my children were mistaken. Squashing another complaint. That's how the head rolls

What are you going to do Patinkin? I would need to ask other adults what happened (school cook/ dinner lady?) or even your children's class mates?

That's not vegetarian. Its had meat on it. I was vegetarian growing up. I would have eaten it as I was never that fussed about not eating meat. But most vegetarians won't. I can't believe that people who are in charge of making and serving food have such basic knowledge. We used to own a restaurant and environmental health were always really in top of providing for vegetarians, making sure there was a separate area for prep etc

There was a fuck up at dds school and dd ended up with cheesy chips for dinner. I complained to the head who denied it. Then one of the parents who was a supervisor complained too. To be fair to the head she did apologise, but I was highly unimpressed at being told my dd and get class mates were lying.

What do they say was the vege option that day?

It really grinds my gears when people can't be arsed to cater for vegetarians. If there was lasagne served, that's the meat eaters catered for, so the pizza should have been veggie. It's not bleedin rocket science ffs.

I've been veggie for 25 years and can't blv that I still come up against nonsense like this on occasion. I visited a friend's mum the other day and she made us a sandwich, she handed me mine and said "I've made you a chicken sandwich instead of beef as I know you're a vegetarian".

Amazing, isn't it, Spartacus? I was reading a new cafe menu at the weekend and it actually had a chicken salad sandwich marked as a vegetarian option. I can well believe that someone might have thought that taking the pepperoni off a pizza would turn it into a vegetarian meal.

I've been vege for 27 years and thought that schools and stuff had moved withy the times. It seems not!

If something is advertised as vegetarian there are strict guidelines. Get the head to have a look for your areas Trading Standards website, there are big fines and she could be imprisioned for 2 years! www.tradingstandards.gov.uk/cgi-bin/glos/bus1item.cgi?file=*badv600-1001.txt

Got a free school meal. No further action to be taken by school and no acceptance that it had happened.
Am Going to move my year 4 DD. Have other DD in year 6 so would be too disruptive. This is the last in a long line of things with this school - the head in particular.
We are not the first parents to change school after a similar kind of failure to accept there is anything to complain about!

I am appalled by this. That the catering was so poor and that the head denied it! Don't they print a termly menu in advance?

I have to say, with a daughter who has been gluten free for 10 years now, it never ceases to amaze me how little some catering staff do know about food, ingredients and what is acceptable.

My friend once took a chinese restaurant to environmental health when she foudn a large piece of meat in her veggie meal - turns out their common practice when asked for veggie food was to just serve the meat equivalent (this was sweet & sour dish) and try to fish out all the chunks of meat.