Strict vegetarian being asked to try meat

[PinkFeather]

So, I am a strict vegetarian and have recently started a new job working in a kitchen. The job is wonderful except for one thing...the chef expects me to try meat/meat based products to make sure the flavouring is good.
The thought of trying meat makes me feel physically ill, I have no problem preparing and cooking it, I just don't eat it.
Am I right in thinking it is wrong to ask a vegetarian to do this?

It's wrong to ask. Don't do it.
What would the chef say if you were for example Muslim and they'd prepared a pork-based dish?
Yanbu, stand your ground.

I was veggie and a chef for years due to health issues. I always tasted the food, you have to it is the job I am afraid.
Even our waiting staff tasted the food.

Tasting the food is a key part of your job.

Do you tell them you are a vegetarian at interview? Does your job require you to cook or just prep?

I'd question that you were working in the right place tbh

Ethics of the situation aside, There wouldn't be much point in you tasting meat to check flavour if you have no experience of eating the stuff.

I do tend to agree that you need to taste it. Did you not expect to have to do that?

I think you need to try for a job in a vegetarian restaurant. I say this as a committed vegetarian of over 30 years

Yes explained in the interview that I wouldn't be able to try the meat dishes, I prep the food only. Been veggie for 20years so not something I would consider changing now but really love the job.

You're a chef!

It's your job. Not tasting food is the equilvalent to a doctor refusing to preform a medical task because he doesn't agree with it

Surely it is a cooks job to check how the food tastes before sending it to customers?

Did they know you were strictly vegetarian when they gave you the job?

I wouldn't try meat, but then I wouldn't work in a kitchen that prepared it, either!

How could you taste it, anyway? Surely even if you did you'd find it abhorrent? Can you get someone else to be your official meat taster?

I think you need to try what you've cooked but confused as to why they would hire you, knowing you're veggie, and then ask you this.

It's a difficult one, I completely understand your commitment to being a vegetarian, however I think that does mean that you can't work in this particular kitchen because you won't be able to do all the tasks expected of you.

Would it be possible to change jobs? Are there no vegetarian/vegan restaurants around?

Are you prepping the meat? Surely that's an ethical issue in itself?

If you explained in the interview that you wouldn't be able to do this, and they gave you the job anyway, then YANBU to refuse to do it.

So you assess the seasoning, how? Just by instinct?

Not sure I'd be cool with that, tbh. It might taste way too salty etc and you're serving it up regardless.

I think you need to join a vegetarian restaurant.

You don't say what your job is - 'working in a kitchen' could mean anything from washing and clearing up to being a sous-chef.

If you're not involved in the actual cooking you have every right to say 'I don't eat meat, can someone else do that?' If you're involved in the food preparation, can I ask what you do about preparing meat dishes? I'm vegetarian and wouldn't want to do that - but probably wouldn't go for such a job in the first place.

Sounds like the people who did the hiring hadn't communicated properly with the guy who was actually going to be working with you. They needn't to fight it out between them.

talk to the boss and explain that it was discussed in the interview that you were a strict veggie and would not be able to taste meat dishes.

but unfortunately if this prevents you doing the job, you'll need to move on. Sorry.

Difficult issue. To my mind the key question is can you perform your job properly without doing the tasting? If you can then it's unnecessary asking you and you should decline saying this isn't needed for me to do my job. If you need to taste the food and made it clear at interview you wouldn't be able to do part of your job and they still offered you the position tell the chef 'adjustments have been made so I am excused from part of the job so please stop asking me to do something management have agreed I don't have to do'. Worth checking your contract and probabtion period as I expect chef will hold more sway then you if you're new.

If you haven't eaten meat for 20 years you won't know if it tastes right anyway. I think it's unreasonable to ask you to do this for this reason even before all the others, it will all taste horrible whatever. It would make much more sense for someone who knows what it should taste like to taste it.

I prep the food only

The chef is probably doing it to wind you up. Surely it is their job to check their flavouring not yours?

if you explained in the interview, I think you have covered yourself.

they may have cocked up communication though, and if they have, I'm sorry to say you might have to part ways.

TBH (and I say this as a vegan) I think YABU. Working in a kitchen you need to be able to understand what you are making even if it is "just" prep. You need to be able to taste all of the dishes.

You either need to find a job in a veggie/vegan kitchen, or find a new career.

Given that you declared it at interview and they went on to offer the job, YANBU at all to actually uphold that, and complain if they pester.

(As a lifelong vegetarian myself) I think that if you hadn't declared it upfront they wouldn't be U to ask you, and although it would be OK for you to refuse (as in, you wouldn't be obliged to eat it), it also might mean that in their eyes you weren't fulfilling your role properly and might eventually be sacked.