To think that you don't walk into a vegan cafe with a Mcdonald's burger in your hand

[TapasForTwo]

Had a lovely lunch yesterday at a bar that sells outstandingly good vegan food (I'm not vegan, but the food is insanely good).

As we were walking out DD asked if I had seen a family walk in with one of the children holding a Mcdonald's burger in their hand.

a) It is rude to bring your own food into a café anyway
b) It is breathtakingly rude to bring meat into a vegan café!

This place sells the most amazing chips, so they could easily have bought this child the chips instead of a McDonald's.

TapasForTwo YANBU

Funny people on here, just don't get it do they? It amazes me just how offended people get around vegans, having to defend their precious meat eating choices. The family were rude and entitled, the whole point of a vegan/vegetarian food establishment is that you can relax, order anything off the menu and are happy in the knowledge that you don't have to scrutinize, second guess etc. (pesto being vegetarian in mainstream for one, the hit and miss show). For half an hour you can sit there and not have the odour of fatty meat burgers wafting in your nostrils. Awww poor little Timothy wanted a burger did he, then sit in there and eat it Timothy.

Not a vegan myself, but big respect to them all, we'll be thanking them in years to come.

My main issue here is the rudeness and CFery of eating food bought elsewhere in a cafe/restaurant.

This is the main problem imho.

I must admit, I do find some vegans a bit one sided in their attitude though. If I eat with them, it has to be vegan. If they eat with me, it also has to be vegan. They get to choose - I don't.

If your child really HAS to eat McDonalds for some reason, wouldn't you just let him eat it in McDonalds before you go to the café/bar? Seems like the more sensible option.

For half an hour you can sit there and not have the odour of fatty meat burgers wafting in your nostrils

@Jaxhog, is it really an imposition to eat one plant based meal?

I agree with you OP and can not believe the responses you are getting on here.
No one has to go into a vegan cafe. If you don't like vegans cafes, don't go to one. And those that do are reasonable in expecting there to be no meat there.

Why the silly face @Sneaky? The stink of cheap burgers is far worse than cigarette smoke but you wouldn’t be hmmmming about that.

What if they were all getting a takeaway and adults fancied the yummy vegan food but other new toddler wouldn't eat it so got them a MCD ( possibly even Vege burger) before getting their takeaway? I see no problem with taking a McD bag into a food place whole ordering a takeaway

Since the op.seems to not know the answer to whether the family was planning to eat on or get a takeaway or of the burger was veggie I would say it was a typical case of unwarranted trouser hitching outrage and jumping to conclusions so.sadly often found on MN nowadays
Surely it is up.to the cafe to.deal with as they see fit.

Given that it makes sound business sense for restaurants to offer at least vegetarian option so they are catering for as many tastes as possible, surely the same business reasons work that veggie restaurants should offer at least a Couple of meat options?. Otherwise it's a complete double standard. Indians or Chinese restaurant offer English options as another example. Disclaimer I would never set foot in a vegan restaurant and couldn't care less what other people's kids are eating.

I do see an issue with taking a meat burger in while ordering take away from a vegan cafe.
And of course burgers smell of meat.

Since the op.seems to not know the answer to whether the family was planning to eat on or get a takeaway

OP said they don't do takeaway.

Alsohumam. Yes. I don't dictate what vegans choose to eat so why is it right they get to dictate what I eat.

I think the parents were rude. If their dc insisted on a McDonald’s, that’s fine. But why could they not have bought themselves vegan food from McDonald’s and sat there? I think their veggie burgers without cheese or mayo are vegan, as are there chips. No need to do this. It’s really rude. Regardless of the meat / veganism.

Or they could have got takeaway from each place and taken it home. Hate people bringing their own food into cafes. It’s ghastly and tacky.

YNBU

Taking food into a place that serves food is just rude. Most places will make an exception for babies who are just being weaned to solids but anything else is generally not allowed.

So what if the toddler then refuses to eat the meal ordered for them? They're not going to die of starvation.

surely the same business reasons work that veggie restaurants should offer at least a Couple of meat options?

I don't think it works like that, as omnivorous restaurants are the default whereas the USP of a vegan/vegetarian restaurant is that it doesn't serve meat. Vegans/vegetarians have the luxury of being able to pick from the entire menu for once, not just one or two items.

Also, meat-eaters could eat from a vegan menu. It might mean eating food that isn't particularly to their taste, but there'd be no ethical bar to finding something edible.

Rude to whom? A) The bar owners or b) the other customers?

If you mean b then if they can’t deal with a child eating meat near them then they’re the ones with the problem not the child/family.

If you meant a, than how do you know they didn’t check with the owners/ actually ate the burger in the bar/ weren’t getting takeaway/ didn’t also get chips and sides from the bar to eat with the burger? If the owners had a problem with it they could have told them they couldn’t eat it in there. Simple.

In my opinion as a vegetarian, vegetarian restaurants are somewhere I go because they have a better range of vegetarian options not because I have a problem with other people eating meat around me. My choice to be vegetarian is just that, MY choice.

“Since the op.seems to not know the answer to whether the family was planning to eat on or get a takeaway or of the burger was veggie I would say it was a typical case of unwarranted trouser hitching outrage and jumping to conclusions so.sadly often found on MN nowadays
Surely it is up.to the cafe to.deal with as they see fit.”

bumblingbovine. I am not outraged, I just think it is rude. I have already stated upthread that this place does not do takeaways. You can unhitch your trousers now

“Or they could have got takeaway from each place and taken it home.”

They don’t do takeaways for those that don’t bother to read my updates.

I’m struggling to understand why some posters don’t get why taking food to consume on the premises (health issues aside) is rude and inappropriate. Do you go to the cinema then watch a different film on your phone? Or go to the pub and get your own drinks out of your bag, or bring a flask of coffee into a coffee shop?

OP and a few people on this thread need to unclench.

"I’ve never seen a Chinese or Indian restaurant that serves English food"

Our local Indian sells English food. They have won awards for their cooking, but recognise that there may be a party of people who have one person who doesn't eat Indian food. It isn't the least bit dodgy. I can assure you.

I'm a vegan for 'ethical' reasons and don't see this as 'unethical' at all, what other people want to eat or do is up to them, if I want that courtesy back, which I do, I'm happy to extend it. I doubt I'd have noticed.
I think unless everyone in there were also not wearing leather etc on their person, the arguments moot really.

The only thing that's rude is bringing food into the cafe, but presumably they were not asked to leave, so if the establishment wasn't bothered, theres no need for anyone else to be imo, it's hardly that noteworthy, it's not like they dragged a carcass in and tainted diners- a child had a McDonalds food item, and you don't even know what it was unless you saw it.

Do people also get that the owners of restaurants and cafes aren’t always there? A lot of times you’re expecting often low-paid staff to deal with the conflict - they don’t know if the customer is going to kick off, or complain, or otherwise be difficult about it.

And having worked in cafes, part of the issue is that once you stretch the rules a little, people have a real tendency to take the piss and that affects the bottom line. So while a one off may seem innocuous, it can be the thin end of the wedge.

The owner isn't always there. He also has a "day job". The bar is a sideline of his.

Goodness. What a lot of unpleasant humans. Smug mockery at it's finest. What must these angry housewives be lacking in life to jump onto these threads. So sad. Of course it's rude. It's not even negotiable.

Maybe they were getting take out?