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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

‘Tricked’ by vegan sausages

449 replies

Rhubarbpeony · 10/03/2020 10:32

I had a friend round for dinner last night. It was a last minute plan (she lives in another city and only told me on the day that she was free that evening) so I didn’t make anything fancy. I had in the fridge a packet of Richmond vegan sausages and some potatoes, which I turned into olive oil mash. I’ve been vegan for about ten years - longer than the entire time I have known this friend. We have cooked for each other many times in the past.

As we were finishing eating, my husband got home from a late work event and saw that we had had the sausages. It’s not a brand we have tried before and they’re much cheaper than the kind we usually get, so he asked if they had been nice. I said they were good, and I’d happily have them again.

Friend gets a really odd look on her face and then says to me ‘you didn’t tell me these were vegan sausages.’ I said no, I assumed she would know that anything I cooked or ate would be vegan. She said I was wrong to assume, and that I had tricked her. She said it would be like me coming to dinner at her house and being tricked into eating a meat sausage.

AIBU or are these two things not the same?! For one thing, I definitely don’t feel like I tricked her - she saw me cook the sausages, and if she had asked anything about them I would have told her what was in them. For another, her diet doesn’t preclude her from eating vegan items, but mine does preclude me from eating meat, so IMO it’s a lot worse to give a vegan a meat sausage than it is to give a non-vegan a vegan sausage.

(for info: the sausages don’t contain any soy, and she doesn’t have any food allergies)

OP posts:
Aswad · 10/03/2020 11:35

After she’d had a free meal?! Never invite her again!

canterburytales · 10/03/2020 11:35

@myDcareMarvel, loads of meat products especially processed like sausages, hot dogs, salami etc contains soy. I fail to see how you could be cross unless you tell the person who is cooking for you that you are avoiding soya. It's in loads of food containing meat especially processed meat.

GinAndNightnurse · 10/03/2020 11:35

I wonder! Clever idea. I’ll now be looking out for hidden messages in Mumsnet threads grin

There have been a few things over the years that have become hugely in demand due to the Mumsnet factor so I ALWAYS do a quick AV whenever I sense that someone might be trying to create a stir around a particular product. You'd be surprised how often it's a brand new poster. Wink

IndigoHexagon · 10/03/2020 11:36

Those sausages are the nicest, non meat sausages ever! She’s weird!

Knittedfairies · 10/03/2020 11:37

So she was expecting you to have 'real' sausages in the fridge, on the off-chance a meat-eater would turn up for dinner? Bizarre.

dottiedodah · 10/03/2020 11:37

I have friends who are veggie ,and would never expect them to cook meat based products for me! We were at fund raiser over the W/E and had a delicious vegan curry ! This seems very odd behaviour on her part TBH

Rhubarbpeony · 10/03/2020 11:37

@MyDcAreMarvel please don’t take this as me trying to convert you into eating soy because I’m not - it’s totally your choice what you eat. But in case it’s reassuring to you / anyone else reading this thread, it is safe for women to eat soy whilst ttc. The fear that plant-derived estrogens will impact on fertility has been debunked. In fact one study showed it may actually improve fertility outcomes (but it was a small sample group, so I don’t set too much store by it).

I totally understand that some people just don’t like soy and that’s absolutely fine - I eat very little of it myself! But I don’t want anyone reading this to panic if they eat soy and are ttc.

OP posts:
Newjez · 10/03/2020 11:37

She didn't have a problem with the vegan potatoes then?

ContessaferJones · 10/03/2020 11:38

Ginandnightnurse I do tend to tell people that the cake I've made and brought in is vegan, but more as a courtesy than anything else! The people who sit near me know that it must be vegan if I'm eating it/made it.

I make absolutely no claims of healthiness, you'll be pleased to know Grin

GinAndNightnurse · 10/03/2020 11:38

So she was expecting you to have 'real' sausages in the fridge, on the off-chance a meat-eater would turn up for dinner? Bizarre.

Isn't it?

Rhubarbpeony · 10/03/2020 11:39

@Newjez for some reason she was fine with those!

OP posts:
BennyVegas · 10/03/2020 11:40

loads of meat products especially processed like sausages, hot dogs, salami etc contains soy

I never go near hot dogs, but sausages and salami rarely contain soy in my experience - as a coeliac I study ingredients lists a lot

handslikecowstits · 10/03/2020 11:40

@madcatladyforever

What utter tripe

He he he. See what you did there. Grin

Rhubarbpeony · 10/03/2020 11:40

@Knittedfairies I suppose she may have thought I had bought some on the way home?

I actually suspect she knew all along they were vegan but she was trying to prove a point about the fact that I hadn’t specifically flagged it.

OP posts:
NemophilistRebel · 10/03/2020 11:41

So she’s effectively saying that she doesnt believe in eating vegan ?

slipperywhensparticus · 10/03/2020 11:41

I would be questioning sausages because I'm gluten intolerant and most sausages contain wheat but of course my friends know this and would check first

If1knewiwouldnotbehere · 10/03/2020 11:42

You were both wrong. I wouldn't eat them because I don't believe in eating fake meat. If you were my friend you would know that and hopefully would have asked, and if I were your friend knowing you were vegan I would not think you went out especially for me to get meat.

I can't eat Soy, and I don't like processed vegan/vegetarian food.

If I had mistakenly eaten it i'd be surprised if I'd liked itand if I hadn't I'd be gracious about it and tell you I enjoyed it.

Hope that helps.

madcatladyforever · 10/03/2020 11:43

He he he. See what you did there.

Grin
youareatwatadmitit · 10/03/2020 11:44

YWBU .... to ever cook for this twerp ever again.

CarolHasAnotherUTI · 10/03/2020 11:44

The most surprising thing about this that is that a vegan doesn't know that tvp is basically processed soya.

DontCallMeShitley · 10/03/2020 11:46

I must be mixing them up with another brand, I thought they were tvp! I mentioned it only because I know some people don’t like soya bean products (although that wasn’t my friend’s issue last night, she didn’t mention it)

TVP is made from soy.

TerrorWig · 10/03/2020 11:47

So she has no restrictions in what she can eat, but feels aggrieved that you served her something that by her own admission is something she is ‘allowed’?

Ok then Hmm.

@If1knewiwouldnotbehere - so in essence then, you would have said no thank you to the sausages in the first instance? Because obviously you would have asked to see the packaging to make sure it didn’t include any of the stuff you can’t or won’t eat? Or would you assume a vegan had cooked and eaten meat sausages to keep you happy? Blush

TerrorWig · 10/03/2020 11:48

Oops that should be a Confused

Rhubarbpeony · 10/03/2020 11:48

Every day is a school day! For some reason I thought tvp was from peas. I don’t really care because while I don’t eat a lot of meat substitutes, I have no problem with them containing soy when I do.

OP posts:
PersephoneandHades · 10/03/2020 11:49

@TealWater it isn't a weak argument, veganism is a moral belief, not a lifestyle choice; it is by law just as protected a belief as religion is.

If she wanted to choose to not eat vegan food then she should have stated that clearly before accepting the dinner invitation, not expected the OP to read her mind. And she then also should have assumed that the dinner invite would be revoked/she would be asked to bring her own meat to add to the dinner, since expecting a vegan to cook meat for you, especially in their own home, is very inappropriate.

OP, she is behaving weirdly and I wouldn't give her any more attention on the matter. I find that some non-vegans expect their preferences to be catered to without giving it any thought since it is the norm, even in other people's homes. This doesn't mean that this behaviour is acceptable or something you need to put up with though.