How far would you go to accommodate a vegan?

[Juicyj1993]

In a few weeks we're hosting a bbq for my Husband's birthday.

We have about a dozen guests coming, one of whom is vegan. As we don't normally buy vegan food I've started looking at what we'd normally buy and what is and isn't vegan. To make sure the vegan has the same variety of choice as everyone else I'm going to have to spend quite a bit on alternatives. As we have the non vegan alternatives we won't be eating the vegan versions, so they'll either go home with the guest or be thrown.

How much would you accommodate a vegan?

Would I be unreasonable to provide vegan burger with vegan cheese, plus bun and nothing else or do I need to go the whole hog and get vegan sausages, vegan condiments and vegan coleslaw?

Ps they are vegan by choice, not for medical reasons

@RunningUpThatMill

if I go outside and swallow a fly

But that's just the start, isn't it?

That is accommodating a meat eater imo
Meat eaters don’t just eat meat

🤣🤣

My daughter and her wife are vegans. They love Beyond burgers in a bun with vegan cheese and then all the salads same as everyone else. And any veggies you’re doing.
can I also suggest my late dad’s speciality bbq dessert - bananas on the bbq, when black split the skin, add your favourite chocolate and a tea spoon of amaretto or rum.

@LaBefana absolutely brilliant. I guarantee I won't be following it with a spider, cat, dog and whatever the old woman swallowed. Did she swallow a cow? I can't quite remember.

Kindly, I do know what being vegan means.

I would have no issue with a person, who eats any of the items I listed, identifying themselves as being vegan (even if you could, technically, avoid consuming minute parts of animal byproducts by abstaining from them).

I just think that someone should be able to describe themselves as ‘vegan’ or ‘vegetarian’ or whatever else, on an every day basis, without a bunch of people (usually meat eaters) piling on with ‘aha, so you’re not really a vegan’ if they have ever made a small transgression, like drinking a glass of wine served to them at a gathering without checking that it is completely free from all animal byproducts.

Again, I have no issue with calling myself a vegetarian on a daily basis, even if I take relaxed view with wine that I have not personally bought. It is easier for me, any for anyone catering to me, if I simply say “I am vegetarian” instead of saying “I don’t eat animal flesh and avoid buying products that contain gelatine or rennet, and never eat cheeses that always contain rennet, but if you were to serve me a product that only sometimes has small amounts of animal byproducts in it, I might consider consuming it without asking you to go check the label’.

But according to some on this thread, I should actually be giving the long winded version every time I’m asked about my dietary requirements, lest they can ‘gotcha’ me.

This is a good example. This poster thinks that someone can’t call themselves a vegan if they sometimes eat mushrooms.

I think to every reasonable-minded person, that is stupid beyond belief, but some meat eaters with massive chips on their shoulders really hold views like this.

@RemoteDesktop I don't have any intention of trying to 'gotcha' you, but I do refute your statement that 'Most vegans are actually not vegan' on the examples that you gave.

A vegan who eats anything that has traces of dead insects is a vegan.

A vegan that decides to follow a plant-based diet, eats plant-based but then drinks alcohol which they know isn't vegan, well, they aren't vegan. They are plant-based. I don't know why saying plant-based is an issue. Vegans are generally vegan for ethical reasons. If you lack the ability to understand that animals should not be used and abused, then you aren't vegan. You are plant-based for environmental or health reasons, which is great, but you aren't a vegan. Veganism is founded on the fact that animals should not suffer because of human need.

my sister has a strict diet that can’t be “contaminated” so she often collaborates with the host to bring what she might need (although it’s fabulous you want to provide) I think at a bbq the most anxiety provoking aspect to her is the shared grill. It’s super stress-relieving if you are the ‘enforcer’ about getting her food safely grilled first as that’s what makes her self conscious and taking that worry away really helps!

Your example of a mushroom is ridiculous. Clearly eating mushrooms doesn’t stop you being vegan.

Nah I'd rather shit glass and clap than become vegan

You'd rather shit glass and clap? Have you missed some words out of that phrase?

As a non-vegan, I don’t have much skin in the game here, but to give you an example.

I know a couple, both of whom describe themselves as vegan, and abstain from meat, dairy an animal byproducts for ethical reasons.

When at home, they buy wines that they know are vegan-friendly. However, (where I live, at least) there are no laws requiring wine-bottlers to include, on labels, whether-or-not the wine is vegan friendly.

You can sometimes determine whether a wine is vegan-friendly or not by googling, but not always.

Accordingly, my friends take a somewhat relaxed view on wine and will, on the rare occasions that they are being served wine that they did not purchase for themselves, and particularly where they cannot easily discern whether or not it is vegan, simply drink the wine.

I don’t have any issue with them describing themselves as vegan, but it sounds as though you do?

I assume you make some exceptions yourself and make the odd judgment call? For example, with electronics?

A little sorry to badger you, @RunningUpThatMill , but DP has reminded me of our friends’ other stated exception.

Most bananas that are not organic aren’t vegan, so they buy organic ones. However, they will eat something that has banana listed as an ingredient, without knowing if it’s organic/vegan or not.

To me, this seems like a reasonable judgment call - would you feel otherwise?

@RemoteDesktop like I said, you have no idea of what the definition of veganism is.

Like I said earlier, I drive, I take medication, I am obviously on an electronic device as I type this.

Veganism is about doing what you can to avoid animal suffering. Making decisions on what you can and can't eat/buy. I can abstain from eating meat, dairy, eggs and honey and alcohol (although I certainly don't abstain from drinking alcohol, I just but alcohol that I know is vegan), and to answer your question regarding wine, yes, a vegan can certainly find vegan wines. There are loads.

Vegans are also fallible. I make mistakes, and whilst I try to be diligent, I sometimes get it wrong. I would never intentionally support the meat, dairy or egg industry though.

Hope that helps?

@RemoteDesktop a banana is vegan, whether it is organic or not. What is put on it is a totally separate issue. It's like palm oil. Palm oil is fundamentally vegan, however, as a vegan I would not consume something that had unsustainable palm oil in it.

Grapewrath, I am a vegan, but I buy meat products for family at dinners etc. It isn't great to do so but I respect their preferences. I feel that I personally am not adding to the demand for meat and accept I can't change the world. or indeed most people's views, sad as I feel that is. Yeah, would be great if everyone considered animal welfare, but that isn't a thing for most people...

No that doesn’t really help. When I gave the example earlier of a person who otherwise has a wholly vegan diet (for ethical reasons), but on a rare occasion may drink a glass of wine that was served to them, without first checking whether or not it is vegan-friendly, you said that person would not be vegan, and should use the label ‘plant based’.

I don’t think you can police minor ‘transgressions’ and revoke people’s ‘vegan card’ then also maintain you’re a vegan whilst also acknowledging you yourself sometimes make mistakes and get it wrong.

*however, as a vegan personally, I would not consume something that had unsustainable palm oil in it.

Most non-organic bananas are sprayed with a chemical containing animal products, to slow down the browning process.

@RemoteDesktop don't be so obtuse.

I'm a human and therefore I'm not perfect. I don't make accidents based on decisions. I also don't wish to be the gatekeeper for veganism.

What you are stating is knowingly consuming something that might be/might not be vegan. If I didn't know for sure it was vegan, I wouldn't consume it. I know medication isn't, but I would take it. See the difference?

Posted too soon.

Some vegans abstain from eating bananas that have been (or likely have been) sprayed using animal products. Some don’t. I think that’s fine.

My view is that some people over-police the margins of who is, or is not, allowed to use a term to define themselves (and/or their diet) on a day to day basis.

@RemoteDesktop if you are a vegetarian who occasionally eats gelatin, you aren't a vegetarian. If you are a vegan who occasionally knowingly drinks wine filtered through isinglass, you aren't a vegan. End of.

And yet, if someone asks me my dietary requirements ahead of an event, I’m still going to tell them I’m vegetarian even though, once in a blue moon (maybe every couple of years), I’ll eat a small amount of a product that does contain gelatine.

Who knows, maybe you’ll be lucky enough to be present and declare ‘Gotcha! They aren’t really vegetarian! They just don’t eat meat or rennet and generally abstain from eating products with gelatine but actually do very occasionally sometimes eat gelatine!’

Like I said, I would never present a 'gotcha' to you, but words mean something and you can't try to change the meaning. A vegan, who isn't perfect, as previously stated, might make a mistake, but, a vegan would abstain from something that might contain animal products. That is what we do.