Who is in the wrong - vegan or manager?

[iloverobbrydon]

A group of friends go into a pub that do food. One of them is vegan. She looks at the menu and sees that there are no V or VE signs on the menu at all. Even for items that clearly veggie and vegan, the pub don't use the signs. However, they do list the ingredients and a description of the meal under the meal title.

There are 2 or 3 vegan options. One of them is a pasta where the ingredients are listed as pasta, tomato, basil etc. And have a little description of the taste. No animal products listed at all so the vegan orders this.

The meal comes out and it has a fried egg on top of it. The egg was not listed in the ingredients so she sent it back explaining why.

The manager who took the order is not happy because she never actually said she was vegan and they arent mind readers. They come out and say if you can't eat certain foods then you need to tell the staff to make sure that those things are actually 100% ok for you to eat.

It does escalate into a bit of an argument because the vegan is saying well if you list your ingredients then how am I to know that you only list some ingredients and not others? Where on your menu does it say how your menu works and that you won't list everything? That's just confusing. Either list everything or nothing. The manager is saying if you need a meal to not have an ingredient you need to tell us.

You can probably work out which one I am but I didn't want to write it one sided, just wanted to explain the situation and ask who you think is in the wrong here?

RARELY - especially when eating out.

Please, could someone else bring it up!

Yes I’m vegan but also have dairy/egg allergies (luckily not anaphylactic). It’s amazing how many products are labelled vegan in restaurants but are unsuitable for me. I would have thought all should be fine. And yes milk (esp milk powder) is bloody everywhere- crisps and chips particular offenders

See that's what I assumed vegans did, because the vegans I grew up around were so vigilant. That's why the op surprised me and why I was also surprised when there was no outcry from vegans when there were reports over the summer about the amount of dairy and egg found in "vegan" labelled food.

But why would there be an outcry from vegans about contamination? Veganism is not an allergy. Veganism is about reducing the demand for animal products. Accidentally consuming something that has been contaminated with something non vegan does not contradict that in any way.

Personally I am vegan because I don’t want my money to go towards the meat and dairy industry. I always check if something is vegan if buying something new in the shops but I don’t care if something has been made in a factory that also handles meat or dairy or eggs. If I accidentally eat something that has been contaminated in some way then I am still not making more demand for animal products so why would I kick up a fuss?

I also feel like this is one of these cases where vegans just can’t win with some people. If we did kick up a fuss if we accidentally ate something with animal products in then you can guarantee nobody would take us seriously and just take the piss. There was a thread here recently where a vegan was upset because she had accidentally ate butter in a restaurant and literally everything single poster mocked her and told her they didn’t understand what the big deal was and she needed to get over herself. So if we kick up a fuss then we’re told we’re overreacting but if we don’t kick up a fuss then we’re not really vegan or we’re doing it wrong. Make it make sense.

It reminds me of how everyone always bangs on about how vegans can’t stfu about being vegan and how vegans always mention being vegan (although I have never actually witnessed this myself). Yet the OP here doesn’t mention it and just quietly orders something she thinks is suitable yet she is being criticised for not telling people she is vegan. Again make it make sense people.

Incidentally one of the reasons I hate people finding out that I am vegan is because I don’t want people to start analysing everything I eat (yes this does happen. Not everyone does this but enough people do). I don’t want to have to start defending myself to people who think they have caught me not “being vegan” or think they have caught me “cheating on my diet” just because I dare to eat a jammy dodger or I mention that I ordered pizza last night…

Always the vegans fault, no need to read it.

It reminds me of how everyone always bangs on about how vegans can’t stfu about being vegan and how vegans always mention being vegan (although I have never actually witnessed this myself). Yet the OP here doesn’t mention it and just quietly orders something she thinks is suitable yet she is being criticised for not telling people she is vegan. Again make it make sense people.

She's only being criticised because she asked if the restaurant were in the wrong.
How could the restaurant be criticised for not preparing a vegan meal for her if she didn't tell them she was vegan?

But the point is that if she had mentioned before hand that she was vegan then there would be somebody who would take offence to that and do the whole ‘how do you know someone is vegan’ thing.

Even on this thread someone has called the OP an attention seeker just because she told the manager she was vegan and didn’t want to eat the egg.

How could the restaurant be criticised for not preparing a vegan meal for her if she didn't tell them she was vegan?

Are they being criticised for not preparing a vegan meal?

I thought the issue was that the egg wasn't listed in the ingredients or description?

I'm not blaming vegans. I was just curious. This thread has helped me understand.

Regardless of who said what to whom

Why did the person making what is essentially a Pasta Pomodoro, which is a perfectly good dish on its own, did someone think, I know what this dish is lacking

Lets stick a fried egg on top.

Haven't bothered to read the whole thread. I did read the first posts and thought that should be the end of it, but no. Who bloody cares this much about this? Seriously?

Manager in the wrong 100%

Agree it was a bit unexpected to have an egg plonked on top. However, given that pasta was listed and that pasta (especially in restaurants) often contains egg anyway, from the restaurants pov the extra egg shouldn't make any difference to a customer who is either vegan or allergic. Neither can have it.
Presumably the OP would have been informed of this if she had said she was vegan.

I have a DC with egg allergies (anaphylaxis reactions) and you always need to triple check where pasta is involved. You really do. You need to tell the staff - even if ingredients and allergens are listed. Just to be sure. Not as dangerous if things are mixed up for vegans, but still upsetting of course.

And yet here you are commenting. 🤣

@StillGotBabyBrain I am disappointed that it hasn't happened for at least a page.

@MartyMcFlysPurpleUnderwear quite. I never mention it because being scrutinised regarding my food choices is my worst nightmare due to (unrelated) food issues, but I am still regularly taken the P out of when people know or learn of it, I've never witnessed what you reference either.

To me, this isn't a vegan issue-it is kind of like ordering a steak that comes served with an obscure sauce all over it undeclared, or ordering a green side salad that comes with olives, or ordering ANYTHING where a main component of the dish is a 'surprise', especially if said item is an allergen or something obscure.

Okay, so in California there’s many Mexican restaurants and most serve excellent food.

My parents went to New Mexico and dined out at a little Mexican place and my mother ordered enchiladas - and when they arrived, there was a fried egg on the top.

What???

That’s New Mexico Mexican food. They make it differently than they do in California and it didn’t occur to them that they needed to tell my parents (whom they didn’t know were from California) that that’s how they make enchiladas in New Mexico. They add a fried egg to the top of their enchiladas and we don’t in California. We’d never heard of such a thing.

Could this place just have taken for granted that you’d know a fried egg would arrive on top of the noodles, @iloverobbrydonlike the great-fried-egg-on-the-enchilada shock of 1995?

I haven’t read the full thread.

They should just their ingredients and you were right to send it back.

I was at a friend's for dinner once and she dished up venison. I couldn't eat it, it's just not something I want to put it my mouth. I know it's a bit weird but I can't help eat.

Never eaten muscles, prawns and loads more.

Could this place just have taken for granted that you’d knowa fried egg would arrive on top of the noodles?

This was on top of a pasta dish @DreamTheMoors not something I have ever heard of and I have eaten A LOT of Italian food. Fried egg on noodle or rice dishes is quite common in the Far East. Even if they assumed customers would realise there was an egg on top, they really should have listed it in the ingredients.

A fried egg on top of enchiladas sounds delicious.

This is totally unrelated but it has reminded me of a TikTok video I saw some time ago where someone had put a raw egg inside an avocado then breadcrumbed and deep fried said avocado. I felt sick just watching it for 2 minutes!

"Barbara, could she eat a bit of wafer-thin ham?"

😂

Has this thread not finished yet

FFS, is this a 2023 MN question or what!!

not until it gets to 1000

I had a small procedure done under general anesthetic yesterday and when I came round was offered buttered toast. I said no thank you as I was a vegan but that I'd brought a packet of crisps and some fruit so I'd have that. They then offered me cereal instead. I am sure had they known what a vegan was they'd have specified that they meant with an alternative to plant milk, but they didn't.

Yes It's 2023 and yes, a lot of people are still not familiar with veganism. I am not complaining at all, I went prepared and took some food of my own and the staff were absolutely fantastic with me, cannot fault them at all. But yes, vegan isn't something everyone has much knowledge about still.