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?

As a waitress I'd expect people to make me aware if they have an allergy or intolerance. And some pasta does contain egg (mainly the ones you buy pre cooked from the supermarket.) So I'm shocked she didn't mention she was vegan. Some tomato sauce have cream or chicken stock or cheese in as well. But I've never seen a fried egg on top, unless it's a Asian noodle dish or sometimes a linguine pasta dish.

You can never just assume something is free from something. A few weeks ago a kid was half way through his chocolate brownie and his dad casually said 'it is nut free isn't it'. We unfortunately can't advertise as nut free as we buy ingredients that say 'may contain traces of nuts'. But he assumed it was as it wasn't stated on the menu.

I'm reminded of Carrie in Sex and the City going overboard telling a waiter that she was severely allergic to parsley as when she simply said she didn't like parsley she would end up with parsley somewhere on her dish.

Lol, parsley, who even uses parsley anymore.

🙄🤡

Change my mind too. Manager isn't to blame

A fried egg on top of a tomato pasta is just plain weird.

As someone ordering for a child with peanut allergies I always, always double check. They usually add a note to the order then.
I agree there's fault on both sides in this case.

My husband is Italian and would be bemused/horrified if his pasta was served with a fried egg on top!! Just why?!

For future reference, the only clearly vegan thing on a menu is the vegan burger.

They don't have to list all the ingredients in the dish on the main menu. However, the list of allergens must be made available if requested.

In future, I'd just ask for the allergens menu so you know what's in what you're ordering.

The egg should have been listed an an ingredient.

however, I wonder if they don’t label something as vegetarian or vegan because maybe they cannot guarantee that there’s no cross contamination in the Kitchen.

anyone who puts an egg on top of a pasta dish with tomato sauce needs their head checked

YABU. You should never assume.
Fried egg doesn't belong on pasta, yes and it's a strange ingredient but if we go to the realm of 'not liking' something I've had all sorts of food with bits I don't like.
It could have been something entirely expected, like garlic sauteed in butter and sprinkled on top that's not vegan.

Stop it.

Apparently it's a thing. Never heard of egg on tomato pasta.

You're both in the wrong. 1. The egg should have been listed. 2. Pasta is often made with eggs so it's not usually vegan.

And if nothing was marked vegan you should assume none of it is vegan

Ew no, eggs have such a lingering taste on everything else!

No, but pasta isn't of UK origin. And Uk restaurants aren't generally regarded as something for the rest of the world to aspire to.

Both in the wrong - best to ask if the dish can be made vegan than assume that it is. Even without the egg, theres a good chance butter could be used in a pasta dish and not all pasta is vegan, and some places will use fresh pasta that is frozen rather than dried!

However the manager could absolutely have handled that better! I would avoid eating there again if they think it is acceptable to berate customers for not understanding their rather odd menu listings!

Its a bit odd that such a large ingredient was ommitted if the menu was written like that and the Manager was out ofnline to be rude.

But, if you have any kind of foor allergy, intolorence or ethic preference the onus is on you to let the restaurant know and double check. They arent mind readers and it isnt a requirment to list the ingredients on the menu.

For instance, a lots of fish dishes contain chicken stock in the sauce which can trip up pescatarians.

I'm not vegan but I don't like eggs so I would have sent it back too. I often pick pasta dishes and would expect a giant egg on top to be explained in the description! So I don't think you were in the wrong at all especially as you were apologetic and not kicking up a fuss.

I'm now picturing an ostrich egg plonked on top of the OP's pasta. 😅

OP, you were not in the wrong (and I'm afraid I expected that you would be😏)
If they bothered to list the ingredients its reasonable to expect that that all major ingredients are listed (I wouldn't necessarily expect them to list eg salt or oil)
an egg is a major ingredient and not one I would expect to find in the dish described, so you were right to object to it being there!
Manager is in the wrong and I think she knows this which is why she was so aggressive about it all.

Agree. Their attitude about it is also more than enough not to return. It doesn’t matter whether you stated you were vegan or not. If they can describe the main ingredients and what it taste like, they could easily say “topped with a fried egg”.

The egg absolutely should have been listed. Plenty of people would be fine with an egg pasta but not a fried egg on top. It's bizarre that an ingredient that prominent is not listed on a menu if it habitually lists ingredients of the dishes. And it's downright rude that the manager responded in that way. Would she have spoken like that to a person who really hates the taste or texture of eggs?

Either list all ingredients, or use V and VE markings.