That restaurants should know parmesan isn't vegetarian?

[SpikyCoconut]

My Mum has booked this restaurant and asked if I want to come along.

Surely the chef should know this?

https://www.315barandrestaurant.co.uk/

Wibu to get in touch with them and ask if it is actually a parmesan substitute (in which case it should be labelled correctly!) Or if they can develop a different dish that actually IS vegetarian? There are two dishes with parmesan on the vegetarian menu.

It's not vegan but surely cheese is vegetarian?

Rennet.

No, not all cheese is vegetarian. It contains rennet which is an animal product...

Not all cheese is vegetarian. Parmesan definitely is not.

No, parmesan isn't vegetarian, like a lot of cheeses and if it's vegetarian it's not parmesan. It could be a similar style of cheese, but by definition parmesan cannot be vegetarian.

But there's a lot of people selling food who don't seem to know a lot about it or the importance of describing it accurately. See also the lies they tell about all sorts of shit being butter.

Real parmesan is never vegetarian but you can get a hard cheese substitute that is. However, if they have advertised it as parmesan then either it's a false description or it isn't vegetarian.

I agree!! We were looking through a Michelin starred restaurant menu purported to be veggie....it had Comte cheese?! Not vegetarian cheese due to rennet, same as Parmesan!!

Parmesan uses rennet which isn't vegetarian.

You can ask if it's a sub, but I wouldn't ask them to develop a new dish.

I’ve just seen online that as Parmesan cheese is made from rennet which is an enzyme from calf stomachs so therefore not vegetarian friendly.

The people who are voting that OP is being unreasonable, is it that you think all cheese is vegetarian? Because I think OP's points are valid, about the correct labelling of vegetarian dishes and that restaurant cooks ought to know parmesan is not vegetarian.

Interesting.

Pesto is also not typically vegetarian, although you can get a few versions that are.

I just said that because I clicked on the vegetarian menu and noticed the dishes with Parmesan also contain pesto.

Not just an animal product (all cheeses are an animal product) but one coming from a calves stomach which is not vegetarian. There's a lot of waxing lyrical about how great the chef is, on that website. Which somehow makes it worse.

By developing a different dish they just need to omit the parmesan or come up with an alternative if it is essential to the dish itself.

I appreciate that if you've never had to think about it you might not know, but a chef does (or at least should)!

I can’t see the dish you mean, but they also seem to have a vegetarian crab bruschetta that doesn’t include crustaceans… so I’m sceptical about their whole menu tbh

Calf's, not calves.

Honestly I would have thought any and every cheese is vegetarian but not vegan.

I'd ask them. If they don't know they should.

Waitrose do a nice 'parmesan', haven't tried any others. Pesto in the chilled section of supermarkets tends to be V for some reason.

@TomatoSandwiches but they aren't! A lot of them contain things from animal parts. Enough don't, for this sort of situation to be unnecessary.

I didn’t know until that (brilliant) Come Dine With Me episode where a horrible bloke acted like a total cock about a guest being vegetarian

It does say you can request it as a vegan option which presumably would be without the cheese but yes they should know.

That's my thoughts exactly @sleekcat . If Its a sub, it should stipulate that on the menu. Otherwise It's false advertising.

I wouldn't be expecting great things from a restaurant that's charging £19 for a bowl of pesto pasta.

A lot of people are under the impression that vegetarians (only) don't eat (visible, identifiable) meat and it's just vegans who don't eat any animal products.

They don't get the distinction between a product produced BY an animal and one produced FROM an animal (i.e. for which the animal must be killed).

A chef - indeed anybody involved in catering/serving food - should definitely know, though.

Annoying isn't it - our local Italian is always trying to wave one of those ridiculously large parmesan grinder over my vegetarian choice and you have to be quick to stop them. I sent my meal back the one time I wasn't quick enough.

I do often wonder though whether my veggie pasta is truly veggie. I've definitely been served vegetable soup made with chicken stock