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.

Which menu is that on please? Didn't spot that.

Well everyday is a school day ( especially for me! ) I thought so long as it wasn't meat it was all good.
I'll have to make sure I educate myself a bit more thoroughly, thank you.

Can't get on the website but Parmesan can be vegetarian it's parmigiano-Reggiano which is the original version that isn't vegetarian.

I would assume something labelled Parmesan is a substitute for Parmigiano-Reggiano if it's a decent restaurant as they would use the full name.

I wouldn't have thought it wasn't veggie because it contained an enzyme from calf's stomach's... because as far as I knew vegetarian meant no meat or gelatine

Going so far as no animal product would be vegan. And then cheese would be a no anyway because dairy

You need to kill the calf to get the enzyme so it’s not something a vegetarian would eat.

If the calf just excreted it and we could collect it that would be different, but sadly it isn’t.

I would ask for clarification on the parmesan and pesto in a way that will inform them if they dont know!

Just had a look at the menu. There is loads of stuff that you would expect to be vegetarian (many of the side dishes and desserts) that don't have the veggie sign.

I don't think they have a clue or care if something is veggie or not

We have a local restaurant that is quite posh. The only vegetarian option has parmesan on it. I just ranted to myself and never visited

It's a learning experience and good to know!

So a vegetarian could eat honey but not a vegan?

An awful lot of people don't see fish/sea food as meat, though. It's far from uncommon to hear people claim to be vegetarian - and be firm in their disgust at the thought of eating chicken or beef - yet they do happily eat fish and seafood.

There was a thread on here recently about how hard it can be to be a vegetarian when eating out, and a number of posters said that they would have the fish as a 'compromise' when I'm sure that not one of them would have 'just had the lamb instead' in the absence of anything vegetarian and suitable.

As an omnivore myself, it makes no sense to me when people claim the clear label for somebody who does not eat any meat, but will cheerfully eat the meat from fish or other sea creatures.

A vegetarian doesn't eat meat products, honey is not a meat product

Parmesan regiano isn't but you can get vegetarian parmesan https://www.waitrose.com/ecom/products/waitrose-italian-vegetarian-parmesan-cheese-strength-4/856878-688834-688835

and more commonly I think vegetarian Pecorino made with veg rennet.

The demand for fish and seafood is actually a big factor in climate change as well. Which seems a little bit at odds with motivation for being a vegetarian?

I have a friend who is veggie because she dislikes all meat and says it’s hard eating out as a vegetarian because all dishes are now vegan friendly and she likes all cheese including Parmesan

It will be pecorino which unless you’re a seriously proper foodie tastes exactly the same as Parmesan.

I'm not vegan or vegetarian but isn't this particularly picky? Yes you have to kill the animal to get the rennet, but my understanding of dairy farming is that the calves are a by-product that go to slaughter anyway, so by consuming dairy you still kill the animal. So either be ok with that and enjoy your parmesan or don't eat cheese at all.

This one isn’t actually called Parmesan though. You can read the label in the photo.

Parmesan was a protected term that could only be used for Parmigiana Reggiano.

Since Brexit it appears we’re allowed to call any Parmesan-like cheese Parmesan.

So it’s possible that dishes that contain the rennet-free hard cheese can now be described as containing Parmesan. Which is of absolutely no help whatsoever to vegetarians.

Lots of cheese is not vegetarian as it contains animal rennet.

Parmesan is pretty well known as not being veggie.

Although you can get done made with microbial rennet which is veggie.

Of course you’re not unreasonable to expect a restaurant to get this right and to contact them before eating there to clarify. I don’t know how anyone can think you’re unreasonable.

I’d be worried about their knowledge of food which could have terrible consequences for people with allergies.

I probably wouldn’t eat there as I wouldn’t trust them.

It's local to me and I know a few people who've gone and said it's very average and overpriced 😂

Just contact them and ask, and explain you want truly veggie food.

We don’t know whether they are using faux Parmesan.

Are you trying to name and shame, or what?

Although technically the animals must be killed in the dairy industry too as in nearly all cases it would not be profitable to keep churning out male calves and not kill them, or not to kill the cows after 5 years or so when their milk production drops.

Proper DOP Parmesan probably does use calf rennet, but most cheeses don't nowadays, and are vegetarian. Obviously veggie dishes should be using an 'Italian hard cheese' not Parmesan.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rennet

No. A vegetarian is someone who doesn’t eat products made by animals, as @SirAlfredSpatchcock says above. Not just animals, but birds, fish, insects - anything that has a face, as my vegetarian friend puts it.

Someone who doesn’t eat productions made by animals but does eat products made by fish is a pescatarian.

can you just ask if they are using a vegetarian equivalent before getting riled up about it?

Parmigiano Reggiano (which is protected as a PDO) is not vegetarian as its recipe specifically uses animal rennet. Its PDO is enforceable worldwide. Parmesan is also a PDO - but only within the EU, and therefore can be vegetarian depending on whether the producer used rennet or not.

Hopefully the chef has checked the

type of rennet in the Parmesan prior to using it in the dish 🧀