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.

another life-long veggie here who eats pesto and parmasan. I eat fish on the odd occasion too though so maybe I'm not a very good one 😁

A lot of restaurants are clueless to things like this. They get confused with vegan and vegetarian also. I’m a veggie and am so fed up of getting a ‘plant based’ burger with no cheese when it would be perfectly ok for me to have cheese. Then you get stressed waitresses scratching their heads as they think vegetarian and vegan are the same, often the chef will get confused and will not bother putting the cheese on.

Why can’t they just do a vegan and vegetarian option separately?

@Barleysugar86 , but eating those things is eating flesh, that's the point. Maybe your friend doesn't know.

When I became vegetarian most cheddar wasn't vegetarian and you had to go to the deli counter to get vegetarian cheddar, but maybe there was a bit more awareness then.

Strict vegetarians should avoid the Parmesan then! If they're that strict they'll know about rennet. Most vegetarians avoid meat out of preference and dislike of the meat industry. If a bit of rennet is eaten, it's no big deal. It doesn't have to be black and white.

Walkers cheese and onion were not veggie until a few years ago, but smoky bacon always has been.😀

Then there's those perverts that try to make roast potatoes non vegetarian. They're a menace.

Some chefs just don't care and think that people with dietary requirements are just fussy and difficult. When I was at uni I did waitressing for big events (with guests like the Queen) and often a guest would ask if they could have something veggie, (vegan was still rare) halal or kosher. In particular the chef used to just tell them that whatever he was serving was halal or kosher and not be bothered and use non vegetarian cheese - it was a stressful service and they just wanted the questions to go away. Hopefully attitudes are better now.

Plenty of top chefs have been ignorant of this in the past, though I'd hope for better now. https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2012/feb/27/no-parmesan-please-we-re-vegetarian

I don’t drink, so the wine isn’t an issue.

I don’t eat rennet cheeses, as it happens.

Maybe we aren’t all like the people you know? At the moment I’d choose to fast over choosing something with vegan cheese or Parmesan.

You’re not vegetarian.

You’re not a vegetarian. 😅

I know that not everyone is like people I know. I just think genuine vegetarians who are not trying to cut down on dairy are uncommon these days. I'm curious though, if it's about the taste and texture of meat for you, not animal rights, then do rennet cheeses taste different?

I have had heated discussions with supposedly-professional chefs who have tried to tell me that Parmesan is vegetarian simply because it's cheese. I've been offered things like cauliflower steaks too, with chefs who think it's OK to cook them on grills with all the meat products, or chips cooked in the same oil as fish.

Anyone who purports to be a true vegetarian should not be eating these animal products - and, unfortunately, because some "vegetarians" are happy with non-veggie cheese, wine and food cooked alongside meat, I am expected to do the same thing. It does real vegetarians no favours at all.

Rather sadly, I end up with a label of being a fussy eater, when all I am is just vegetarian.

Okay 👍

Looking at the Menu supplied by OP - the Vegetarian Menu clearly states vegan on request for the parmesan dishes, so YABU.

I've seen this in a few places unfortunately. My favourite was the proudly-advertised vegetarian option at one place which was crab cakes!

But they should be vegetarian if they’re on the vegetarian menu.

Ic they’re not vegetarian, they should be on the non vegetarian menu, with a note to say they can be made vegan on request.

No, it's madewith rennet. Most wine isn't vegetarian either - isinglas

Just ask for it without the cheese. It does say on the menu you can request a vegan version. Seems a fuss over nothing.

I would rather go without than have my food contaminated with animal rennet cheese, but the point is, 'vegan on request' could mean anything. I don't want a fake substitute either. It doesn't say what they intend to do to make it vegan. Using a different hard cheese to cook a dish that's actually vegetarian, when the customer's paying for vegetarian food, isn't difficult at all.

I think Parmesan can be vegetarian without also being the vegan substitute.

Traditional Parmesan has animal based rennet but many Parmesans today use vegetarian rennet. Plant or vegetable rennet relies on the coagulating properties of thistle, nettles, dried caper leaves, artichokes, and other plants. Microbial rennet uses certain kinds of mold, yeast, or fungi to coagulate milk. And fermentation-based rennet uses genetic engineering to reproduce the same enzymes found in animals within bacteria, fungi, or yeast. Vegetable rennet, microbial rennet, and certain forms of fermentation-based rennet are considered vegetarian.

Vegetarian crab cakes are made with soy crab, which is not real crab but made with soy beans

That’s from 2012. It isn’t impossible to make Parmesan without animal based rennet, plenty are made with vegetarian rennet.

When we go out to eat with our vegan friends, we tend to go to places they know and have experienced (they eat out a lot!). Every place we have been to with them has offered omnivore, pescatarian, vegetarian and vegan options. Not expensive places, just places that actually cook the food to order themselves, rather than defrosting something they aren't sure about. I've never met a waitress/chef who doesn't understand the differences. On a few occasions, the waitress has come out to offer an enhanced version of the vegan option listed on the menu. Decent chefs do know the difference. How long do you want menus to be? If you have a particular concern, just ask the question.

My mum, dad & sister have eaten as legit veggies for 40yrs. No leather, no byproducts, no gelatine, no carmine, no rennet etc etc.

I'd say there are more genuine veggies than there are vegans by a wide margin. Worked in the food trade for 20yrs & the last few years of veganmania is largely ppl who definitely are vegan until it comes to cake or if you've not got the option the want. Suddenly cheese is just fine.

Ha yes! I distinctly remember queuing with my dad at the cheese counter in tesco when I was little to get vegetarian cheese. It's when I became obsessed with peperami cos of those cool stands they had - but I couldn't have one 😭 (I can now though)