Non meat eater served meat again!

[Hellon]

i stopped eating meat 2 years ago and have been served meat now twice whilst eating out, and both times I have accidentally eaten some meat as I ordered vegetarian food. On both occasions the staff just don’t seem that’s it’s a big deal and just apologised. On the first occasion I had ordered a vegetarian burger and took a big bite only to realise it was a beef burger, I complained to the waitress and they said sorry and brought me a veggie burger which then couldn’t eat as I felt sick. They refunded me the money but it seemed like an inconvenience to them.
the second occasion I was at a wedding and got served a meat and mushroom pie when I had asked for the vegetarian option and the waitress serving the pie said yes it’s vegetarian. Again the staff just say oh sorry I’ll change it for you. Again I had eaten a small piece of meat so felt sick and couldn’t eat the new soggy tart they brought me. I didn’t make a fuss on the day as it’s someone’s wedding and I didn’t want to cause a scene, but they staff just brush it off.
i worked in hospitality for years and when we got something wrong we went above and beyond to make sure the customer left happy. I hate to think what happens when people have allergies, how do they trust a venue will
not kill them.
It is a big deal serving meat to a non meat eater and hospitality staff should start being more sympathetic to their guests! It really does put me off eating out.
Im interested to hear other people’s experiences as I don’t know many vegetarians /vegans

I would feel sick too and I think it’s awful that they did that.

I have been vegetarian for my whole life and it’s only ever happened to me once or twice, I do pick through food and check before I eat it - always.

I live in an area with lots of veggies / vegans so it isn’t a problem anymore for me.

I have also been a vegetarian since birth (almost 40 years) and this has never happened to me. If anything I find people go above and beyond, sometimes embarrassingly so. I don't eat much meat substitutes though so could be why.

With work, I often end up leaving hungry so I eat before i go now. We have face to face meetings and eat out a lot.

Its the tapas style restaurants that I struggle with when out with work to eat which is quite often, or they book a steak place.
They order a load of meat dishes for everyone to “share” or pick from.

My philosophy is that there’s always SOMETHING I can stick on the plate and pretend I am socially eating while not eating.
It’s gone on forever.

I don’t understand what you mean about a server "overthinking". No-one is suggesting servers serve the wrong meal deliberately. I’m just saying that people who lie and pretend to have some sort of invisible disability devalue the word they use and make everyone less likely to consider the allergy as the serious problem it sometimes is.

As OPs say, this could be a really serious issue if there were allergies involved. But personally I think there is a real responsibility on the person eating the food to check before eating too, not just take the word of the waiting staff. I’m starting to feel that far too much weight is being put on often very young waiting staff, working in pressured environments, perhaps at event type catering, as many weddings are. Yes, restaurants and any catered event should take care and communications between staff should be better, at events in particular this is hard as the waiting staff will often not have worked together before. But we are all human. Perhaps my sympathy is there because my kids are now carrying out these minimum wage waiting jobs.

@EndorsingPRActice
I agree with you.
In life we ultimately have to be responsible for ourselves, if we have the mental capacity to do so, to the best of our abilities.

We all would like to be fed food and drink that we enjoy without having to prepare it ourselves, but when we decide to make something slightly easier for ourselves, ie buy and consume something that has been made by a third party, then we will pay a price.
We pay, literally, in a restaurant, for the food, the time and energy made to prepare it and have it served to us, or even in the supermarket we pay for the convenience to be able to take the ready meal home and eat it when we wish.

However we also pay in terms of risk. We choose to take a risk which comes from consuming something made by another person. While for many of us the risk is almost always worth our while, those with allergies have a harder choice. They lose peace of mind when they consume food prepared by others.

We can't expect someone serving food to take the weight off the shoulders of people the who have allergies. They aren't trained or paid enough to shoulder this responsibility. And even if people with severe allergies wish to live a "normal life" that just isn't possible without risk, in the same way people with other disabilities cannot do things in the same way as the majority of the population.

Obviously waiters will generally do their best, but, as pp has pointed out, while allergies are the most serious mistake they can make, feeding a vegetarian meat is not great, but it is something that can happen.

Your choice to not eat certain foods, yet still dine in an establishment where such foods are served is a risk you have chosen to take.

Your choice to not eat certain foods, yet still dine in an establishment where such foods are served is a risk you have chosen to take.

Bizarre view. I assume the restaurant also serves vegetarian food, so vegetarian food is served at the restaurant alongside meat.

It's not difficult for a restaurant to hand over vegetarian dishes to the diner. You order and the restaurant brings your order. This is apparently a herculean feat, no professional could be expected to successfully manage.

I don’t think it’s bizarre to expect mistakes to happen in busy restaurants?

Oh well.

You don't think it's bizarre that you should expect mistakes to be made with your order and that's the risk you take when you eat out?

I've been Vegetarian for over 20 years, and before that, I didn't really like meat (ate bits here and there because I thought I should rather than liking it). It's always been a texture thing for me so I won't even touch the quorn or meat replacement products as to me, its a similar texture. It's happened to me a number of times. I ordered vegetable samosas at a restaurant and got served one veggie one and one meat one - I mean they are mean't to be stored separate. I also ordered a bean burger once and was served a breaded chicken burger. I felt so sick and couldn't get rid of the taste. Needless to say, all I got both times was "oh, I'm sorry". We haven't eaten at either place again

I have a (non-anaphylactic) food allergy, medically diagnosed, my diet is limited by necessity, not by choice. If I am given food that contains my allergens it makes me physically very poorly, and yes, it does happen because some places think it's just 'fussy eating' etc. But it's not, it's a very big deal, that makes me ill for a long time afterwards.

With all respect, your feelings were hurt, your delicate sensibilities were offended, because you accidentally ate something that you chose two years ago to stop eating. Bless your heart. Get over it.

I've had this too! I stopped eating meat about 6 years ago but my meat consumption had gradually been dropping for years before that - basically because it started tasting horrible! I might fancy a bacon sandwich then take a bite and immediately feel sick!! Take care with any suggestion you tell them you have an allergy because they can refuse to serve you at all!!

Exactly and I've been a vegetarian for nearly 50 years

I'm vegetarian and this has happened to me once, it was over 20 years ago and I still remember it vividly.
It's distressing and yes the staff didn't seem that bothered.
Not good enough!

The cauliflower trend was/is VERY annoying. Bleurgh. I once was in a hotel where the starter/'small plate' was 'cauliflower wings', the main course was either a cauliflower steak or cauliflower curry, and the side order was something or other cauliflower as well!
Yes, I ate elsewhere.

I was a vegetarian for more than 25 years, this happened probably once?

You're just unlucky

Feeling sickened is a little overdramatic. You don't eat meat but its still food

I’ve been veggie over 30 years and this has happened a few times and the only people who are ever bothered are family. My now sister in law, then very new girlfriend of my brother accidentally gave me the ham
and cheese sandwich rather than the cheese which I realised as I was chewing my first bite. She was mortified and my brother still winds her up about.

I do think staff should take it more seriously.

I've been a vegetarian for over 30 years this has only happened twice, once a cheese quiche had ham in, and in tenerife potatoes had ham mixed in.

DH and I have been vegetarian for 11 years and this has never happened to us.

I’ve been veggie for 35 years, got served a proper duck donburi instead of a no duck donburi in Wagamama’s, I was pretty upset, although realised pretty quickly so only had a taste. To be fair, the staff were great, very apologetic and we got our meal for free. I’m more wary of checking now though

Just make sure they see you getting out of your Prius in the car park. They'll get the message

My DS has servere allergies and this is a constant for us

There was the pub who I rang beforehand to check they could accommodate him (because I don't just turn up and hope they can, that wouldn't be fair to anyone) and was assured they could. We then went in, looked at the menu and it said they used fish oil.

Or the cafe that refused to serve a colleague of mine because her son has a severe allergy and they refused service on that basis.

Or the school which thought using chicken peas to count and for school craft was fine despite my repeatedly saying he could die if he gets in contact with them and you don't act quickly, even offering to buy small pasta shapes as an alternative. Yet when they accidentally served pork instead of beef in a fish I was waiting for the head to hit herself with a lump of wood as she fell.ober herself to apologise.

We don't tend to eat out now. We just can't. No one cares these days

For me it suggests poor kitchen management. If they can’t manage to distinguish between veggie and meat dishes before they’re sent out, how are they dealing with ensuring there is no cross-contamination in relation to allergens, or making sure food stock is rotated / expiry dates are complied with, for example. That would be my concern. Yes, being served meat accidentally is not as serious an error as serving nuts / gluten to someone with an allergy, but I would be worried about what else was going on

I’ve been a veggie for 30 years and it’s never happened to me, unless it’s clearly not been my order, but always so obvious that I wouldn’t eat it. Think I order pasta and receive a steak.