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Vegan

Join Mumsnet's vegan community and discuss everything related to the vegan diet.

What's the oddest Vegan dish you've ever been served?

73 replies

HangingOver · 13/12/2022 03:20

While I'm used to having dishes with certain ingredients removed and paying more for alternatives, yesterday took the biccie.

Restaurant was offering half price pizzas on a Monday night... they had one vegan option on their 'alternative' menu. On closer inspection it's just a vegetarian one without any cheese, but no biggy, I was hoping they might throw some nooch or sauce on it. They didn't... and as there was almost no tomato sauce on it either, all the bits of vegetables just fell straight off and it was really dry.

But that's not even what bothered me really... the main point was the vegan option was NOT HALF PRICE. I got to pay double what everyone else did for the privilege of having less stuff on my pizza 🙃

What's your most bizarre experience?

OP posts:
Ineedtocleanmywoodenblinds · 13/12/2022 03:27

In Paris we had a vegan brunch and it was the most disgusting thing I had ever eaten. Luke warm sweet waffles, mushrooms in some sort of gravy, cold porridge and aubergine. It was so horrible I ended up eating an apple 😂

Tornado70 · 13/12/2022 03:28

I had a plain bread roll (not even with vegan butter) as a starter.
Stuffed pepper was a whole green pepper filled with plain couscous. Literally plain couscous. I had to ask for some potatoes to go alongside!
Dessert was one scope of sorbet.
I paid £25 and it wasn’t good. It was a works do and we had to pre-order. No vegan options so I rang and they said they’d prepare a vegan dish specially!

sashh · 13/12/2022 03:45

Bloody hell.

When I started at uni I shared a taxi back from a party and invited the other students in, I'd done a buffet earlier.

One of the students was so impressed there was something she could eat. I didn't really get it until now.

It's not difficult to make something. I'm a meat eater but sometimes find myself eating vegan, not because it is vegan but just because it was what I had in.

BTW spaghetti, lemon juice and zest and a bit of garlic paste makes a really simple and surprisingly tasty meal.

Evivie · 13/12/2022 03:52

Two unripe nectarines on an MEA flight to Beirut 😂

Selttan · 13/12/2022 04:08

HangingOver · 13/12/2022 03:20

While I'm used to having dishes with certain ingredients removed and paying more for alternatives, yesterday took the biccie.

Restaurant was offering half price pizzas on a Monday night... they had one vegan option on their 'alternative' menu. On closer inspection it's just a vegetarian one without any cheese, but no biggy, I was hoping they might throw some nooch or sauce on it. They didn't... and as there was almost no tomato sauce on it either, all the bits of vegetables just fell straight off and it was really dry.

But that's not even what bothered me really... the main point was the vegan option was NOT HALF PRICE. I got to pay double what everyone else did for the privilege of having less stuff on my pizza 🙃

What's your most bizarre experience?

That's disappointing! I'm not vegan but at my favourite pizza place I think their vegan pizzas are better then the non-vegan ones. They make their own vegan cheese so I think that helps.

HangingOver · 13/12/2022 04:39

Two unripe nectarines on an MEA flight to Beirut

Awww man. Flights are so hit and miss aren't they. Qantas is generally really good, Malaysia was bloody brilliant (I think, I was extremely drunk on that flight). Qatar was pretty awful.

OP posts:
Kennykenkencat · 04/04/2023 20:17

Ham salad served to me in the 80s at a top class hotel in Oxfordshire

They took it back to change and asked me if I preferred trout or salmon

To the chef vegetarian meant no cow meat and vegan meant no chicken.

I don’t eat pork anyway so that was an interesting conversation. (Ham apparently isn’t pork)

I could imagine having a thing like this when you were out at a cheap and cheerful pub but this was at a very expensive hotel and restaurant.

DinosaurOfFire · 04/04/2023 20:27

A roasted cauliflower 'steak' which was a 1cm thick slice of a whole cauliflower, served with herbs sprinkled round on the plate, and a portion of mixed vegetables. I was told I couldn't eat the roast potatoes as they were cooked in goose fat. I am not vegan but gluten free and pescatarian, and was breastfeeding a dairy allergic baby. This was the only non-meat option as apparently it catered to everyone. Dessert was fruit salad (chopped apples, grapes, and strawberries). The starter was a slice of gluten free bread as the soup wasn't gluten free. It was appalling.

OutDamnedSpot · 04/04/2023 20:28

School ski trip to Austria. Circa 1995. I wasn’t vegan then but vegetarian.

On the first night, I got a plate of grated cheese (none of the chips or veg like the other students had with their chicken, just a full plate of grated cheese). On the second night, it was a full plate of peas…

Matchingcollarandcuffs · 04/04/2023 20:32

Me and several other veggies cracked on a school trip to Greece after a week of spaghetti, tomato purée and oil with oranges for pudding. We all ate the souvlaki cooked on a bbq on the beach, they were good.

I remember a school trip to France literally living on frites

Artios · 04/04/2023 20:32

In a B&B in Oxford, a cooked breakfast with a peeled banana in place of the sausage. Nestled right next to the baked beans.

Lastnamedidntstick · 04/04/2023 20:36

What’s nooch?

I quite frequently get served fish as a vegetarian.

most memorable one at a wedding where the starter was an onion tart (so inherently vegetarian), but I got served a salmon dish because I’m vegetarian.

Robotik · 04/04/2023 20:37

As a teenager, a plate of spaghetti. No sauce or anything just cooked spaghetti lol

DutchCowgirl · 04/04/2023 20:38

As a main course in a restaurant : Tacos with plain white tofu-blocks in a white sauce… and nothing else! No veggies, no spices… really weird dish cooked by someone who is obviously not a vegan.

Kerfuffler · 04/04/2023 20:41

Free actual chicken nuggets (unasked for) with a vegan pizza.

MadEyeMoodysEye · 04/04/2023 20:46

Very basic green salad (no dressing) and a plain roll (no spread) were the only things I could eat at a wedding buffet once where I'd been assured there were vegan options.

Lastnamedidntstick · 04/04/2023 20:49

MadEyeMoodysEye · 04/04/2023 20:46

Very basic green salad (no dressing) and a plain roll (no spread) were the only things I could eat at a wedding buffet once where I'd been assured there were vegan options.

Don’t get me started on buffets where it’s the default to provide enough vegan/vegetarian options for the 3 or 4 attending.

caterers forget every single time that the meat eaters will also eat the veggie/vegan option, so enough food to feed 4 will not go around 50 guests.

MadEyeMoodysEye · 04/04/2023 20:49

Lastnamedidntstick · 04/04/2023 20:36

What’s nooch?

I quite frequently get served fish as a vegetarian.

most memorable one at a wedding where the starter was an onion tart (so inherently vegetarian), but I got served a salmon dish because I’m vegetarian.

Nutritional yeast. It's flakes that look like fish food but have a very savoury, almost cheesy flavour. It's really good for you, as the name suggests. Lovely in a white sauce, also sprinkled on e.g. spag bol or beans on toast.

ThatsGenderwang · 04/04/2023 20:51

Worst: a turnip crumble. A horrible bowl of plain mashed up orange swedish turnip with a grilled 'crumble topping' of flour and margarine. No seasoning. Bland as fuck.

Best: El Al flight, loads of non-dairy 'dairy' stuff because of kosher rules, so coffee, lots of avocado, fruits, spicey hummus, bread and matzos.

Mykittensmittens · 04/04/2023 20:57

A Staffordshire oatcake (like a pancake) filled with fried mushrooms and soaked with vegan gravy, as a substitute for a Sunday roast. no veg. Nothing.

on the other hand I’m a veggie and not a vegan though and what really gets me now is the lack of vegetarian stuff! I do eat eggs and cheese and butter, and like all those things, a lot. But now those choices are removed and it’s either meat/fish or vegan a lot of the time. There is an assumption vegetarians will appreciate the vegan offerings, which sometimes I really do, but as a treat meal out I’d like the option of the things I like to eat which are now mostly gone.

ClarissaExplainsSome · 04/04/2023 21:01

On a flight to Hawaii the air stewardess offered to pick the chicken off of the only option - chicken salad 😂

Attictroll · 04/04/2023 21:58

Mykittensmittens · 04/04/2023 20:57

A Staffordshire oatcake (like a pancake) filled with fried mushrooms and soaked with vegan gravy, as a substitute for a Sunday roast. no veg. Nothing.

on the other hand I’m a veggie and not a vegan though and what really gets me now is the lack of vegetarian stuff! I do eat eggs and cheese and butter, and like all those things, a lot. But now those choices are removed and it’s either meat/fish or vegan a lot of the time. There is an assumption vegetarians will appreciate the vegan offerings, which sometimes I really do, but as a treat meal out I’d like the option of the things I like to eat which are now mostly gone.

Totally agree on the lack of vegetarian options now. Went out for a relatives big birthday somewhere posh recently and had 2 starters as the vegan main courses were not a treat and uninspiring for me.

Worst veggie meal was chips and peas in Spain years ago...more recently at a work do where I had to beg for roast potatoes after checking no meat fat.

EmotionalSupportWyrm · 04/04/2023 22:05

Lastnamedidntstick · 04/04/2023 20:36

What’s nooch?

I quite frequently get served fish as a vegetarian.

most memorable one at a wedding where the starter was an onion tart (so inherently vegetarian), but I got served a salmon dish because I’m vegetarian.

About 20yrs ago I went to a posh dinner in a london club, we were asked if any dietary requirements and I put vegetarian.

The meal arrived, it was a delicious curry with rice, Vegetable curry and chicken curry. "Great" I thought, "how sensible to make a meal that everyone can have".

Until they brought me my specially prepared vegetarian dish.

An omelette.

showmethegin · 05/04/2023 09:44

Matchingcollarandcuffs · 04/04/2023 20:32

Me and several other veggies cracked on a school trip to Greece after a week of spaghetti, tomato purée and oil with oranges for pudding. We all ate the souvlaki cooked on a bbq on the beach, they were good.

I remember a school trip to France literally living on frites

I'm so surprised at that! We go to Greece a lot and I've always found loads of vegan options, hummus, stuffed vine leaves, gigantes beans, fried aubergine, fried courgettes, melitzansata, yemesta (ask for it without the feta on top).

Matchingcollarandcuffs · 05/04/2023 11:37

showmethegin · 05/04/2023 09:44

I'm so surprised at that! We go to Greece a lot and I've always found loads of vegan options, hummus, stuffed vine leaves, gigantes beans, fried aubergine, fried courgettes, melitzansata, yemesta (ask for it without the feta on top).

This was 30 years ago

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