Come Vent - Share Your "You must be joking" Veggie Experiences Here!
I thought it would be interesting if my fellow vegetarians & vegans would share some of their most absurd experiences in regards to their diet.
I’ll share a story to give an example of what I mean. I’ve been a vegetarian for 16 years, so I have many stories, but this one is burned in my brain….. I went to a large family gathering in a restaurant. The host (my grandmother) made prior arrangements with said restaurant to have a vegetarian meal (spaghetti w/ marinara) provided for me. The waitress came around & took our orders. We had a choice between steak or chicken. I told her I was a vegetarian & I would have the spaghetti w/ marinara. After our side salads, they brought out the entrees. The waitress placed a big steaming pile of noodles w/ meat sauce in front of me. I told her I could not eat it & I needed sauce w/out meat in it. She said that it was the only sauce they had. Keep in mind that the entire time I am having this discussion, my entire family (who even now after 16 years have not accepted my dietary choices) is listening intently :-[. Since they didn’t have non-meat sauce, I made other suggestions - such as olive oil & stir-fried veggies over the spaghetti noodles. Well, apparently this restaurant didn’t have vegetables or olive oil for that matter. The very unpleasant & irritated waitress brought me a plate with about 2lbs of spaghetti noodles smothered in vegetable oil. So now my entire family is staring at my food thinking “so that’s what vegetarians eat”. To top the evening off, my uncle, who was sitting across from me - mooed as he ate his steak (yes, my family is very classy).
This event occurred in my early vegetarian days. I would not tolerate such poor service now. I can look back at it now & think how ridiculous the whole thing was & how ignorant the chef, waitress, & my uncle were. At the time, I was mortified though.
So does anyone else want to contribute a story that only one of your own kind could truly appreciate? ;)
when he then asked how long I'd been vegetarian, I said, "well, now, thanks to you, only about 5 minutes!".
The girl waiter got our tip and he got none!
that's a good response. what a jerk.
this seriously makes me even MORE paranoid than i already am. i barely ever eat out and even sometimes getting choco. chips from the bulk bin i get suspicious. i have problems :-\
I don't really have a story, but I will add to the Applebee's stories. Last year, one of my students gave me an Applebee's gift card. So, I went on their website in search of anything I could possibly get there. Ugh. Gross. I was stlil eating cheese at the time, and it still made me ill to look the menu. I ended up giving the card away to someone.
the people I work with.... constantly say stuff like, can you drink alcohol on this diet? I'm like, "it's a way of life, not a diet" they still just dont get it.....I'm pretty I've caught them rolling their eyes about stuff I say
This happend to me during Xmas time last year. My husband and I went to a mall to get our Xmas shopping done. After a few hours we decided to stop and eat at their foodcourt, so I went looking for a veg friendly place and I came across this gyro place. I was so happy, because based on my previous experiences Greek places are pretty veg friendly. They had vegetarian options, I am a vegan though, so I ordered their veggie gyro w/o the yogurt sauce.The gyro was very, very awful! it consisted of 2 slices of tomatoes, few shreds of iceberg lettuce with a gyro wrapped around it. It was dry and tasteless, I tried to eat it but after taking 1 bite I just couldn't. So my husband was like take it back if you don't like it, I usually don't do that, but I had to go to work right after, and it was like $5, so I needed to eat something and did not want spend anymore money. I went back and cashier asked their manager to talk to me. He came out and I explained that the gyro did not taste very well and if I can get something else, or my money back that would be great. So he starts offering to add meat and dairy sauces to it, and I am like: I am sorry, but I don't eat meat, or dairy.
Him: Well, then I can't do anything about it, there are only vegetables on your gyro. What did you expect it to taste like?
Me(shocked): Sooooo it is my fault that your food taste bad?
Him: Yes!
>:(WTF???????????????
At that point I know that I am dealing with a very mean and disrespectfull person, so I said: Ok. Thank you very much for great customer service and left.
Came back to our table and told my husband... He decided to go talk to him... Long story short: the manager gave my husband our money back, after first insulting his intelligence and making a racial comment (my husband is African-American)... I know... :o Unbelievable!
I was talking to someone on the phone who happened to recently attend a two week training I may have to attend. Food is provided, so I asked him a lot of questions. After an extended grilling, I explained that I was vegan and I was trying to figure out what I'd have to do about food. He cheerily replied, "Oh, my daughter is one, too! Do you eat fish?" He followed that up with, "There's not a lot of food you can eat." Hmmm. Maybe his daughter became veg*n after moving out of the house?
This happend to me during Xmas time last year. My husband and I went to a mall to get our Xmas shopping done. After a few hours we decided to stop and eat at their foodcourt, so I went looking for a veg friendly place and I came across this gyro place. I was so happy, because based on my previous experiences Greek places are pretty veg friendly. They had vegetarian options, I am a vegan though, so I ordered their veggie gyro w/o the yogurt sauce.The gyro was very, very awful! it consisted of 2 slices of tomatoes, few shreds of iceberg lettuce with a gyro wrapped around it. It was dry and tasteless, I tried to eat it but after taking 1 bite I just couldn't. So my husband was like take it back if you don't like it, I usually don't do that, but I had to go to work right after, and it was like $5, so I needed to eat something and did not want spend anymore money. I went back and cashier asked their manager to talk to me. He came out and I explained that the gyro did not taste very well and if I can get something else, or my money back that would be great. So he starts offering to add meat and dairy sauces to it, and I am like: I am sorry, but I don't eat meat, or dairy.
Him: Well, then I can't do anything about it, there are only vegetables on your gyro. What did you expect it to taste like?
Me(shocked): Sooooo it is my fault that your food taste bad?
Him: Yes!
>:(WTF???????????????
At that point I know that I am dealing with a very mean and disrespectfull person, so I said: Ok. Thank you very much for great customer service and left.
Came back to our table and told my husband... He decided to go talk to him... Long story short: the manager gave my husband our money back, after first insulting his intelligence and making a racial comment (my husband is African-American)... I know... :o Unbelievable!
unless that man was the owner of the restaurant, he has a manager to answer to.If not it is a chain restaurant, he has corprate to listen to. And if he doesn't then he at least has the mall who rents him the space or even the better business beaurue to answer to. It doesn't matter what the food tasted like, comments like that are totally unacceptable and should never be tolerated (even if you did get you money back.) I would have complained and if no one did anything, i would have continued to complain until someone listened and held him responsible for his derogatory and rude behavior. I'm out raged! >:(
Last weekend I was a performer at a benefit event and there was food in the green room. A fellow musician (and my downstairs neighbor) took a bite of a brownie and told me it tasted like it might be vegan. When I asked what that might mean, he said it was awful and dry so it probably didn't have eggs in it. I bake for him all the time, so I didn't even respond. I guess now I know how much he appreciates my cooking.
Also at the benefit and not exactly related to this thread, the centerpieces were tiny tiny bowls, each holding 4 goldfish. There were 2 bowls on each table and LOTS of tables. I was appalled. The bowls were open and people were putting things into them. What did they think they were going to do, flush hundreds of fish? I wrote an email to as many involved coordinators as I could think of, but I don't think I got through. >:(
Thank you, VegHeadZealia! From what I understand he was the owner of the place, and you know come to think about it we were going to wright a letter to whoever owns the mall, but I guess because of all the craziness involved during Xmas time we forgot. Reading this thread made me remember. I should wright to them now, since I remembered, I would not want anybody else go through something like that.
I love all the stories. Not eating meat is frustrating sometimes. I've never been there, but now I am never going to Applebees!
Last weekend I was a performer at a benefit event and there was food in the green room. A fellow musician (and my downstairs neighbor) took a bite of a brownie and told me it tasted like it might be vegan. When I asked what that might mean, he said it was awful and dry so it probably didn't have eggs in it. I bake for him all the time, so I didn't even respond. I guess now I know how much he appreciates my cooking.
Also at the benefit and not exactly related to this thread, the centerpieces were tiny tiny bowls, each holding 4 goldfish. There were 2 bowls on each table and LOTS of tables. I was appalled. The bowls were open and people were putting things into them. What did they think they were going to do, flush hundreds of fish? I wrote an email to as many involved coordinators as I could think of, but I don't think I got through. >:(
First, if I were you I wouldn't bake another thing for him! Some "friend!" If that's what he thinks of your goodies, don't you bother! And if he asks where the treats went--tell him!
The thing about the goldfish is just sick; bad enough they were in tiny bowls, but WHY would people put things in them? Oh, yeah, it's "funny" to drop bottle caps into a fish bowl. My brother used to do that, but then my brother is a psychopath. I bet you will be told they were "just feeders." >:(
I learned the hard way that of the two types of samosas available from my store's deli, the ones with meat in them are the ones with a pea stuck on the top as an indicator. Um, surely it would be logical for the ones made of veges to have a vege on them? I'd asked for a vege samosa and been given what they thought was one, but actually they hadn't realised that there were no vege ones left that day, and they'd given me a meat one. I innocently heated it up for lunch, and FORTUNATELY I broke it open with my fork instead of just biting into it - so I could see the little brown lumps... I had a definite WTF??? moment, and then I took the whole thing downstairs to confront the deli workers - "Excuse me, does this look like meat to you?!" :err: So I made them give me a satay vege pie instead. :)>>>
I was at my Nanna's once and she was serving up roast lamb. She asked me if I wanted more Lamb. I said "No, I don't want any, thanks"
"What? Why not?"
"Because I don't eat meat now."
"When did this happen?"
"Remember... I told you I'm a vegetarian on the phone the other day."
"Ohhhh. I thought that meant, well, you're fond of girls."
My mum choked on her glass of wine then mustered up a "Ma, that's lesbian."
"Oh. That's right!"
No one has let Nanna forget that one.
FG, that is priceless!! Priceless!! :-D :-D
That's excellent!!! :-D Thanks for making me laugh at work on a sleepy Tuesday morning!
I was at my Nanna's once and she was serving up roast lamb. She asked me if I wanted more Lamb. I said "No, I don't want any, thanks"
"What? Why not?"
"Because I don't eat meat now."
"When did this happen?"
"Remember... I told you I'm a vegetarian on the phone the other day."
"Ohhhh. I thought that meant, well, you're fond of girls."
My mum choked on her glass of wine then mustered up a "Ma, that's lesbian."
"Oh. That's right!"
No one has let Nanna forget that one.
that is freaking funny!!! The neighbors who lived adjacent to me thought "vegan" was a cult religion.
That is freaking funny!!! The neighbors who lived adjacent to me thought "vegan" was a cult religion.
My parents still don't know the term "vegan"--they just think I'm a vegetarian that also doesn't eat dairy or eggs ::)
Stories like these always make me cringe. It's just stunning how many people out there prefer to attack and/or insult what they see as different instead of trying to understand it and be accommodating. This is also why I don't go out to eat very often. There are good people out there, but sometimes it seems that the type of people in these stories outnumber them. Sad, really.
That being said, I really only have one story to share and it doesn't involve a restaurant, but it is something recent. I had a "friend" (I put quotes there because he's no longer a friend) completely attack me after a blog post. I wrote about wondering why my friends don't call me anymore to hang out. He fires back that I need to learn how to cook food that's edible (his words) and then maybe people would consider hanging out with me. And that I was getting preachy about my vegan lifestyle and beliefs. And that bars are the accepted social medium for people in my age group (I'm 30, and he's 25, by the way) and I need to start hanging out there to be accepted (another by-the-way: I don't drink because I'm an alcoholic, and all my friends know that).
Now, this kid never even tried any of my food. He pretty much refuses to eat anything that doesn't have meat on it. So here he is saying that I can't cook and he's never eaten my cooking! And excuse me for being very proud of who and what I am, and enjoying telling others about it. And as for the no bars things, well, you know that story.
I haven't spoken to him since that day, and I have no desire to talk to him again. I've known him for around 10 years, and this comes between us and ruins our friendship.
Sigh.
AC, I've heard from a few of them, and the general response has been "That guy's an idiot, don't listen to him". Two of them even showed up last night to have dinner, spend the night, and have breakfast this morning - one of them liked the food, and the other didn't (they're both vegetarians), but at least they both gave it a shot before passing judgment. And the one that didn't like the food has only tried two meals, and there are so many others that I'm sure she'll come back again to try more.
But there is a rather disturbing silence coming from a lot of the people that I used to call "friend" . . .
Let's see . . . dinner was The Best Vegan Mac & Cheese recipe from here, and breakfast was the Breakfast Scramble recipe from here. The one that didn't like them wasn't a fan of the cheese sauce, she said. But the one that did like them cleaned her plate both times, so that was cool. The next time they're by here, I'll just have to give them something that doesn't include the sauce, but one of them specifically requested the mac & cheese this time since she heard me talking about how good it was. The food was part of the reason they came by - they're both friends that I hadn't seen a while, so they came over to watch movies and just catch back up with me. I'm glad to have them since I don't have a lot of friends left. My family is very supportive, but a lot of my friends aren't. Or weren't. I don't understand what about it keeps people away, but I'm not going to change to "fit in", so I've just gotten used to spending a lot of time alone.
amazing stories, i love the lesbian story, sounds like something my grandmother would say.
one time she made a corn pie kind of thing, my mom asked her "mom, is this vegan?" we were having a totally vegan thanksgiving dinner, she said "yeah, all it has is corn eggs and milk!" we just said "oh.... good..." and didn't eat it. shes kind of wacky.
but the latest vegan story i have occurred at a chilis, i went there before and had an AWESOME veg friendly waitress. i got the fajitas with TONS of vegetables, no sour cream or cheese and extra guac... yess. this time though i got minimal amounts of veggies, sour cream and cheese, no strips of meat, but as i was eating it, i tasted something funny and i looked around and found all these bits of something in my food, i immediately spit it out and gave it to my freegan bf to eat, he told me that its bacon, there was bacon in my non-chicken fajita, it must have gotten mixed in there from something else. gross. i didnt send it back because i was hoping to get a super big discount on it, and the night before i had a veggie soup at a veggie friendly restaurant that had meat broth in it, so i figure i can handle picking out bits of bacon, but then i only got a senior discount. bummer. my friends who are vegetarian helped me pick all of the bacon out. blegh.
the worst part about all these stories, to me, is how it gives other people the impression that being vegan sucks. i want people to know how awesome and easy being vegan is, ohwell.
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