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? ;)
I have recently relaxed from vegan to vegetarian again. I can't tell you why, but when I have done this previously, and now again, I start eating a lot more tofu which I can't stand to eat when I am totally vegan. This "relaxation" means I'll eat a bit of cheese if I want to and have cheese on my veggie gluten-free pizza. Getting to have a super big, super wonderful pizza every weekend has brightened me up quite a bit, but I can't consider myself vegan at this point.
I can go to the Chinese buffet and enjoy plain veggies and rice. I have a friend who opened up a deli in a town close by. She is well aware of my gluten-free, no animal products stuff and when I was there recently and ordered something called a "veggie melt" they politely told me that this is held together with melted cheese! This is not a negative, this is a positive story.
The eye rolling, the "I could NEVER do that" and the "I love my steak too much" stuff is standard where I live. I am not skinny stick thin, I am not anemic and I am rosy cheeked and healthy, so it isn't like I look underfed. I was explaining being gluten free vegan mostly, vegetarian person the other night. I was greeted with "so what the F*** do you eat????" Crap, just like you I eat food. My mind drifted to the frig full of artichokes, carrots, two kinds of cabbage, asparagus, blood oranges, Cameo apples, grapefruit, crisp celery, two kinds of mushrooms and eggplant lurking there just waiting to be fixed up and eaten. I know my eyes glazed over at that point. NOPE no suffering here!
LDF!!!!!!! Glad to see you back! been mnissing you! :D
On our way home from Big Spring last Thursday, we were hungry. I think the town we stopped in was Eden. There was nothing on the menu I could eat except onion rings (I didn't ask what they were cooked in or with.) I've learned that if I ask for "specially made" dishes they are going to resent it so much that I get served crap with very possibly spit in it! I had the onion rings and got an apple out of the back of the Jeep afterwards and that held me until we could get home. That was about the half-way point in the trip! Small town Texas far away from the bigger cities especially sucks.
Hi, all!
LOVE these stories.
Especially yours, Steviedg! Hilarious. I admire your bluntness.
And pineapple princess, your turkey SPAM story is a close runner-up... and it SO reminds me of perhaps my #1 complaint.
I hate getting asked, "Do you eat fish?"
I know some "vegetarians" do, but I expect generally intelligent people to understand that-- as a vegetarian (and trying-to-be-vegan)-- I don't want to eat ANYthing that was once a living, breathing being.
I just get so sick of this question... and have to bite my lip everytime it's asked.
Yeah, I'm pretty sick of people asking me how I get enough protein as if they even know what they are talking about. As if they know anything about nutrition at all.
When you're the vegan in the room, everyone else is suddenly a nutritionist. At least until it's time to go to Burger King. ::)
Oh & tofu yuck! Even though she's never tried it & tofu has no flavor on it's own & can take on so many different textures. Geeze!!
This boggles my mind. Tofu comes from a bean, people. Meat, on the other hand, is rotting flesh. But OMG, tofu is SO gross! ???
And even if tofu is plain by itself, it's not as if people eat plain boiled chicken all the time. That's what seasonings are for.
People can be really daft.
And that caterer in your story is absolutely appalling, purpledancer.
Honestly, I have lost about 35 lbs and a bit more since last summer. I have not done this on purpose, it is the prednisone I take and my age, ohhh who knows, it looks good though.
The best part of being both middle-aged AND veggie together is that it means you can keep your waistline. I am often mistaken for much younger than I actually am because I am not grossly fat with spotty skin and bad breath. I still look pretty good. You know how I keep my figure? I eat absolutely every fruit and veggie I can get my hands on. I can't have cereal so I might have baby carrots or munch green beans for breakfast. I have even been known to eat a can of beets for breakfast. I know that veggies have few calories actually. I have gone to a buffet with a friend a couple of times and one place they have 4 hot veggies, mashed potatoes, salad bar, rice, stirfry...I was so hungry I didn't ask if it was real butter I just ate what is on the list of things that won't make me sick. I had half a plate of hot carrots cooked from fresh, green beans and topped the whole mess with mashed taters. I went back like 5 times, skipped desserts in favor of the salad bar. I ate more than any 2 people who were with us. Carrying plate after plate piled high I got a lot of looks. You know, those places are filled with 300 lb people pigging out on every fatty piece of animal stuff they can shove in. The difference is that I didn't eat flesh.
I love that I can eat big and look small.
At least your buffet serves veggies without all the creamy sauces and gunk! The last time I was Stateside was in 1992 or so, and I was shocked when I was taken to a steakhouse (yeah, I know) and found 1) a Mexican food buffet 2) a "salad bar" (nightmare) and 3) a "dessert buffet" complete with all you could stuff soft icecream! I was used to the "set meal" of meat, potato, green salad and "Texas toast" so this came as a complete surprise. The "salad bar" was mostly creamy mac-and-gross salads and stuff like that.
My two travelling companions were extremely overweight. I had just spent 2 weeks living with some Salvadorans who were living on the edge of subsistence, so watching these two women I was with tuck into the food (not to mention everyone around us) was...disturbing. I guess it showed in my face, because one of the ladies asked me what was wrong and without thinking, I said, "Half of the world lives on the edge of starvation, and the other half is dieting." Or should be, I did not add.
I'm glad at least you could find meal options that weren't covered in goo, cheese, "dressing" and the like.
My family went out for brunch last weekend at an all-you-can-eat buffet. All I could eat was fruit. I hate those buffet style places when I'm paying the same price as everyone else but all I'm getting is food I can eat at home with minimal prep time. Don't get me wrong, it was good fruit, but I would have rather sat with the fam and then eat when I got home. My folks are nice, but they don't realize that I can't eat breakfast food at most restaurants. They didn't even have oatmeal.
This is a fun thread. Welcome Back Lady Dragonfly! Don't feel bad for eating cheese once in a while. Noone here is the veggie police.
I'm definetly renting Wrong Turn 2 now! My husband will think I rented it for him since I'm not crazy about horror movies & he loves them!
So I had a rough day yesterday. I was at a work conference all day. I brought along a couple snack bars knowing that there may not be much for me to eat. Breakfast was danishes & coffee. ( I had a vega & ricemilk shake along with some fruit on the ride down) Lunch was salad, hotdogs, various meat & cheese sandwiches, french fries, & a bunch of desserts. So I had a salad with french fries & a bun with sourkraut, ketchup & mustard on it. Then ate my snack bars in the bathroom.
Then after the seminar was a happy hour with all kinds of fried crap, wings & mini meatballs. I tried not to eat too many fried mushrooms & onion rings, but I was starving by the time I got home! (around 8 pm) then I made a wonderful salad.
Hi everyone! I'm new here!
DH and I became vegetarians (aspiring vegans!) almost 1 year ago. Every time we have been over to MIL & FIL's house for the big family lunch we have been offered fish or bacon... or something. DH's brother and his girlfriend are "environmental vegetarians" so they mostly don't eat meat so there are enough of us there that they could do a big veggie meal for everyone... but no... they insist on still doing roast dinners and then offering us sides of smoked trout! Bleaugh.
One weekend we were there for lunch they actually cooked us a veggie dinner but then offered DH bacon to go on top. ???
My MIL has had a bitch to my BIL about our diet 'expressing concern' for the health of our children >:( Does she think that we don't care about our kids?
The topic does say 'vent' in it doesn't it!? Sorry for the big rant!!
CarrieJane
I'm on spring break and have seen a lot of people I haven't seen in a few months and everytime I run into someone the first thing they ask me is, "Are you still vegan?" Ever since I went vegan everytime I see someone every months or something they ALWAYS ask if I'm still vegan like I'm doing it as some kind of joke or fad. Each time I respond, "Yes, I'm still vegan. I made a permanent lifestyle change." Then they have to launch into their whole, "Where do you get your protein, calcium blah blah blah, I know more about your nutritional requirements than you do." I really cannot deal with it anymore. I just want to tell them flatout, "Look, I'm eating healthy. As far as I can tell there have been no adverse physical effects of going vegan. I'm in great physical shape and run between 5-8 miles a day. I appreciate your concern, but I really know what I'm doing here and there is no need to question my nutritional choices." But that just seems like it could be taken the wrong way and be mean. Then I'm the "angry vegan."
Luckily I go back to school in two days and won't have to deal with this line of questioning until at least August. It's really frustrating.
Oh yes, I always get asked 'Are you still vegetarian?' too. I don't get it at all. ??? I just smile and nod. ;)
Come back with a question that deals with their basic lifestyle, like, "Are you still a parent?" or "are you still a sociologist/lawyer/whatever?" When they say "yes, of course" you say, "Well see, my being vegan is just as permanent."
Or you could roll your eyes and say, "Thank you for asking A-GAIIIIN. The answer is yes." But only if you're about 15. :-D
I'm on spring break and have seen a lot of people I haven't seen in a few months and everytime I run into someone the first thing they ask me is, "Are you still vegan?"
This reminds me.
Last year I found my college boyfriend's profile on Myspace. We hadn't seen or spoken to each other in ten years. When he wrote me back the first thing he wrote (after saying Wow, it's been ten years) was "Are you still vegetarian?"
i haven't had any totally "you must be joking" stories, but this really perturbed me...
over the weekend i was out to dinner at a local place i'd been to once before. the previous time my friend and i ordered their nachos as an appetizer. they come topped with black beans and cheese. then sour cream, moooore cheese, and guac come on the side. we asked for half with no cheese for me. i topped them with some guac and they were great.
so this weekend we ordered the same thing and the waitress looks at me all confused and bewildered and goes "...but the cheese is the essence of the whole dish!!"
i just said that i don't eat cheese and i've had them before without it and it was good. "oooookay," she said.
that's pretty much it. but it made me mad and frustrated that she automatically thought the nachos would be lacking if they didn't have cheese. even if i ate cheese i'd think that it would smother the taste of the beans.
oh, and then when it came time to order the entree--asian chicken salad minus the chicken, i was sure she'd say "but the chicken is the essence of the salad!". luckily she didn't.
….And anyway – I don’t mean to sound like a dick, but when I go to some people’s houses they don’t seem to care if I eat at all. They’ll be like oh yeah; you can have some corn or just pick the pepperoni out of the pasta salad ???. I’d be embarrassed to do that to a guest in my home. What’s up with that? And they are fully aware of my diet.
My cousins used to always do this to me. "Here is chicken casserole, you can pick out the potatoes and eat them, and have some bread." Then one time they were having a bbq and I brought my own veggies burgers. They seemed shocked that I would do this (almost as it was rude). However, I never had to pick potatoes out of chicken again after that, they always have something I can eat now.
And when I offer to bring something, they refuse.
Instead of offering, I have decided that I will tell them that I'm bringing something 'to help out' (whether they want me to or not). That way not only do I ensure that we have enough of something good to eat, but they get to experience yummy delicious vegan food without really knowing it. There are a few awesome salads that I make with beans/chickpeas/brown rice or big green salads with nuts and seeds in them that are always a hit with meat-eaters, so I'm going to take one of those with me every time our in-laws have us over for lunch again.
I cannot fathom that people would make you pick the meat out of your food or to pick the potatoes out of a chicken casserole, that is so rude. :boooo:
….And anyway – I don’t mean to sound like a dick, but when I go to some people’s houses they don’t seem to care if I eat at all. They’ll be like oh yeah; you can have some corn or just pick the pepperoni out of the pasta salad ???. I’d be embarrassed to do that to a guest in my home. What’s up with that? And they are fully aware of my diet.
My cousins used to always do this to me. "Here is chicken casserole, you can pick out the potatoes and eat them, and have some bread." Then one time they were having a bbq and I brought my own veggies burgers. They seemed shocked that I would do this (almost as it was rude). However, I never had to pick potatoes out of chicken again after that, they always have something I can eat now.
Point, set and match to Biodancer! Sometimes you just have to be obvious for them to get that you really do mean it. If a person is a diabetic, you don't serve them stuff you know would kill them.
Here they do, though. They will press and press and press...and if you say "no, I can't eat that" they're all offended. Our Bishop is borderline diabetic and they still push cake and sweets in his face.
Once I was helping to plant hazel trees for one of my organics teachers, at her house, in the rain - hard work, right? So I would have liked some good solid food for lunch. Unfortunately the only thing on offer was bread and vegetable soup...... with ham. She actually said "You can pick out the bits of ham, it'll be okay..." HA!! As if the whole pot of soup didn't stink of it. Fortunately one of her other guests had brought her own thermos of ham-free vegetable soup, which she shared with me. LOL. ::)
My mother is very ignorant to anything outside of the box of how she has always done things. I hate how she criticizes me for feeding my two children "rabbit food" and saying that they need their milk for protein.....I would never, ever do anything for my family and my children that I did not think was safe. I know 100% that our diet is way better than anything she ever fed me growing up. It makes me sick just thinking about it. I have fully researched our lifestyle before making the switch and I haven't looked back even once. I just wish people could offer support instead of criticism or at least have an interest in WHY vegetarianism/veganism is a positive thing, and not a negative thing.
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