The Vegetarian Conundrum
I’d of thought that with vegetarianism and veganism being much more prevalent and accepted these days it wouldn’t be difficult for people to grasp the concept or get orders correct.
It seems that it is increasingly common for wait staff and/or kitchen staff to continually screw up my order. I mean, really how hard is “no meat”. I didn’t say “no guac, no onions, no meat, no cheese”. Just one thing was taken out. I want everything else. That pasta I ordered? I want the pasta with everything but the meat. Instead I got a kid sized order of pasta without meat. I didn’t say re-size my pasta. I *don’t* get it. I ordered cheese enchiladas one day and got beef enchiladas. WTH? Of course I sent it back. Then there are some things that I don’t think of, particularly when asking for cooked greens or beans, forgetting that meat like bacon or ham is often used for flavor. Sometimes I take a few bites and try to ignore my gaff.
Chel and Eliana do you have this problem? Any other veggies have this issue?
I am looking forward to having my own place and kitchen once again to actually cook some good vegetarian meals. This whole veggie thing was meant to be temporary through the work project here in Beaumont, but the more I do it the more I just feel like keeping on. Oh, I still look at meat and when I smell it—I do drool. But it is pretty easy to turn it down.
We’ll see. I’ve got a few more weeks here and we’ll see where it goes from there.
One Comment
chel
I have to admit, I don’t even bother ordering anything that’s not vegetarian off a menu. 90% of what is in retsuarants is pre-made or pre-packaged and I find the chicken/fish/meat is already in it, so most likely I am getting a plate of pasta or veggies that has the meat picked out and still has parts incorporated somewhere. I get really SICK whenever I eat meat (my stomach instantly goes crazy) so I learned my lesson with that early on 🙁 If anything, I will take a few elements on the menu (pasta with marinara and ask if they can add eggplant, spinach, whatever side veggies they serve with meat) or ask for a double salad served in a big bowl with some fresh veggies on the side. I often ask to look at the lunch menu, too- for some reason some restaurants have better veggie offerings at lunch and when I tell them I’m a veggie, they’ll let it slide and let me order off the lunch menu.
One other tip- don’t say you are a vegetarian, say you *can’t eat meat*- servers seem a lot more compassionate/concerned about food allergies than they do about ethical choices, which is sad, but at least it works!