Visit my new blog
ADD ALMOST VEGETARIAN TO YOUR RSS/NEWS READER!
ALMOST VEGETARIAN FAQ
Archives
Search Almost Vegetarian
The vegetarian and the restaurant
Big trouble. As in, way more than I ever thought.
Which means there is only one solution if you want a vegetarian meal.
Is your vegetarian meal really vegetarian?
I’ve eaten at plenty of restaurants, from fast food to fine dining, and when I look for the vegetarian entree, I assume I am getting a vegetarian meal.
After all, how difficult is it to keep meat and other animal products out of a meal?
Very difficult, it turns out.
Those hidden animal ingredients
From gelatin to rennet, animal byproducts sneak into all sorts of products and dishes, from the cheese plate to the dessert tray.
And, while you and I know about these meat-based ingredients, an awful lot of people do not.
Which means your vegetarian meal, alas, may very well not be.
But it gets worse.
Those pesky tongs
Restaurant kitchens run so fast and so hard that it isn’t difficult for a cook to grab a vegetarian entree with the same tongs, for example, that were used to, say, cook a meat-based entree.
It’s not like they have a separate station that does nothing but vegetarian foods. They don’t have the space. And they certainly don’t have the time, personnel, and equipment to have a dedicated vegetarian station.
So what is a vegetarian to do?
My best advices is to eat at a vegetarian restaurant. That way, there is no room for mistakes.
And, hey, it certainly can’t hurt to be supporting the vegetarian community. After all, if enough money goes to vegetarian restaurants, then, certainly, more are bound to open. And that’s good for all of us!
Where to find vegetarian restaurants?
So how do your find a vegetarian restaurant? Your best bet is the The Vegetarian Journal’s Guide to Natural Foods Restaurants in the U.S. and Canada.
Bon Apetit!
Comments
9 Responses to “The vegetarian and the restaurant”
Leave a Reply
July 6th, 2009 @ 7:00 am
I've always figured there was critter juice in my entrees!
July 6th, 2009 @ 8:44 am
ugh, i try not to think about this too much because it's depressing. but good to know i suppose.
July 6th, 2009 @ 10:09 am
I can vouch for this after going to a wedding and being served mac and cheese with bacon in after I asked what was veggie. I guess the bacon was chopped really small?!!!
Along the same lines as a joke in a comedy show I used to watch 'its only wafer thin ham'
July 6th, 2009 @ 11:54 am
Thanks for the link to veg restaurants! We dont have any in our small town but I'd like to try one. I'm not total vegetarian, but am cutting meat out a lot. Just found your blog and excited to follow it.
July 6th, 2009 @ 9:05 pm
That's one thing I have just decided to let go of. I mean I won't eat things with meat in them, but I'm also not going to watch over the cook and demand clean utensils and a separate cooking surface.
When we went to Flat Top Grill, you can put a little stick thing in your ingredients saying that you are vegetarian and they cook it on a separate flat top.
July 6th, 2009 @ 10:50 pm
I bet you are right and I presume that most people do not give it a second thought. Especially the restaurant workers themselves unless they are vegetarians. I bet the same for gluten and other allergies.
July 7th, 2009 @ 12:36 pm
So true! Like veggievixen, i try not to think about it…if i did, eating out would be really difficult in a place like Paris! But of course, i eagerly search for all-veg restaurants, and hope to open my own sometime!
July 7th, 2009 @ 9:38 pm
And if you want to go whole turnip and eat at the best vegan restaurant in San Francisco, go to Millennium. Yum!
July 13th, 2009 @ 5:12 pm
Some restaurants are very accomodating and have great veggie options – especially in San Francisco – I order meatless items but I agree, you can't always get everything exactly the way you want it…gotta let go a little….