chicken broth in the veg entrees, was Panda Express is not veg-friendly

[Guest guest]

At 11:01 PM -0800 3/1/04, Jillian Reyman wrote:

>And while I'm on the subject of unnecessary food additives, does anyone

>know what the deal is with certain frozen items at Trader Joe's containing

>chicken broth and chicken base? I was so mad when I read the ingredients

>in their " vegetable " pad thai and roasted " vegetable " enchiladas. I'm in

>the mood to change the world right now, so I think I'll write them a

>letter too.

 

 

 

 

 

Often, nonvegetarians really don't see what the problem is unless someone

specifically tells them, so I'm glad you're doing it.

 

I was visiting one of my cousins several years ago, talking with her in the

kitchen, and I happened to notice that she'd added chicken broth to the

couscous. (She knew I'd been a longtime vegetarian, she had vegetarian

friends, she ate veg foods during her religion's lent period, and she was

the most veg-aware of all my relatives.) So I didn't eat any couscous, and

when she asked why and I told her, she was genuinely surprised that it made

any difference to me. She said she always added either butter or chicken

broth to couscous for " flavor. "

 

I'm guessing that during lent, when she didn't eat meat, she still used

animal broth without a second thought, so it had never occurred to her that

the broth made her food nonveg. It's a different level of awareness.

 

Still, TJ's and restaurants should know better.

 

The other thing is that vegans are perceived as a statistically small

segment of the population. The other day, IIRC, a friend was telling me

that vegetarians are 5 percent of the population in the US, and vegans are

40 percent of that. So assuming 260 million? people, the US has " only " 13

million vegetarians and 5.2 million vegans. (Alternatively, 255 potential

vegans.) Even if my numbers are off by an order of magnitude, that sounds

like a lot of vegans to me.

 

Tanya