restaurant's betrayal - tell the vegan press (Perspective)

September 25, 2007

Hmmm.....Are we taking this a little too far? Do we know they put egg in every dish or is it just this dish? I know that the issue of trust has come up, but it's not like they're putting pork or chicken in every dish?

It feels like we're going to a church burning, which is not the community I signed up for when I became vegetarian?How 'bout someone writing them a letter and asking them about their ingredients regarding vegan vs vegetarian before blowing this up out of proportion?

I can see headlines of USA Today - " It's a fight to the vegetarian death - vegans vs vegetarians. At least no animals got harmed in this fight. " Let's keep this in perspective people. Aren't we all on the same side - restaurants who have chosen to go the vegetarian route (most likely taking a lower profit margin) and us vegetarians?

Clyde - 100% vegetarian and around 95% vegan for 16+ years.On 9/24/07, Lisa Herzstein <lisavegansf

> wrote:

Do we think VegNews would care? They're national/international. Or the

SF Chronicle? What SF based veg*n papers/magazines are there?; I'd be

interested to know if anyone on the lists knows of any. Thanks! Lisa

On 9/24/07, Moya Stone <agathasprose wrote:

> Isn't there a SF based vegetarian newspaper or magazine? I know someone

> writes a vegan column. I suggest one of you contact this publication and/or

> the vegan columnist and tell them about this outrage. It's certainly

> newsworthy and vegans will want to know about it.

>

> Cheers - Moya

--

" Animals are my friends and I don't eat my friends " - George Bernard Shaw

" The reasonable (person) adapts (herself/himself) to the world; the

unreasonable one persists to adapt the world to (herself/himself).

Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable (person). " - George

Bernard Shaw

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September 25, 2007

Clyde & All, I've been a vegan for many, many years and I don't want

to eat ANY egg. I've ordered this dish numerous times, having been

told by them it was vegan. If, in fact, we find out they have been

untrustworthy about this, I simply don't trust them at all. I

appreciate places that are veg*n or provide veg*n foods, but I

appreciate honesty even more; if there is egg here and I'd been

informed correctly, I could have happily ordered their vegan

offerings. They have lost my trust. Depending on their response(s) to

my/others' inquiries, they might not regain it. - Lisa

On 9/24/07, Clyde Lerner <service wrote:

> Hmmm.....Are we taking this a little too far? Do we know they put egg in

> every dish or is it just this dish? I know that the issue of trust has come

> up, but it's not like they're putting pork or chicken in every dish? ...

--

" Animals are my friends and I don't eat my friends " - George Bernard Shaw

" The reasonable (person) adapts (herself/himself) to the world; the

unreasonable one persists to adapt the world to (herself/himself).

Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable (person). " - George

Bernard Shaw

September 25, 2007

Yes, I agree.Some people may have made some dumb mistakes.I do not think anyone is trying to trick or fool or lie to vegans.I understand how disappointing it is to find out that, what we thought we were eating, is not really what we thought it was.I think it is pretty obvious that if we go to Cafe Gratitude, "everything" is vegan and they make it clear they have honey available.If you go to Herbivore everything is vegan.If you go to Millennium everything is vegan.I believe all these owners (above) are pretty close to being vegan and fully understand the entire definition of what a vegan diet is.I think we have to understand that if we are going to visit restaurants where the owners are not vegan (lifestyle differences), where there are cultural differences and language difference this may lead to some misunderstandings.I really do not think people are being malicious, but rather it may be ignorance or misunderstandings, and yes it is probably a dumb mistake.A few years ago at the "old" Bok Choy Garden, in inquired weather or not the fortune cookies contained egg (i.e. vegan or not).I got the impression they were not quite sure, and I never saw another fortune cookie even to this day at the "new" Bok Choy Garden.So, maybe I ate a little egg that I didn't intend too, I am only human, and so is my nice server who may have made a thoughtless dumb unintentional mistake.The point is, YES, we should be able to know what is in our food, but we should also understand who we are visiting with.I guess, I feel we have to make the extra effort to be sure people know what we are asking them, before we can really accuse them of lying.Should it be this way, of course not, but if we want to make sure, I think we need to make sure, and it sounds like in some cases both a translator and an inspector may be necessary:-)Yes, it is a buzz kill, to be misled, but it is also a buzz kill to hear all this anger.What happened to wisdom, patients, compassion, and forgiving our neighbors. Peace,samsamhalsey(415) 309-1879