From: spratt@src.honeywell.com (Steve Pratt)
Subject: Unwanted butter (was Re: Meatless vs No meat products)
Organization: Honeywell Systems & Research Center
Date: Tue, 8 Sep 1992 16:39:18 GMT


In article <1992Sep6.033930.21205@socrates.umd.edu> tara@socrates.umd.edu (Tara McDermott) writes:

> If someone does make a mistake and I get eggs in my rice (which yas yet
> to happen, though I DID get pork fried rice once, when I was expecting
> plain WHITE rice, bleck!) is it better to eat it or let them throw it out
> and have them make more for you?  I know, I know, it's still BAD for you,
> and sets a bad example.  It was a rhetorical question, not meant to be
> taken seriously.

> In answer to your query, YES, I always "bother".  If you don't show that
> the food you eat is a concern, then they won't be honest or care about
> what foods they serve!

and

In article mumble mumble sploke@undergrad.math.waterloo.edu (;-}) writes:

> Here comes the question: if you order something ( which is suppose to
> be vegetarian or vegan ) that has some animal product by mistake ( and
> you cannot return it , the alternatives will be either eat it or throw
> it away ), do you eat them? If I throw it away and order something else,
> then I will have to consume/waste more food than I need to. This is off
> the point when we said by eating vegetable....blah blah blah.....

Interesting that I would come back from the long weekend and read these two
postings.  I just had a related experience this weekend.

I am an ovo-lacto vegetarian and "aspiring" vegan; I have stopped the
purchase of any (known) animal derived products at home, and am striving to
diminish my consumption of them outside.  While my original decision to go
vegetarian was for an assortment of reasons including health, the reasons
for moving to vegan are almost entirely for ethical and environmental
reasons.

I went to "Mud Pie", my favorite local (Minneapolis) veg restaurant on
Saturday.  The menu is meticulous about identifying eggs and dairy in their
food, and I decided to have a rotti dinner, which included salad, bread,
and beverage.  Attempting to reduce eggs and dairy in restaurant food has
been one continuous consiousness raising experience.  First for me, and
probably countless others, was the realization that I had to ask for my
toast "dry".

The butter which came on the side with my bread caught me off guard,
however.  But I said to myself, "that's ok, I just won't use it, and
they'll just reuse it."  When the bus-person came to clear my dishes, I was
disconcerted to see her throw my bread plate, along with two pats of butter
into the dirty dish tub with everything else.

I later mentioned my concern to my waitress, expressing my surprise that a
restaurant which clearly catered to many vegans, would engage in such a
practice, and asked her what other customers with similar concerns usually
did.  The expected answer was that they specifically ask for no butter with
the bread.

As will I, next time.  I expect that the same thing could happen with cream
for coffee, but in that case almost all restaurants usually ask you first.

Still with much to learn,

Steve Pratt                                spratt@src.honeywell.com
Honeywell Systems & Research Center        (612) 782-7267