[Sca-cooks] Vegetarians

[lilinah at earthlink.net]

Jadwiga Zajaczkowa wrote:
>Dumb but utterly not-intended-to-be-confrontational vegetarian question:
>I was seated at a feast with someone who wouldn't eat the lentil dish
>because it was served with the sausages touching part of the mound of
>lentils.

Not dumb and not confrontational.

>I was aware that observant or semi-observant Jews generally don't
>eat even kosher food that has been touched by food that is tref...

It isn't even a question of foods touching. Someone who truly follow
halakah will not eat food cooked in pans or served on plates that
treif has touched. If they keep Kosher, they have separate pots and
pans for cooking dairy foods and for cooking meat foods and separate
dishes and tableware for eating them. Of course, i doubt that anyone
this observant would eat at an SCA feast.

>...but I
>wasn't aware that this was a problem with vegetarians. Is this common
>among vegetarians or was I sitting next to someone who was unusual?

It isn't common , but I'm not sure how unusual it is. This sort of
behavior is very individual.

However, because i know *some* people are like this, i generally
serve my meats and my grains on separate platters. The Iron Chef
feast was an exception. I mounded the Pear-Apricot Chicken and Lamb
in the center of the round trays. I surrounded it with a heaping ring
of saffron rice, around which was an edging of garbanzo beans and
almond-stuffed honeyed dates. Because the meat was not very "saucy",
there wasn't a lot of liquid seeping under the rice. I figured
vegetarians could take rice, garbanzos, and dates off the outer edge.

>I know that for people with allergy situations not having the food 'touch
>one another' is a good thing but it does make arranging platters difficult

Not all "fussy" people are just being prima donnas - sure, there are
plenty of them, but some folks have quite genuine reasons for extreme
caution around food.

A coven mate of mine was terribly allergic to beans and peanuts. She
and her husband were travelling in Nebraska visiting relatives. They
stopped in a local restaurant and she noted that there was a
bean-free, all meat chili on the menu. After quizzing the waitress -
really, no beans - she ordered a dish. She had only touched her lips
with the spoon when they immediately swelled up. Good thing she
didn't get it into her mouth, or she might have died of anaphylactic
suffocation. Turns out they thickened their chili with peanut butter.

>(I have noticed more people complaining that their food is not
>attractively arranged lately.)

Few of the feasts i've attended in my 2-1/2 years have been arranged
attractively. One standout was the Iron Chef competition - every team
had very nicely presented food. I'll confess that at the Boar Hunt i
was just concerned with getting the food out so it didn't look
particularly nice, unless the dish was intrinsically attractive, like
the cherry-rice.

Anahita