[Sca-cooks] Vegetarians

[Bronwynmgn at aol.com]

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In a message dated 1/1/2002 11:27:52 AM Eastern Standard Time,
jenne at fiedlerfamily.net writes:


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

Hmm.  I've encountered at least one vegetarian who refused to touch the
bottom of a plate (to pass it) that had meat on the top, because there might
be some meat juices on the bottom.  I think my experience is likely to be an
extreme reaction, but if you are vegetarian for ideological reasons, I could
see being severely turned off by the thought that meat juices or grease might
have gotten into the lentils you wanted to eat.  After all, from an
ingredient standpoint, it's not all that much different than having used lard
to fry it or meat broth to cook it.  Granted, the proportion of meat-based
stuff would be much less, but if you don't want to eat any... I deliberately
keep my vegetarian dishes separate from my meat dishes because I assume that
many vegetarians are not going to eat rice or vegetables that have any meat
product in them.
As far as being plated attractively, it isn't necessary to mix the meat
dishes and the other dishes to do that; that's simply one way of handling it.
 After all, if people really want their meat served over the rice, they can
always arrange their own servings that way on their own plate...My husband
and I do that all the time at home - I have a tendency to spill food off my
plate when I'm cutting something, and putting a whole chicken breast on top
of rice is almost guarenteed to cause me to spill a lot, so I'd rather not
fuss with it, while he likes the presentation even for home meals.

Brangwayna Morgan