[Sca-cooks] vegan demands

[Susan Fox-Davis]

The "problem eaters" I know are courteous enough not to behave like these
people.  Our beloved baroness does not eat "anything with a face" plus a liberal
cross-section of other allergies and a desire for only organic products.  Being
a true noble woman, she usually brings her own meal and sits at feast for the
good company.  Her positivity makes it a joyous challenge rather than a dreary
chore to make a meal at which she may partake freely!

On the other end of the spectrum... There was a young woman in Caid about a
decade or two ago who would constantly pay up for feast then complain that she
could not eat meat nor eggs.  Constantly.  She paid for a meal-plan for a whole
war once, and I wound up digging into my scant personal supplies to feed her
oatmeal instead of the paid-for eggs or cheese toast.  She would have been a
pain in the patootie whether she was vegan or anything else, wouldn't she?  Her
health was usually poor, and hear that she did pass away a couple of years ago.
The one I felt for was her small daughter, poor sprite never looked well either,
constant runny nose, that sort of thing. I wish her well, she did not seem to
get a happy healthy start in life.  It's one thing to make an ethical decision
for yourself, it's another to make it for your child, without making sufficient
provisions for the child's well-being within your ethical structure.  [Please
read that final clause twice before responding!]

I'm not against TVP but would rather make a dish that made vegetables taste good
than try to "imitate" something else.  My choice.  If you don't like it, I can
recommend an offsite restaurant with all the fake cheese and fake chicken you
can eat.

My solution to the feast planning issues is not to include any meat products in
a dish which is not an overt meat dish, i.e. no meat broth in barley 'n'
mushrooms, etc.  Presumably, the vegans know NOT to eat the leg of lamb.  Each
course has something besides the overt meat dish.  We urge people with food
allergies to alert us ahead of time as to their limitations [lacto, ovo, fisho,
etc. vegetarians] to enhance their own experience, not ours.  If they starve
after four or five courses, it's their own fault.   We  have not starved anyone
yet.

Selene Colfox, Caid

Marilyn Traber wrote:

> I don;t know, I was cooking a dragons flight event and had a 3som of vegans
> show up demanding food. I hit the closest grocery store, and on my own
> nickle as the monies for the feast were all spent got makings. They got imam
> bayadi [a fried eggplant dish, lots of oil and spices, very luxurious] a
> vegetable pilau, falafel, beid hamine [they admitted eggs would be ok],
> pickled onions with mint and honey [also ok with them] and both baba ganoush
> and hummus bi tahini and pita. [we were doing a vaguely middle eastern feast
> with lamb and chicken for us carnivores]
>
> Got not a thanks from them, and complaints that they couldnt eat anything in
> the rest of the feast [all containing stuff they wouldn't eat, most of which
> had already been cooked or partially cooked and unable to separate anything
> out. I litterally 'resteraunted' them with their own custom vegie
> feast.]Rather turned me off to vegans.
>
> But then again this is the last feast we ever prepared in canton - rob and i
> even donated lambs and chickens we raised ourself to keep the feast cost
> down. We never got thanked over it - or called into court and applauded. If
> you don't at least signify by applause that we done good, we don't play at
> that level with you - we go where we ARE appreciated.
>
> Although it seems like every time I go to northpass, i end up bubble dancing
> in the kitchen.
> margali
>
> the quote starts here:
>
> Now, the challenge is, can we find veg foods that fit into an upper
> class feast, that are documentable, that are flavourful, and that are
> all we expect from meat dishes?  If we can, we open up a range of new
> dishes to feed *everyone*, not just the vegetarians.  And we save
> ourselves some stress when a vegetarian shows up on the day and says
> "what are you going to feed me?" (yes, I agree it's amazingly rude, but
> it can be planned for).  Perhaps even better, most vegetable dishes are
> less expensive than meat dishes, so you can have more of them and give
> people a bigger feast, or get some more special ingredients, or support
> more half-price servers or special presentation items to give your event
> a bit extra class.
>
> Yours,
>
> Katherine
>