[Sca-cooks] Sca-cooks Digest, Vol 7, Issue 38

[Stefan li Rous]

Regina replied to me with:
<<< This is going to get me into real trouble, but what the heck. >>>

Perhaps. But I think you may have missed some of the original message  
which I was replying to. Did you see the original message requesting  
some Indian vegetarian recipes or are you answering based just on my  
message and the edited version of the original message I quoted?  
Perhaps I clipped out too much of the original message.

<<< If YOU went to work in another part of the world (say Iraq or  
Afghanistan)
how do you think you would be perceived by the local people it you  
refused
to eat anything but Western food?  Would you expect and be upset because
your hosts and hostesses didn't immediately change their cooking  
styles to
fit your prejudices?  W so that everyone else in the village had to  
eat the
same Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwiches you preferred or possibly did  
not
care for pp&J? >>>

I didn't get the impression that the Indian individual *was*  
requesting, much less demanding, any kind of special provision to be  
made for him. I think the poster was taking it upon herself to  
provide something for her Indian coworker. I think it was a very nice  
gesture. And goes beyond simply modifying the usual American holiday  
food to be vegetarian friendly.

>> I guess I may be almost as ignorant as some in your office. Aren't a
>> number of the dishes you mention above vegetarian, or easily made so?
>> Such as the greens, the mac and cheese, the cornbread, the pecan pie
>> and the sweet potato pie? Or by "strict vegetarian" are you ruling
>> out things like milk and cheese?
>>
>> Stefan

I certainly didn't mean my comments to be critical. I was just  
curious why these particular items wouldn't already meet the Indian's  
needs. They sounded like they would be vegetarian to me, although I  
was wondering if there were hidden ingredients that I wasn't thinking  
of that would cause problems. Or that perhaps by "strict vegetarian",  
the original poster meant something closer to vegan which would rule  
out the milk and cheese. The answer that the greens might be cooked  
in lard, wasn't something that occurred to me.

Stefan
--------
THLord Stefan li Rous    Barony of Bryn Gwlad    Kingdom of Ansteorra
    Mark S. Harris           Austin, Texas           
StefanliRous at austin.rr.com
**** See Stefan's Florilegium files at:  http://www.florilegium.org ****