[Sca-cooks] Vegetarian & Vegans was Re: lethal drinks

Dragon dragon at crimson-dragon.com
Wed Jul 23 08:37:57 PDT 2008


Barbara Benson wrote:
>Saluti!
>
>I have always tried to make sure that there isn't any hidden meat in
>my feasts. When I prepare veg dishes I substitute out the typically
>called for animal fat and use oil or butter. The same goes for my
>starch dishes. With this approach I thought I was doing a pretty good
>job with the whole vegetarian thing. And if someone contacts me ahead
>of time I try to compensate for their issues the best I can. I have
>been known to set aside portions of dishes for individuals with
>various allergies and sensitivities.
>
>We recently had a lovely new couple move in from out of Kingdom and
>they are both vegetarians. I had a very ... interesting ...
>conversation with one of them regarding feast. During that
>conversation she made it quite clear to me that as far as she was
>concerned the cook had an obligation to not only make sure that there
>were foods that vegetarians could eat but that I needed to make sure
>that I provided the appropriate dishes in the appropriate combinations
>so that vegetarians were provided with a complete protein.
>
>She went on to talk about serving beans with rice, but I had to make
>sure it was brown rice not white. And something like a Squash ravioli,
>but the pasta needed to be whole wheat ...
>
>What do y'all think about the viability of or my responsibility to
>meet this expectation? Is it reasonable?
---------------- End original message. ---------------------

I think it is quite likely that you are not a nutritionist and this 
person is being very unreasonable by laying such expectations and 
strictures at your feet.

It is the responsibility of the person eating to make appropriate 
choices, not that of the feast cooks to make sure that a balanced 
nutritious meal is presented. Ideally, a feast would be tasty, 
nutritious and non-fattening... but it's a feast, a special meal, not 
everyday sustenance. It is not only acceptable, but probably to be 
expected, that it will deviate from the ideal in favor of being a 
special treat.

This is precisely the sort of thing I am referring to when I talk 
about preachy, bullying types of vegetarians. They can't see that 
some of their demands are going beyond the pale (and while they may 
be couched in the language of request or advice, they ARE demands).

Now if this person were to volunteer to help design the menu and put 
in the effort in the kitchen to help prepare the feast, (and I mean 
ALL of the feast, INCLUDING the meat dishes for the other diners), 
then I can see it being a much more viable situation. But I suspect 
that won't happen and you will get the same treatment over and over 
until they either piss you off or they get their way.

Dragon

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  Venimus, Saltavimus, Bibimus (et naribus canium capti sumus)
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