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

[Lilinah]

Serena da Riva wrote:
>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?

As a former vegetarian, and one who was into protein complementarity 
for part of the time -- i still have my yellowed and crumbling 1973 
paperback "Recipes for a Small Planet" - and an earlier odd and 
idiosyncratic pamphlet called "Know Me - No Me - No Meat" whose 
author i don't recall -- i think that's a bunch of hogwash.

It is not my job to cater to their every whim. I think most of us are 
trying to create a Medieval or Renaissance dining experience, tasty, 
reasonably priced, and under sanitary conditions. What they're asking 
for is well beyond the bounds.

If i were confronted with such demands, i think i'd first suggest 
they try the food as it is, skipping the meat. And if they dug in 
their heels, i'd suggest they eat off-board and bring their own. If 
they are unable to eat an "imperfect" meal a few times a year... 
well... i guess they will just have to miss the SCA feast experience.

I've never had any grandstanding vegetarian divas at my SCA feasts. 
In fact, as i mentioned, some vegetarians did not attend feasts 
because there was so little for them to eat, and they were grateful 
that at my feasts they could eat anything except the meat.

When i was a vegetarian (and it was partly for spiritual reasons) i 
did not inform omnivores that they should change. If they asked me 
about my vegetarianism, i'd talk about it. But i never complained 
about what other people ate, never lectured them about the benefits 
(real or supposed) of vegetarianism. I didn't mind that they ate meat 
and i could dine with them. Heck, it was while i was a vegetarian 
that i cooked my first brain from scratch - for my Hungarian 
astrophysicist boyfriend.

On the other hand, earlier in the 70s, as an impecunious student 
looking for a room, i was once turned down because i was a 
vegetarian. It seems that the other two apartment mates ate meat and 
had previously had a vegetarian room mate. He was asked to leave 
because he would stalk into the kitchen and intone ominously

I...

smell...

MEAT!

That behavior kinda put the omnivores off vegetarians.
-- 
Urtatim (that's err-tah-TEEM)
the persona formerly known as Anahita

My LibraryThing
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