Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

Hannah. . . Enjoyed your insightful post. I am a 60ish grandmother who considers myself a professional and mom type (except grandmom) diner. Nothing makes me happier than to have a chat (time permitting) with a young wait person and to hear their hopes and aspirations. My advice always is to live your life a fully as possible so that when you get old you do not look back and say: "I wish I had done and didn't. . ." If possible, I encourage them to travel while young, eat as the locals do and like and respect the people they meet and meet as many as possible.

It puzzles me that your post turned into a vegan/vegetarian and carnivore contest. Eat whatever you want and if you end up in a place, for whatever reason, which doesn't cater to your dietary druthers, cope. Life is just too short for bitching and moaning.

Today, in one of those obnoxious 20 rules to live by is this: "13. A person who is nice to you but rude to a waiter is not a nice
person. (This is very important. Pay attention. It never fails.)"

I wish I may sometime find you, Hannah, with your youthful outlook on dining 'types'.

Great Post - interesting comments...

Count me in as another devoted carnivore who is sick of people making fun of vegetarians/vegans for their lifestyle choices.

"Stick up for yourself" in re: to being "dragged" out to a place which won't be accomodating to a veggie? Please man. Most vegetarians are already labeled difficult pariahs as it is and are WELL aware of it. Look at this thread for example: I have found most SE commenters to be well reasoned, "nice" people - far above the internet average. Yet just the slightest mention of veganism is enough to draw out the knives ("enjoy food", "petting zoo" etc). No one wants to be the downer who says the group can't go somewhere because it won't meet just their requirements.

The issue here is two fold and there are varying degrees of extremity to both. There are the extreme vegans/vegetarians who will bring their own cookware to a party - yes, that is annoying. Then there are inveterate meat eaters who will take every opportunity to knock vegetarians as some sort of personal affront to their diet and must make their feelings very loudly known. The dynamic between meat eaters and vegetarians fall mainly in the middle of those two ends, but the main pushback has always come back from the meat side ("it was your decision, live with it" "we can't accommodate you, go somewhere else" etc vs "please might i have the spinach salad minus the bacon?")

What I have learned in reading all of the responses is that, for the most part, people need better friends.

I am a strict vegetarian, not a vegan. And I think the maple glazed smoked tempeh looks more interesting than a burger. To each their own.

When did I say that I felt victimized? If a restaurant truly can't accomodate me, fine. There's a reason I don't often go out for Peruvian! What I don't appreciate are things like servers yelling at each other, "it's a vegetarian!" or obviously rolling their eyes when I ask about options - which has happened. Or being told to go home, because my personal dietary preferences make me unwelcome!

That said, most places - and the vast majority of servers - are lovely and willing to treat me like a human being, one that likes to eat, even.

Also, I don't know any vegans who are so strict as to ask that a restaurant kitchen buy all-new equipment to serve them! Many of the vegetarians/vegans I know (myself included) would even go for the nonvegan wine, since the ingredients used in the fining process don't appear in the final product. These are sticky, gray areas.

No vegan salad dressings? I'll ask for some oil and vinegar. And those cardamom almonds sounded delicious! Can I take a handful? How about a separate fondue pot for my veggie platter? There's really, absolutely nothing that I can eat? Then allow me to snack on the nuts I always carry while I make conversation with my friends. I won't complain, I don't expect servers to bend over backwards for me ... but I will lavish compliments on any place that goes that extra mile.

intheyearofthepig's restaurant sounds wonderful - I'm sure producestories, piccola and I could eat there very happily!

schwartz, gearboy and Nick? Let's just say that if we're going out for dinner, I don't want to hear any complaints when I drag you to an all-vegan eatery (in my experience, the dragging goes both ways)! :-)