Monday, October 17, 2011

Vegan MoFo Day 17: Thing(s) People Say to Vegans


So I am going to apologize for the less than inspired post today but I figured I'd take my lack of interesting food as a break to tell a story from work yesterday.

The day was great until I encountered an obnoxious comment at the hall. I had my amazing baked oatmeal for breakfast but like an idiot forgot to pack any food to bring with me. This is the first time that happened and it was the worst time for it to happen. During the day I felt like I was getting sick again and run down and really needed food to give me energy to get through my long day. We had to shoot through cocktail hour but I managed to grab some pineapple and a small bunch of grapes.

They took our dinner orders which was actually nice because a lot of places don't give you an option and serve you chicken. Luckily I know which places do this and bring dinner with me and tell them not to bother. I asked what the vegetarian meal was and they told me it was eggplant rollatini. I told them I can't eat eggs or dairy either and if it was possible to get a plate of grilled vegetables. He said they have grilled veggies in the cocktail hour and I should grab some now and I held up my camera and was like I can't I'm working...so it remained unresolved (I don't know why they couldn't throw grilled veggies on a plate but I didn't want to cause problems so I let it go). Now the thing that annoyed me wasn't that they couldn't accommodate a vegan, it was a comment that followed.

One of the other photographers was giving his order to someone else and mentioned something about my being vegan. The person he was ordering from apparently said something along the lines of "I'll go outside and rip up a plant for her." I am sure they found it funny but I didn't find it funny. And to be honest, these people really should think about what they say because I'm a single women with a lot of single friends...aka potential clients for them. You can be sure I wouldn't send them there as my first choice. It left a bad taste in my mouth...or no taste really...I ended up with no meal (even though the clients paid for it) but it just sucked because my energy was just zapped by the end of the night.

Anyway, I can't post without showing you ANY meals so today I tried to eat a bit heartier to make up for the very little I consumed yesterday. I had to eat breakfast super fast because I was running late but it was just some oats. For lunch I got myself some Chipotle ;)


Let's be honest, some meals just are not "pretty." This is one of those meals. Rice and beans and pico de gallo, guacamole and lettuce. So instead of trying to make it pretty I mixed it all up into the delicious mess it is supposed to be. And I enjoyed every bite of it with that bamboo fork :)

Hope you all had a good Monday. The weekend went too fast.

*Edited to add - I just remembered this...we did an all vegan wedding at this same hall in August. I'm going to reiterate that my problem is not that they could not accommodate me. I get that their job is to accommodate the clients. My problem was the comment. I know it wasn't mean to be mean spirited but it just gets old to hear that.

12 comments:

  1. It's pretty lame that people find it funny to joke about anybody's diet when they're obviously so uninformed. Sorry about the no meal...hope Chipotle made up for it.

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  2. I'm actually headed to my first "bringing lunch in" working lunch tomorrow - well my first where I'm traveling and can't really bring my own. I'm hoping this group is more open than your experience - how inconsiderate!

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  3. FF - Haha yes Chipotle did make up for it. The no meal has happened before but I'm just usually prepared. To be honest, most places are REALLY nice about it and very accommodating. It is just as easy for them to throw grilled veggies on a plate and most of them have no problem with it.

    Heather - Good luck! I'm sure that they will accommodate you if you let them know your needs. Most places people are very accommodating...everyone just feels like they need to have an opinion. I have opinions too but I keep them to myself ;)

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  4. I'm sorry you had to experience that comment! I suppose we can chalk it up to ignorance, and educate, educate, educate everyone else. Take it all out on your trainer when you spar!! :)

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  5. I actually don't mind when people make light hearted jokes about my diet. (Maybe I prefer this because most of the hurtful comments have been said behind my back from inlaws, etc., and I prefer to-my-face jokes than that, ya know?) But like you said, it didn't feel funny to you, so I'm sorry! I always think of a cleverly sarcastic reply after the fact. :)

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  6. Ugh, how rude! I wouldn't care if a friend made a joke like that but a server who isn't helping you out? not cool. I haven't had any bad experiences yet, thankfully. I had a really sweet server recently who went out of her way to serve me vegan stuff...at a place where it was a VERY limited menu.

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  7. Ingrid - It's all good, I just needed to vent it out :) I'm totally over it and next time I'll just know to bring food with me! And you better believe I had an amazing session today ;)

    Jenny - Yeah, he didn't make the comment to me, he made it to one of the other photographer's who told me. The reason it isn't funny to me is because everyone thinks it is ok to make comments about my diet but if I were to say one thing about theirs all of a sudden I'M the preachy one? It is such a double standard and I just keep my mouth shut. I can definitely joke around about it, I do all the time, but I just wish people didn't feel the need to comment on it all the time.

    Sophie - Yeah, I mean the guy was very nice to me and I didn't have a problem with him in general, it was just the one comment. It is hard to explain and the other photographers with me didn't really understand why I was annoyed by it, but it just rubbed me the wrong way. I may not be a guest of the wedding, but I am a guest in that establishment nonetheless. That is great that you had someone so accommodating, it is always nice when someone makes sure that you have a good experience!

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  8. Ugh, people like that piss me off. Not only does he need to be educated about what it means to be vegan, he needs a book on manners too. It is not OK to make fun of another person's ethical/religious choices. *deep breath* I try to be more Zen when I hear stuff like that, but it still bothers me.

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  9. I know exactly how you feel. To be honest I don't want to eat with people like that anyway, they seem to have a way of sapping my appetite. I try hard to let it go but I know it just gets under your skin when you say nothing about their food choices but they don't respect you for yours. Hope it gets easier for you xxx

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  10. Sage - Aww I know, it is incredibly annoying. It is one thing if you know me and I know your tone but it is another thing when you are a stranger and saying it behind my back. It is silly but something I encounter more than I'd like.

    Claire - Thanks :) It is annoying to always have to explain your choices for sure. Unfortunately my encounters with people like this are typically not by choice. I work for a wedding photographer so between May and November I'm typically working at least one wedding per weekend (more during the summer). There are many places that are wonderful but once in a while not so much. Even so I've never experienced something as blatantly rude as that.

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  11. If only you had gone up to the waiter and taken a photo of him. You could've posted it here and we could've had great fun ridiculing his ugly animal-hating self. Darn!

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