Disappointment.
I’ve only been Vegan a few months… and, overall, I feel like it’s going extremely well. I can tell a difference in my body, my mind, and my heart. My bloodwork (reference other posts here) has improved significantly. My blood PRESSURE has improved significantly.
As I’ve said many times, I haven’t eaten cows or pigs since 1996, stopped fish and chicken in 2007… and went vegan diet in June of this year.
The only real downside is that it can limit (read: does limit) your restaurant choices. While things ARE getting better all the time, I had a small setback today.
There’s a Cuban restaurant that was a favorite when I ate fish and chicken.
And when I went vegetarian, they had a great dish I still loved… made with a vegetarian meat, rice, and beans. When I decided to eat vegan, I did a lot of questioning.
“Do you fry in butter?” I asked. “Do you use any milk or cheese or eggs?” I asked. No! The answers came back again and again. And I really don’t blame the restaurant or the servers, they were working with what they knew.
Well, tonight I went back to the fave. And in a conversation, the very friendly and accommodating waiter offered to show me the package where the “meat” comes from. It is the Worthington vegetarian Meatless Turkey. So far, so good. But Worthington has vegetarian – and they have vegan. Checked out the ingredients – eggs and milk.
So that’s gone.
I suppose I can still get rice and beans there… I really like the place.
But I feel kind of “guilty” having eaten there once every week or two for the past couple of months.
I understand it’s a trace amount, and not even a main ingredient in the fake meat… so the simple answer is just stop eating it. Which I shall.
It just kind of “bums me out” to use a colloquialism from my earlier days.
In full light, I can do just fine on the beans and rice.
But I wonder what else I’m getting by accident? I really struggle and take time to ask… to read… to investigate. I’ve made this decision, I intend to honor that decision.
Has something like this ever happened to you? What did you do?
I guess I’m going to seek out dishes with VEGAN spelled out clearly… and still hope they’re right.
I understand this. It’s happend to me often in the almost 2 years that I’ve been vegan. I used to think that what I didn’t know didn’t hurt me, but now it creeps me out a little bit. I have started eating only at places that have allergy information on their website. It’s limiting, but I at least trust it. We don’t eat out that often anyway, but I understand where you’re coming from. It’s a stinky thing when it happens. Good luck!
I think it depends on whether you chose to be a vegan because of ethics or because of health. For me, because it’s more about health, I don’t panic if I eat something not vegan once in a rare while. It does bother me, however, when I do eat something that isn’t vegan, because it feels as if I haven’t treated my body very kindly.
The best you can do is what you’ve decided to do: move on and order differently. Your heart was in the right place.
Hey there… I also know how it feels. You made a good faith effort, so don’t blame yourself. It’s best not to get mired in guilt for minor accidental slips like that. I think it’s important to be a happy, well-adjusted vegan… and not an angry, anti-social one. It sets a better example to others. So, yeah, just move on.
As a rule, I don’t eat any processed fake meat at restaurants. I stick to dishes with basic ingredients. At a cuban place, I’d go for rice and beans, plantains, yucca, salad. (I’m Cuban, BTW). When I really want to eat a veggie burger while I’m out, I always ask them to double check the ingredients for me. Most places that offer a veggie burger on the menu at all will know if it’s vegan or not — or at least be willing to check for you.
In my neighborhood, all the thai and chinese places offer your choice of tofu or seitan as the protein source in the dish. It’s great cause they are both simple, unprocessed, foods. It’s very nice. I’m lucky to live in a super vegan-friendly area. Fortunately (or unfortunately for my waist line), I can even get vegan cake, cupcakes, muffins, and cookies at two different cafes within 3 blocks of me.
One time I was much less vigilant and bought some salsa without double-checking the ingredients. Not like you could sneak sour cream into salsa and not see it, right? Turns out, there was chicken broth in it, labeled on the package after all the onions and veggies but above salt and a couple other things. Never would have suspected that. I’ve never seen a salsa recipe that includes animal parts and haven’t intentionally eaten anything that required an animal to be dead in four+ years. It was a very sad day.
That time it was my own fault, so the only thing I could do was share the story with all my readers so we all remember to double-check everything. And, of course, I never buy that salsa anymore.
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