Heads up to vegetarians

[kiwicassie]

I just read on allears.net that the vegetarian offering at Lotus Blossom Cafe is made with chicken stock.

 

[dkostel]

Thanks for posting that...and that's messed up.

 

[jmartinez1895]

Thats kinda screwy I think. I guess if you are a veg.( or have health issues) then at all of the places to eat it maight be best to ask to speak with the chef and find out how each dish is made.

 

[2Tiggies]

All restaurants should have a book with a list of ingredients used. It comes down to the "hidden" ingredients" - the ones you would normally be able to check yourself on the packaging if you were shopping for the goods in the supermarket. A lot of it is down to the fact that most people simply don't know these things if it is not something they are used to dealing with on a daily basis.

While a chunk of steak on a sandwich is pretty obvious, the beef extract in the seasoning is not and the CM serving you is unlikely to be able to recall off the bat (if they even knew to begin with) exactly what ingredients are in a dish. Also, restaurants from time to time may need to substitute an ingredient from what they usually use and on that note, I agree that it is always better to ask.

 

[MTstitch]

Thank you. I didn't get to check out that article yet.

 

[Micca]

I'm not a vegetarian, but I can imagine trying to be faithful in the real world is difficult.

 

[punkin712]

I just read on allears.net that the vegetarian offering at Lotus Blossom Cafe is made with chicken stock.

For some reason, I think it's been like this for a while. Or maybe there was a different "vegetarian" dish that was made with oyster sauce. Not to generalize, but I've found that most Chinese/Japanese restaurants consider meat-, chicken- or fish-based stocks or fish/oyster sauce okay for vegetarians.

I often have to ask multiple questions (does it contain meat, fish or chicken? is it made with meat, fish or chicken stock? does it contain oyster or fish sauce? does it contain bonito flakes? etc.) to find out for sure if something is truly vegetarian.

 

[kiwicassie]

Yes, a chinese place by my house has the fish entrees under vegetarian . I agree it's best to ask questions but wanted to alert anyone who is a strict vegetarian that might come here thinking the food is safe for their diet.

 

[v_gan]

I just read the updated AllEars list a few hours ago. Marked it off my list of places to try!

 

[NHTikiBeckie]

I am not surprised...this happens all the time. I don't work around stock so well but I do my best.

 

[2Tiggies]

People's get very confused about the term Vegetarian. To some they assume it is the same as vegan, while others think that as long as you don't eat anything that used to move around of it's own free will (that is, no obvious meat etc in the dish) it is fine ... To make it more complicated, people who follow vegetarian diets vary in their level of dedication to ensuring they avoid any non-veggie ingredients. Some don't mind their mushrooms being fried alongside a piece of fish, while others are fanatical label readers - there are many reasons why people follow some form of vegetarian diet, which influenceas the degree to which they check their food beforehand. There are so many different dietary special needs now that unless you are faced with a specific one yourself, you can be forgiven for being uninformed. I just assume that whoever I am speaking to knows nothing about it and enjoy all knowledge they do have as a bonus. No hard feelings, just making sure I get what I need.

 

[Twoboysnmygirl]

I'm pretty sure I remember that at Sunshine Seasons in Sept. 2008, I went to get the VEGETABLE soup and thought to ask and found out it was also made with chicken stock.

Not sure about now but we plan on eating there in 2010 so if anyone happens to be there and can report back, that would be great.

 

[2Tiggies]

I'm pretty sure I remember that at Sunshine Seasons in Sept. 2008, I went to get the VEGETABLE soup and thought to ask and found out it was also made with chicken stock.

Not sure about now but we plan on eating there in 2010 so if anyone happens to be there and can report back, that would be great.

When in 2010 are you going? We will be there at the beginning of October. Although I still think you will need to check at the time of ordering just in case. It is common for substitutions to be made on the day for whatever reason - maybe an ingredient unavailable (like veg stock for example ... ) and that changes everything!

 

[Twoboysnmygirl]

We're going at the end of September!