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Grey Wombat
Mar 13th, 2013, 04:37 AM
I was wondering if anyone here could give me any insight on how they decide whether or not it is ethical to use salad bar/buffet options at restaurants while eating out as a vegan?

I ask primarily because this has, so far, been the method my partner and I have chosen to use when friends request that we eat out with them at restaurants without true vegan options. Purchasing an endless salad bar (and utilizing vinegar dressing or something) seems to be a fair option?

But after considering it for a while I can't decide how comfortable I am with it in reality, when the salad bar or buffet has meat options in it as well. I am reluctant to purchase food that may be going toward restocking meat products for other customers, and I'm not sure how most restaurants tally their buffet and salad bar sales and use that to decide which items to continue stocking. Does anyone have any thoughts about this? I'd like to think that simply not using the meat and cheese they provide is sufficient, but I can't really settle on an answer.

Andy_T
Mar 13th, 2013, 05:01 AM
Hello Grey Wombat,

how, in the world, would you eating vegetable salad from a buffet lead to them restocking the non-vegan menu items?

If everything, you finishing off the plants at the salad bar will show them there there is a stronger demand for the vegan salad items as those have to be replenished earlier than the non-vegan options.

So - in a nutshell - I feel perfectly fine with eating stuff from mixed buffets and only eating the vegan portions, if there are enough vegan items (after all, it is one of the few options we have in a non-vegan world).

Of course, I often simply order a vegan item (e.g. a salad or pasta) from the menu if the vegan items in the buffet are too sparse, contaminated with carrion or if the price for the combined buffet is not in relation to the value of the vegan food.

Best regards,
Andy

Blueberries
Mar 13th, 2013, 11:03 PM
Hi grey wombat, I agree with Andy. By eating the vegan options you are showing them that there is demand for them. Unfortunately we live in an inperfect world where all of us are indirectly contributing money to non-vegan businesses somehow. All we can do is try our best and take advantage of our options.

Strangely enough a while back we had a thread that was asking the opposite question, about whether it was ethical to eat the non-vegan options at a buffet when all the vegan options had run out! I can't remember the title of it now. :)

Andy_T
Mar 14th, 2013, 12:41 AM
Strangely enough a while back we had a thread that was asking the opposite question, about whether it was ethical to eat the non-vegan options at a buffet when all the vegan options had run out! I can't remember the title of it now. :)

I can't remeber the title either.
Hmm, maybe "Freeganism explained - Hey, why don't we eat the carrion when all the food is gone?" or somesuch?

Best regards,
Andy

Troutina
Mar 14th, 2013, 07:41 PM
I don't have a problem with eating from a mixed buffet - but generally this just means lettuce...cucumber...tomato...raw onion...*yawn*.

Blueberries
Mar 15th, 2013, 07:55 AM
I don't have a problem with eating from a mixed buffet - but generally this just means lettuce...cucumber...tomato...raw onion...*yawn*.

Sometimes pasta in tomato sauce if you're very lucky!

Troutina
Mar 18th, 2013, 10:41 AM
Sometimes pasta in tomato sauce if you're very lucky!

Haha, yes! Twirly pasta!

Andy_T
Mar 18th, 2013, 12:11 PM
Pasta in tomato sauce ... No problem ... that is my go-to dish in many countries ;-)
Was just on a business trip to Mexico ... and had that at every other meal in a restaurant ... same as 3 weeks before in the Czech republic. Normally those two countries do not have that much in common...

It is also the one dish that you can explain to nearly every cook and hope that they get it right in a vegan way ... something like the least common vegan denominator for omni restaurants.

I am really lucky that I am not gluten intolerant...

Best regards,
Andy

Blueberries
Mar 18th, 2013, 09:15 PM
Pasta in tomato sauce ... No problem ... that is my go-to dish in many countries ;-)
Was just on a business trip to Mexico ... and had that at every other meal in a restaurant ... same as 3 weeks before in the Czech republic. Normally those two countries do not have that much in common...

It is also the one dish that you can explain to nearly every cook and hope that they get it right in a vegan way ... something like the least common vegan denominator for omni restaurants.

I've also gotten it and weddings and debs, any event where hotels/caterers have cook large amounts of generic food and are terrified that someone will actually tick 'vegetarian' on the rsvp! :)

Andy_T
Mar 20th, 2013, 03:59 PM
... that someone will actually tick 'vegetarian' on the rsvp! :)


Well, you don't.

You draw a little box on the RSVP, write "Vegan" to that and tick that.

Best regards,
Andy

Blueberries
Mar 21st, 2013, 09:07 PM
Well, you don't.

You draw a little box on the RSVP, write "Vegan" to that and tick that.

Best regards,
Andy

And then the caterers have an absolute panic attack trying to throw together the foulest mixture of limp lettuce and tomato they can imagine »_«