tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28702549.post116797442436029082..comments2010-03-15T07:13:14.605-07:00Garretthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15794723829898024006noreply@blogger.comBlogger84125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28702549.post-10896208092219468942010-03-15T02:47:40.062-07:002010-03-15T02:47:40.062-07:00A-fuckin&#39;-men. <br /><br />Your blog is great, btw.Rosiehttp://flavorweapon.tumblr.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28702549.post-47604995789947290782009-10-02T12:55:46.662-07:002009-10-02T12:55:46.662-07:00Yeah, problem is I tell people I&#39;m pescetarian and they say &quot;what&#39;s that?&quot; Almost no one knows what it is. Then I guess I have the option of answering it means I eat fish, but not beef, chicken, pork, lamb, duck, goat, deer, or rabbit. But it is simpler to say it means I&#39;m vegetarian, with the exception of fish.Aliciahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00434379392000858469noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28702549.post-81550276809636901222009-09-24T10:02:13.427-07:002009-09-24T10:02:13.427-07:00You are my hero! May I print this and post it on my wall, probably best near the entrance. My in-laws will be completely offended! My sister-in-law is kosher but can eat marshmallows ( I told her they were made with non-kosher gelatin). Ugh!Jessica Lee Binderhttp://foodmayhem.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28702549.post-29562076766530201532009-09-22T09:43:22.487-07:002009-09-22T09:43:22.487-07:00A lot of people are beaming over their unassuming ability to just eat side dishes, but there&#39;s a flip-side to that: as a host, I would feel terrible if my guest left the pork tenderloin I&#39;d prepared and just ate salad and bread all night because they didn&#39;t tell me that they&#39;re a kosher vegetarian. A simple heads-up about broad dietary preferences isn&#39;t such a bad thing.<br /><br />And, of course, honesty about those preferences makes a big difference. It&#39;s not that hard to say, &quot;I don&#39;t eat red meat&quot; vs. &quot;I&#39;m a vegetarian.&quot;bassringerhttp://bassringer.livejournal.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28702549.post-33516866815861045842009-09-20T22:09:28.406-07:002009-09-20T22:09:28.406-07:00Also, yesterday I sat at a table with two vegetarians during a wedding. One kept loudly prattling on about the difficulty of finding vegetarian food while traveling, the few options at the wedding, and Thanksgiving dinner the previous year that &quot;was just hellish&quot; as there was bacon in the mashed potatoes and meat in some of the other vegetable dishes. After listening to her complain the whole meal, my friend asked her why she chose to be a vegetarian. <br />&quot;Oh, I just don&#39;t like the taste of meat. But sometimes I&#39;ll crave it and get really excited over ham&quot;.<br />What the...?Fannyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11421222017204209448noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28702549.post-33132431732746491812009-09-20T22:04:22.258-07:002009-09-20T22:04:22.258-07:00I have a coworker who as far as we can tell is semi vegan. The only cheese she would eat is feta, until she found out the kind we use is made from cows milk. Somehow cows milk cheese is bad, but goats milk is ok (she didn&#39;t know feta is generally from sheeps milk and had been under the impression it was all goat milk).<br />She was complaining once about having a hard time finding vegan baked goods, so my husband suggested she ask me to make so. She declined, saying &quot;non vegans can&#39;t prepare vegan foods with the same urgency as a vegan&quot;. If that weren&#39;t bad enough though, she eats from dirty little taco truck in the ghetto all of the time. So she probably consumes quite a bit of lard regularly, and that knowledge pleases me.Fannyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11421222017204209448noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28702549.post-22196895264528939772009-09-20T16:57:21.446-07:002009-09-20T16:57:21.446-07:00As some one who has straddled both sides of the fence, can I tell you how brilliant and spot on this post is? <br /><br />Once I held a large grilled fajita extravaganza and one guest (who embraces a poser lifestyle and who failed to declare their dietary choices) went on a lengthy diatribe about the evils of eating meat (there were vats of beans, rice, grilled veg available), except for bacon, because, well, bacon is delicious. I literally spewed a large mouthful of margaritas at her, because this was just hilarious. <br /><br />I now have ludicrous dietary restrictions, and follow a plant-based diet (vegan without the politics), and have additional restrictions as well. Basically I&#39;m the worst guest ever. I look at invitations as on opportunity to enjoy your fine company, and hope that I will be an awesome and fun guest who will be invited back. I advise the host and suggest a couple of dishes I can bring that will complement the rest of the food. Then I eat what I can, without a peep of explanation, and have a good time. I don&#39;t think anyone cares what I&#39;m eating, as long as we&#39;re having a good time.Annienoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28702549.post-46789945764020363552009-09-18T07:55:44.539-07:002009-09-18T07:55:44.539-07:00Well, this is my first time reading this post, and I loved it. I feed many people who hamstring me into cooking one of the three things they &quot;can&quot; eat, and who later order all sorts of things in restaurants because they&#39;re &quot;being bad that day.&quot; They all need therapy, but I need a little less thanks to this essay. Thanks!anniehttp://www.oneforthetable.com/oftt/index.phpnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28702549.post-13024680358869387162009-09-17T22:19:40.319-07:002009-09-17T22:19:40.319-07:00Garrett,<br /><br />LOVE your blog - this post especially. <br /><br />One night I had some distant relatives of my ex husband drop in (uninvited) at dinnertime (which had already been prepared.) I scrambled around and stretched the menu to accommodate them and every single thing I served &quot;they did not eat&quot; while eating heartily! Even the so-called diabetic polished off two large servings of dessert. <br /><br />They didn&#39;t help with the dishes, either.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28702549.post-30556155685044437782009-09-17T21:57:17.582-07:002009-09-17T21:57:17.582-07:00Wow, who knew people had such strong feelings about what everybody else eats/doesn&#39;t eat?<br /><br />To me its an issue of autonomy. We each should choose for ourselves what we will/won&#39;t eat. Base it on health, finances, politics, whatever makes ya happy. But at the same time don&#39;t preach or condemn others choices. And don&#39;t demand extraordinary favors from your host who has been kind enough to bring people into his/her house and give them food. Eat what looks good, decline what doesn&#39;t work for you. <br /><br />I mean nobody should be shamed or guilted into eating something against their will. And no host should have to make a tofurkey in addition to the 27 other dishes they are already making for Thanksgiving.<br /><br />Garrett you can cook for me and I&#39;m betting many of my fellow commenters anytime. But just to let you know in advance I don&#39;t like tomatoes, olives, lima beans, or organ meats...thanks! Is next week good for you? :)Lilinoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28702549.post-721741307086939442009-09-17T12:54:00.859-07:002009-09-17T12:54:00.859-07:00I live in a college town so this is extremely common. &quot;I don&#39;t eat meat. (unless it&#39;s 3 am and I&#39;m drunk and we go to *any type of fast-food restaurant*). Or, &quot;I took a food science class and we went to a processing plant, blah, blah, blah... Where did you think that food came from before you visited the processing plant? People who are true veggies and/or vegans have my respect. I don&#39;t know how anyone lives without cheese, bacon, honey, milk chocolate, ice cream, butter.....I could go on forever.Liz Nixhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12749600333927414808noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28702549.post-8120650827693140972009-09-17T12:33:08.156-07:002009-09-17T12:33:08.156-07:00*gives you a standing ovation* I&#39;ve recently gotten into going to a pot-luck situation every week that has a &quot;fussy&quot; eater (who never contributes, btw) who complains that she can&#39;t eat anything we prepare because it&#39;s not &quot;kosher&quot;. We&#39;ve even had completely vegetarian/vegan meals that she&#39;s brought her own special food to (are there kosher veggies? Please school me if there are). I&#39;m still fairly new to the circle, but I&#39;m almost certain that she does this just to be a pain in the ass. I don&#39;t think she&#39;s even Jewish. I&#39;ve heard she&#39;s Buddhist (aren&#39;t they vegans?). Yes, I&#39;ve taken her kosher needs into consideration when it&#39;s been my turn to do the main meal, to have her not eat what I&#39;ve brought anyway. It&#39;s frustrating. <br /><br />So I feel you, man! I feel you!Silehttp://nekonoai.mine.nu/bentonoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28702549.post-66991033460107041352009-09-16T19:44:46.293-07:002009-09-16T19:44:46.293-07:00Dear Fish-Eating Vegetarian:<br /><br />Vegetarian means you only eat vegetables. Remember Bio 101? I know you took it, because my degree is in marine bio too. What you are is a Piscivore,. not a vegetarian. You avoid eating mammals and other things with legs, maybe with a question mark on snakes.<br /><br />Vegetarian = Herbivore.<br /><br />Glad we had this chat.<br />Ta!<br />L.B.<br /><br /><br />For the record, I couldn&#39;t be a vegetarian because of the sushi. I can&#39;t stand cooked fish, but I love the raw stuff! I could maybe give up steak and chicken, and even bacon in a pinch, bit not my rainbow roll.Liana Brookshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14587774916354749190noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28702549.post-16016284762477234902009-09-16T19:02:58.456-07:002009-09-16T19:02:58.456-07:00Oh, one thing to add- It&#39;s fantastic that you even ASK. I&#39;m 1/2 Chinese and have often had to go to traditional banquets (I no longer attend). They have set, formal menus and the only thing I can usually eat is black bean buns.<br />I finally drew the line on going when a restaurant had my dad pick out a fish from a tank which they then took out, prepared, and threw in the pot. It&#39;s considered a very fancy thing to have done, but I didn&#39;t eat fish for at least six years after.Vernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28702549.post-50887351102766754972009-09-16T18:50:08.131-07:002009-09-16T18:50:08.131-07:00I&#39;m pescetarian, personally, and I always say that. I never say I&#39;m veg. And I would be veg, but my doc told me that eating fish would help with a medical problem I have.<br />I rarely have to cook around things, even being pescetarian. My brother has allergies, but they&#39;re odd enough that I wouldn&#39;t include such things in my food anyway.<br />Once, though, my friend came over for dinner. I prepared a completely vegan meal, including desert. Upon seeing the meal, she expressed that she&#39;d only given up animal products for lent. Which was over at that point. You can imagine my frustration.Vernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28702549.post-72246577822014635272009-09-16T16:50:15.587-07:002009-09-16T16:50:15.587-07:00I&#39;m not here to add value to your essay but to let you know I completely agree. Love reading your blog!syrupandhoneyhttp://profile.typekey.com/syrupandhoneynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28702549.post-91256411678299509392009-09-16T16:09:44.696-07:002009-09-16T16:09:44.696-07:00Gotcha. You don&#39;t seem the type to suffer fools gladly! :) And who knows, perhaps a person prone to that type of behavior will read your post and have a glimmer of self-recognition. One can hope...mlle noellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13204337203448193168noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28702549.post-31725379210886429492009-09-16T14:18:41.165-07:002009-09-16T14:18:41.165-07:00mlle: Some of these incidents are from years ago. Others are more recent. Some quotes are from co-workers or acquaintences rather than friends.Garretthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15794723829898024006noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28702549.post-22987502669239479022009-09-16T13:56:20.472-07:002009-09-16T13:56:20.472-07:00Who the heck are these &quot;friends&quot; of yours that make all these demands? I guess I should consider myself lucky that in all my hosting/entertaining, I have never encountered this type of self-centeredness. (Maybe this is total geographic prejudice, but is it a CA thing? I feel like food trends/ whims are perhaps more tolerated there than in the Midwest?)<br /><br />Also, I totally agree with the person who made the comment about hunters. When I was in high school, a friend of mine&#39;s mother (who was NOT vegetarian) made a disparaging comment about hunters. My dad happens to hunt, so in his defense I said, &quot;Well at least hunters know where there food comes from, as opposed to people buying a shrink-wrapped boneless skinless lump of protein in the store and being totally detached from what it IS&quot;. That shut her up. :)mlle noellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13204337203448193168noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28702549.post-28545188671121521132009-09-16T13:27:52.584-07:002009-09-16T13:27:52.584-07:00I am a vegetarian.. a true vegetarian that is and I couldn&#39;t agree with you more. We always get asked do you eat chicken? Fish? Um no, that&#39;s why I just said I&#39;m vegetarian. I get super annoyed with so called vegetarians that say they are but... I can eat this or that. Then your not a vegetarian it&#39;s really that simple. We hate being pains in the a$$&#39;s for those that do cook for us, but when we have company we will cook meat (that we of course do not eat) because it is only fair. Regardless for those that claim you are vegetarian but eat fish or chicken or whatever if you go to PETA&#39;s website will will soon realize that by their standards your are in fact NOT a vegetarian. Sorry to burst your bubble : (<br />Kudos to you for putting it out there.Scrapamumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02829153346570190197noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28702549.post-12363119965738765172009-09-16T11:18:37.684-07:002009-09-16T11:18:37.684-07:00Exactly.<br />Love your attitude, sense of humor and honesty.Barbarahttp://www.moveablefeastscookbook.blogspot.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28702549.post-6111901843846748872009-09-16T10:57:30.711-07:002009-09-16T10:57:30.711-07:00There is a term for those &quot;so-called&quot; vegetarians who on occasion will eat meat, primarily chicken or the &quot;fish-eating-vegetarians. They are called &quot;flexitarians&quot; and I am one of them. I follow a plant based diet because it works for me and I consider it to be a more healthy way to eat. However, I will on occasion eat my mother&#39;s grilled chicken when I travel home and for the holidays I will eat turkey. Because of this, I tell people I am a flexitarian, rather than a vegeterian.Tabitha Dantzler, NC Destination Wedding Plannerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06529370334824480668noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28702549.post-87445024339061647642009-09-16T10:33:37.989-07:002009-09-16T10:33:37.989-07:00I&#39;m not going to serve a ham sammich with tomatoes to a practicing Muslim who gags at the thought of a sliced tomato touching their food.<br /><br />HAHAHAHAH. I love it.<br /><br />As a practicing Muslim, I&#39;d feel safe eating at your house, knowing that you wouldn&#39;t let any green bellpeppers touch my panchetta.taiyyabahttp://taiyyaba.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28702549.post-33139025941151260412009-09-16T09:33:12.710-07:002009-09-16T09:33:12.710-07:00Brilliant post, very enjoyable to read. I think you&#39;ve expressed the feeling of many professional cooks out there, who have to deal with customers who have special &quot;preferences&quot; (versus justifiable dietary restrictions) on a daily basis. But at least they get paid and its just part of the Dark Side to the job to put up with such things. <br /><br />Being a guest in someone&#39;s home, however...I&#39;m surprised at how rude some people can be. I&#39;d be hard-pressed to invite them back.Conniehttp://ouichefcook.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28702549.post-68665917220406158122008-12-23T04:08:00.000-08:002008-12-23T04:08:00.000-08:00I call Them Posertarians.LindzYohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08525355651707555617noreply@blogger.com