Vegans at the Restaurant.

This video is an edit of The Restaurant, a BBC reality TV show broadcast on 22nd October 2008.

The Challenge:

Nine couples. One dream: To open a restaurant, financially backed and personally supported by Raymond Blanc. After seven weeks, only three couples now remain.

French super chief, Raymond Blanc, puts wannabe restaurateurs through tests in an effort to see which of them can get through to the second round.

In this edited version, we see how the owners of True Provenance cope with the arrival of 5 Vegans and 5 Vegetarians. Their mentor, Raymond Blanc, warned them three hours earlier, in an email, that they may have Vegans and Vegetarians visiting their establishment later that evening.


Personally, I felt it rather unfair on the restaurant. They had been advised in an email 3 hours earlier that they MAY have vegan and vegetarian diners later that evening. On top of that, there were 10.

I always phone days before to check that they can cater for a vegan and then remind them the day before.

I have to say, however, that the quantity of food in a vegetarian 'option' is always far less than that of 'meat' meal. The different in price is usually less than 10%. Why don't they provide more? May be they think we're all on some kind of calorie controlled diet.

In some eateries, when you mention that you're vegetarian or vegan, you can also get attacked verbally by people who think they are not there to serve you food but they are there because they are expert dieticians and what their grandmother said about Man needing meat is the undeniable truth.

Gordon Ramsey has often been heard advising restaurateurs not to bother with a vegetarian option because the number of vegetarians is only 4% of the population. Well, when I go out, I go with a group of around 12 others (meat-eaters) but if you can't provide me with something I can eat, you lose 10-15 diners. So, although veggies may be a minority, you also lose those accompanying them.

In another programme, Gordon Ramsey watched the treatment of pigs bred for meat; after which he said, "I've always disliked vegetarians because they have no palate but after watching that I can understand."

I think a lot of meat-eaters just close their eyes and pretend it's not happening.

And, anyway, something tasting nice does not justify suffering.

Category:

Nonprofits & Activism

Tags:

• diet
• vegan
• vegetarian
• restaurant
• food
• diners
• clients

[90Rush]

This is garbage. Restaurants shouldn't have to prepare for everything. It's like asking for pizza at a Japanese restaurants.

Or better, go to a Thai/Vietnamese restaurant and say I'm Paleo and don't eat rice and wheat products. Good luck with that.

[marcluc1988]

@90Rush Apart from the fact that it's illegal to deny service to vegans in the UK, this was a competition to see if the three restaurants could cope under pressure. This restaurant had 10 vegan and vegetarian customers. They were INVITED by the competition organiser! Why don'r you read the video description?

[marcluc1988]

@molaxstud19 I've never heard a comment like that. Honestly! Wow! You're so original.

Maybe you just need some information, some will-power and you could be vegan too.

Once you get past the first couple of months, it's easy.

[jjay75]

If you're a professional chef and you can't prepare a vegetarian/vegan meal at the drop of a hat you should become better at your job.

[tsolorio3001]

I am trying to break away from meat and be vegetarian. But I would never ever go in a restaurant that doesn't specialize in vegetarian/vegan cuisine on short notice and then complain about the chef not being prepared. It's ridiculous. Trolls will be ignored, btw. I run a restaurant and I would not appreciated inconsiderate customers like this. I do what I can to please customers but this is absolutely insane for them to complain like this to someone trying to accommodate them.

[tickyul]

@marcluc1988 Good........we don't want no steeenking members of the Vegancult...............braide­d armpit hair and all.

[tickyul]

@marcluc1988 Why do you yell at me.........talk rude to me???? You see what you have done............you really enraged me with your comments..................I am going out right now to find and murder lots of bunnies and puppies................just because you made me very angry.

[marcluc1988]

@tickyul Vegans are not locked in to a 'weird way of eating'. Veganism rejects using animals as objects for food, clothing or any other purpose. Most people just think it's to do with what we eat and drink. You treat animals as if their purpose is to serve humans. It is not. Animals are here to live their lives...just like humans are.

[marcluc1988]

@tickyul You force your "Eating dead animals taste nice" shite on to kids! So fuck you!

[marcluc1988]

@tickyul I had your crazy meat shit forced on to me when I was a kid! Fuck off!

[marcluc1988]

@tickyul It was a TV competition! Why can't people get that in to their heads? They were invited by the competition organiser!!!! Fucking read the video description!

[tickyul]

Poor chef, you need about 20 hours notice to try and make something salvageable to eat if it is Vegan.........here, we will have tofu chips and bean bleechys.