# Is it OK to lie to vegetarians about what they are eating? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 17, 2005, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-ok-to-lie-to-vegetarians-about-what-they-are-eating/331537 "2005-11-17T20:09:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Corii](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/aeb1de/32.png) [@Corii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Corii)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2005, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-ok-to-lie-to-vegetarians-about-what-they-are-eating/331537/61 "2005-11-18T19:55:29Z")
> [@kushiel](#): > > What about imitation crab meat? It’s still made from fish. ---
**Author:** ![HPL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3da27b/32.png) [@HPL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HPL)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2005, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-ok-to-lie-to-vegetarians-about-what-they-are-eating/331537/62 "2005-11-18T21:00:24Z")
> [@Jayn\_Newell](#): > > [hijack] A local candy/novelty shop was selling bugs. Bugs in suckers, bugs in chocolate, bugs on their own. They had signs up which said something along the lines of “Yes, they’re real, and if you as we will hate you forever”. They weren’t alive though–the sucker reminded me of the amber in Jurassic Park.[/hijack] Sounds like a famous Monty Python Sketch. Though I still like the “Spring Suprise”. When you eat it, springs shoot bolts through your cheeks. ---
**Author:** ![alice\_in\_wonderland](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alice_in_wonderland/32/176_2.png) [@alice\_in\_wonderland](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alice_in_wonderland)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2005, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-ok-to-lie-to-vegetarians-about-what-they-are-eating/331537/63 "2005-11-18T21:07:42Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > **alice** , there was a tribe in Papua New Guinea that would practice canibalism at funerals-eating the flesh of the deceased. (It’s not like they killed anyone to do so). See, I knew about this. The way the original post was written, it seemed to suggest that people were snacking on human flesh they way that someone might eat potato chips, or blow fish, or chocolate covered ants. Doing things for religious purposes is kind of different than sitting down with a bowl of man meat and watching Spike, ya know? ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2005, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-ok-to-lie-to-vegetarians-about-what-they-are-eating/331537/64 "2005-11-18T21:36:53Z")
I went to a party a couple weeks ago where the hostess placed little cards listing all of the ingredients by the serving dishes. I thought it was a great idea. Not only could I figure out what dishes were vegetarian and which had meat without having to be a pain in the ass, they prevented me from snagging a tasty-looking treat that turned out to be pumpkin-based (ew). ---
**Author:** ![cowgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8c91f0/32.png) [@cowgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cowgirl)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2005, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-ok-to-lie-to-vegetarians-about-what-they-are-eating/331537/65 "2005-11-18T22:05:16Z")
> [@eleanorigby](#): > > I have a friend who is a wee bit controlled by her kids and -get this-she is having her mother make the turkey and then bring it to their house on Thanksgiving because vegetarian daughter doesn’t want to 1. see the dead bird (her words), 2. watch while the “ritual of defiling a bird is done” (I assume this means stuffing the turkey) and 3. smell the “dead bird roasting”. These kind of people, I am tempted to puree liver and serve it in their tofu. I’m veg, very easy going about it, but I cannot stand the smell of cooking turkey. It literally makes me want to hurl. I know you can’t believe it, because you think the smell is delightful, and I’m not a princess in any other respect - but I will not be in the same house as a cooking turkey. If my family wants me there at Christmas, they have to cook the turkey ahead of time. They do, so they do, and it hasn’t been a problem. ---
**Author:** ![OtakuLoki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ac8455/32.png) [@OtakuLoki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OtakuLoki)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2005, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-ok-to-lie-to-vegetarians-about-what-they-are-eating/331537/66 "2005-11-18T22:52:07Z")
I’m a commited omnivore, too. And the situation in the op is just wrong. If someone cares enough about their diet to want to avoid anything, even if it’s just garlic, or vinegar, no one has the right to try to sneak something past them. And that’s just as wrong for the people who try to make you eat veggie burgers as those who try to make veggies eat meat. Now, while I like cooking - I’d have to warn any guests that I’ve no experience with vegan cooking. I can easily make vegetarian dishes, but I’m far less clear about whether I’d be able to meet the vegan requirements. So I’d warn them ahead of time that I couldn’t meet that (Nor could I meet kosher, or hallal, rules.) but would try. I’d probably clear the menu with them ahead of time, too. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2005, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-ok-to-lie-to-vegetarians-about-what-they-are-eating/331537/67 "2005-11-19T00:27:31Z")
> [@amaranta](#): > > Yes, there are the kind of people who think it’s amusing to feed eggs or milk to vegans. I’d like to think that no one in my circle of friends would do that, and I don’t currently have any reason to think that. Back in the 90s, I worked in a pawn shop. The manager was a macho, conceited, arrogant jerk who was also a vegetarian. He pissed off a co-worker at another store one time. One day we were short-handed and couldn’t go out for lunch, so the VP sent someone out to bring us lunch (woo hoo! free lunch). That someone was the guy the manager had pissed off previously. He brought out the lunch and even stayed to help out while each of us (me and the manager) ate lunch. A couple of days later, the guy who brought the lunches told me he had taken a couple of beef bouillon cubes and crushed them into the manager’s lunch. The manager never mentioned any adverse reactions. AFAIK, the manager never found out. ---
**Author:** ![Amaranta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Amaranta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amaranta)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2005, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-ok-to-lie-to-vegetarians-about-what-they-are-eating/331537/68 "2005-11-19T00:55:59Z")
> [@Mr. Blue Sky](#): > > Back in the 90s, I worked in a pawn shop. The manager was a macho, conceited, arrogant jerk who was also a vegetarian. He pissed off a co-worker at another store one time. One day we were short-handed and couldn’t go out for lunch, so the VP sent someone out to bring us lunch (woo hoo! free lunch). That someone was the guy the manager had pissed off previously. He brought out the lunch and even stayed to help out while each of us (me and the manager) ate lunch. > > A couple of days later, the guy who brought the lunches told me he had taken a couple of beef bouillon cubes and crushed them into the manager’s lunch. The manager never mentioned any adverse reactions. > > AFAIK, the manager never found out. See, I just don’t understand why anyone would do that. Like you said, the manager never found out, so it’s not “Haha you were an asshole to me, see what happens?!”, it was just being a jerk for the sake of being a jerk. I can’t wrap my head around the logic behind it, I guess. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2005, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-ok-to-lie-to-vegetarians-about-what-they-are-eating/331537/69 "2005-11-19T01:22:31Z")
> [@amaranta](#): > > See, I just don’t understand why anyone would do that. Like you said, the manager never found out, so it’s not “Haha you were an asshole to me, see what happens?!”, it was just being a jerk for the sake of being a jerk. I can’t wrap my head around the logic behind it, I guess. I think it’s a personal satisfaction thing. It didn’t matter than he was never found out. HE knew he did it and that was enough for him. I can understand this. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2005, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-ok-to-lie-to-vegetarians-about-what-they-are-eating/331537/70 "2005-11-19T01:59:57Z")
Hey, I’m a Sicilian vegetarian. You slip me animal flesh, I find out about it, _you die_. Got that? ---
**Author:** ![BiblioCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ed8c4c/32.png) [@BiblioCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BiblioCat)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2005, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-ok-to-lie-to-vegetarians-about-what-they-are-eating/331537/71 "2005-11-19T03:15:56Z")
> [@Chotii](#): > > Not philosophical objections, no, but I cannot eat soy in any fashion except ‘soy protein isolate’. No edamame, no soy milk, no textured soy protein. Actually, soy sauce is all right. > > … > No. Never lie to anybody about what they’re eating. By commission or omission. As someone else said, the door swings both ways. If someone was slipping me soy milk in place of cow’s milk, I’d be pissed off, too. I can only tolerate very small amounts of soy (like **Chotii** , it needs to be soy protein isolate), but soy is a migraine trigger for me. If I had a frappe made of soy milk, I’d be in agony within a few hours. I’d get a killer migraine that would in a probability last 24-36 hours. Lying about what’s in the food you’re serving, whether you’re hiding meat or you’re passing veggie burgers off as ground round, is childish and stupid. It’s also potentially dangerous. ---
**Author:** ![Amaranta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Amaranta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amaranta)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2005, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-ok-to-lie-to-vegetarians-about-what-they-are-eating/331537/72 "2005-11-19T04:21:09Z")
> [@Mr. Blue Sky](#): > > I think it’s a personal satisfaction thing. It didn’t matter than he was never found out. HE knew he did it and that was enough for him. > > I can understand this. We might be running into more of a girl/guy thing than a vegetarian/omnivore thing; it just reminds me of when children do something like spit in someone’s food or scrub the toilet with someone’s toothbrush, and then giggle as the person uses it. Childish and really just pointless, and beyond my comprehension completely. Where’s the satisfaction? If the guy’s doing it for religious reasons, well, I think he’d have to be quite a jerk for someone to make him go against his religion unknowingly. “Ha! Now this guy won’t get to heaven! Sucks to be him!”, or what? If it was for health reasons, well, a bit of beef powder isn’t going to rocket up his cholesterol. If he’s veggie for ethical reasons, I’m sure it would piss him off, but it’s beyond his control. And if he just doesn’t like the taste of meat, well… he obviously didn’t taste the cubes, so how does that matter? Hmm, I’m really not trying to make this an issue, and obviously not attacking you, since you weren’t the guy who did it. I just don’t understand what makes it satisfying. I remember watching an interview with Mel Gibson, and he was talking about filming \*Signs \* with Joaquin Phoniex, who’s been vegan most of his life. Mel would amuse himself by slipping eggs into Joaquin’s smoothies, and I just though, what’s the point? Where’s the humour? ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2005, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-ok-to-lie-to-vegetarians-about-what-they-are-eating/331537/73 "2005-11-19T05:22:56Z")
On a related issue, if you’ve invited some vegetarian friends over and they really like this chocolate cake you made and are all going back for seconds, is it ethical to lie and tell everyone you suddenly remembered you put eggs and milk in it just so they’ll leave you some cake for a snack later that night? ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2005, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-ok-to-lie-to-vegetarians-about-what-they-are-eating/331537/74 "2005-11-19T05:34:56Z")
> [@](#): > > I remember watching an interview with Mel Gibson, and he was talking about filming Signs with Joaquin Phoniex, who’s been vegan most of his life. Mel would amuse himself by slipping eggs into Joaquin’s smoothies, and I just though, what’s the point? Where’s the humour? And the next day, Joaquin, knowing about Mel’s pro-life beliefs, slipped an aborted human foetus in his chili. Boy, the laughs start flying when those Hollywood types start pulling pranks on each other. ---
**Author:** ![Taber](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ac91a4/32.png) [@Taber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Taber)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2005, 10:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-ok-to-lie-to-vegetarians-about-what-they-are-eating/331537/75 "2005-11-19T10:21:04Z")
> [@alice\_in\_wonderland](#): > > Doing things for religious purposes is kind of different than sitting down with a bowl of man meat and watching Spike, ya know? Not that there’s anything wrong with that 😃 I would agree that lying about what you’re serving is wrong, though I’d think that passing off veggie burgers off as meat would be less erroneous than vice versa, as you are only violating their aesthetics rather than their health or morals. ---
**Author:** ![Gail](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Gail](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gail)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2005, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-ok-to-lie-to-vegetarians-about-what-they-are-eating/331537/76 "2005-11-19T14:01:54Z")
I became a vegetarian last summer. I did so because I’m concerned about contaminated meat and my health. I also believe that factory farming is cruel to animals. I believe that vegetarians overall are healthier and live longer with a better quality of life. I don’t wish to debate these points. And I think people should respect my beliefs. I am not trying to convert anybody…I guess I’m not a fundamentalist vegetarian. 🙂 Some of my family and friends kind of treat my dietary habits as a silly affectation. I think that if you invite someone over to your house and cook for them and you know that they are vegetarians, you should be honest with them about the ingredients in their food. It’s about respecting other people’s choices even if you don’t understand them. ---
**Author:** ![BiblioCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ed8c4c/32.png) [@BiblioCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BiblioCat)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2005, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-ok-to-lie-to-vegetarians-about-what-they-are-eating/331537/77 "2005-11-19T14:34:07Z")
> [@Taber](#): > > I would agree that lying about what you’re serving is wrong, though I’d think that passing off veggie burgers off as meat would be less erroneous than vice versa, as you are only violating their aesthetics rather than their health or morals. While I agree with what you’re saying, and you’re correct for most of the population, it could be bad for some people. I don’t know what’s in veggie burgers, but if they have a lot of soy, it would be bad for my health. As I mentioned in my previous post (#71), soy is a migraine trigger for me. It certainly wouldn’t kill me, but migraines are very, very bad. It would be a huge hijack to explain why, but they’re not just ‘bad headaches.’ It goes way beyond that. If I were at a party and someone was making shakes (or frappes) that were actually made with soy milk, I would most defintely need to know that information. Lying about what’s in the food you’re serving is bad, no matter which way it goes. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2005, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-ok-to-lie-to-vegetarians-about-what-they-are-eating/331537/78 "2005-11-19T14:40:31Z")
> [@amaranta](#): > > Where’s the satisfaction? The guy knew he couldn’t do anything against the manager without risking getting fired. He did what he did to make himself feel “better”. He got his revenge and didn’t need to prove anything to anyone or make a big deal about it. A small “victory” for him, I guess. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2005, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-ok-to-lie-to-vegetarians-about-what-they-are-eating/331537/79 "2005-11-19T15:21:25Z")
> [@Malacandra](#): > > “_Unborn baby chickens_”? > > Someone correct me, please. I thought hens’ eggs destined for the table were unfertilised, and you wouldn’t get a baby chicken out of one if you incubated it for a million years. Here’s the column: [http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/notmilk/message/1098](http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/notmilk/message/1098) Cohen’s a total fanatic on the subject. I read his site for the laughs. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2005, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-ok-to-lie-to-vegetarians-about-what-they-are-eating/331537/80 "2005-11-19T15:37:21Z")
> [@Malacandra](#): > > “_Unborn baby chickens_”? > > Someone correct me, please. I thought hens’ eggs destined for the table were unfertilised, and you wouldn’t get a baby chicken out of one if you incubated it for a million years. If there’s no rooster, then yes you’re right. If there’s a rooster around, then all bets are off that there’s 0% chance of an egg or three being fertilized. I don’t think they keep roosters about the usual mass egg production places, but eggs from real farms probably do. Makes you wonder about where “farm fresh” eggs come from, don’t it? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-ok-to-lie-to-vegetarians-about-what-they-are-eating/331537.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-ok-to-lie-to-vegetarians-about-what-they-are-eating/331537.md?page=5)