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Articles and Information
May I Take Your Order?
by Erin Pavlina
"May I take your order?" Back in 1996 my answer to this question would have been simple. "Yes, I'd like a grilled cheese sandwich on sourdough, a side of fries, and a chocolate shake." But today, the answer is far from simple. Ordering at a restaurant now involves some pre-planning, preparation, delays, questions, and sometimes even a call ahead to the restaurant to find out more about it. The days of simple ordering are over.
First of all, I have to decide what restaurant to even go to. Certain ones are almost certainly out, like Seafood Sid's, Texas Steaks, Surf n' Turf, and anything else that sells primarily steak or seafood. And if I'm going out with anyone who isn't vegan they always seem to say, "Oh you can just get a salad…" Well excuse me if I'd like to dine on something other than lettuce for a change. So let's say we've decided to go to a nice family restaurant, the kind that specializes in nothing but has something for everyone.
I scan the menu, skipping easily past the sections marked Entrees (all chicken or beef) and looking for the tiny section marked "Vegetarian Fare" if it's there at all. I'm discouraged, however, to note that most of the items contain cheese or eggs built right into them, things like lasagna, ravioli, or their special veggie patty which I surmise is probably held together by eggs and cheese.
So the waiter comes by and asks the dreaded question…"May I take your order?" Everyone else at the table rattles off their orders easily and then all eyes turn to me. Here's where I start to feel like Sally from When Harry Met Sally. Here is an idea of how our conversation goes:
Me: I'd like the veggie burger, but is the patty made with eggs or cheese?
Waiter: I don't know.
Me: Well can you go ask the chef and come back? I'd really appreciate it.
Waiter: Sure. (waiter leaves and comes back). Yes, ma'am, it does have eggs in it.
Me: Ah. Okay. Let's see… I see you offer sandwiches but I'm not seeing a veggie sandwich on the menu. Would it be alright if I just told you what I wanted on the sandwich?
Waiter: Um… I suppose. What do you want?
Me: Just lettuce, tomato, onion, and avocado, with no mayonnaise or cheese, but please add some mustard.
Waiter: Okay, so that's a BLT, with no bacon, add onions, hold the cheese, add avocado, hold the mayo, and bring some mustard on the side. Is that right?
Me: Um… yeah, I guess so.
Waiter: What kind of bread would you like that on?
Me: Do you have any bread that doesn't contain milk or other dairy products?
Waiter: I don't know. I can ask…
Me: Okay, great. Check the sourdough, that's usually okay.
Waiter: (leaves and comes back). Yeah, the sourdough is okay.
Me: Then that's what I want.
Waiter: Okay, I forgot to ask if you wanted fries or a salad. It comes with one or the other.
Me: Oh, I'll take the salad, but please make sure there are no croutons, eggs, or cheese in the salad at all.
Waiter: Fine, and what kind of dressing? We've got thousand island, ranch, bleu cheese, Italian.
Me: Does your Italian dressing have cheese in it? Or sugar?
Waiter: (looks like he's going to bolt for good now) I'm not sure ma'am.
Me: Um, I'll just have some oil and vinegar then. On the side. Thanks! |
About 80% of the time my meal comes as I ordered it, but I've experienced many an occasion where there was mayo, cheese, or any variety of non-vegan items on the plate and back to the kitchen it goes. I remember once being at a very vegetarian friendly restaurant, ordering some vegan pancakes after ensuring with the waitress they were vegan, and it came with a nice, warm dollop of butter on the top. And I'm thinking, "Which part of vegan didn't you understand?"
There are basically three types of restaurants…those that are all fish and steak where even the salad is made with cheese, those that have something for everyone or at least the ingredients to make something vegan, and the best kind of restaurant (and the rarest) an all VEGAN restaurant. When I went to Real Food Daily for the first time, an all vegan restaurant in Los Angeles, I had the hardest time ordering. For you see there were so many choices. Every single thing down to the condiments were 100% vegan. Everything in the entire restaurant was something I could eat. When the waitress came I had barely come to my decision. But when she said, "May I take your order?" I replied most eager, "Yes, I'll have the R&B Burrito please." And that was it. No questions, no trips back to talk to the chef, no substitutions, no concocting meals that weren't on the menu. And when she tried to take my menu, I withheld it and said, "Oh no… I've got to have time to study the dessert menu." When was the last time you could even consider ordering a dessert at a restaurant? I tell you, it was heaven.
And when I take my non-vegan friends to an all-vegan restaurant and they say, "But what am I going to order? I don't like mung beans and tofu." I say, "Well, you can always order a salad…"
Erin Pavlina is President of VegFamily.com, a website providing information about raising vegan children. Her articles have been published in Vegetarian Baby and Child magazine, VegNews, 9 Months magazine, and KeepKidsHealthy.com. She lives in Los Angeles with her vegan husband, Steve, and lifelong vegan daughter, Emily.
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