Vegans and Knife Handles

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I asked my wife who is a life long vegetarian what her view was on this after reading your post. Her responce was "That is stupid. If I was chewing on the Handel like a dog then that might be a different story"
 
stopbarking said:
I haven't been able to get a consensus at work so I thought I'd bring it here.

Plenty of our knives are handled with animal materials. It is a big deal at my work designating whether or not a dish is vegetarian, pescetarian, vegan, paleo, ovo-lacto-veg, etc. We have separate tongs and spoons for meat and veg dishes.

Can food be considered vegan if it is made with a knife with a bone handle?

I am in the boat where I think people having an issue with this are taking it a bit too far, but some of my vegan buddies wont eat at my house unless they bring their own pans for me to cook in. Is this the same kind of deal?
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Having lived and cooked in Portland for several years, I can understand the issues in your professional kitchen. Keeping things separate if your restaurant is of that philosophical bent or is catering to that crowd is perfectly understandable. While undoubtedly a pain in the backside, it's a reasonable accommodation if you are to attract and serve the folks who choose to adhere to those diets. I don't think that the material used for a knife handle has anything to do with the "status" of any dish prepared with it unless there's some kind of religious law which governs the type of tools used to prepare it.

As for your vegan buddies??? NEVER cook for them again!

Yes, there is definitely a point where people take things too far. If you come to my home for a meal, I will always make reasonable accommodations to your dietary needs. I've made my fair share of extra dishes to accommodate friends with allergies or with certain likes and/or dislikes because I want to be a good host. But bringing your own pans??? I absolutely would draw the line. If someone were to have the gall to bring special pans to my home? My answer would be to tell them "Either plan to use them to cook for yourself or bring your own food. I'm not cooking for you since clearly you don't value or appreciate my hospitality." Quite frankly, anyone who would go to such extremes isn't someone I'd likely care to be friends with anyway, so it's not likely to ever come up, but still...
 
To Salty:
Manor is near Austin, TX. Its a different breed down here.

I'm really curious what restaurant this is. East Side Cafe? Indian clientèle though, Clay Pit? I was thinking Bouldin Creek at first but that's straight up vegetarian. Funny, I can't really think of too many places here that are this accommodating. But then again my budgets pretty cheap.
 
I believe the OP works at Apple. I hope I am not angering the OP by saying that.
 
I do indeed work for Apple in the Cafe at the Austin headquarters. We have about 3500 people that work in the building and we try to accommodate most dietary needs, of which there are a large variety within this large group of people.

Dealing with this many needs has caused me to grow strangely worried about seemingly trivial things like bone knife handles.

Don't even get me started on how we just recently were allowed to serve beef, lamb, and pork.
 
I'm one of those sometimes vegetarian/vegan people also. This question reminds me of going out to eat with friends. They asked for a straw since one didn't come in their drink. The server brought the straw on a napkin and then put it in my friend's drink herself. My friend was really offended. My reaction was - who do you think puts it in your drink in the kitchen???? I know why it is strange for the server to do that outside of the kitchen, but this scenario really drives home the point of how vegans have no control over what actually happens in a kitchen. Just hope for the best and what you don't know won't hurt you.

My suggestion for your friends is: buy gummy bears next time they come over and put them out on the counter in a bowl. If they eat them - they aren't really hard core vegans. There's gelatin in gummy bears. Do they wear leather shoes? Only use plastic wallets?

Years ago my boss told me that they had two microwaves - one for her hubby's meat and one for her vegetarian meals. I thought it was funny. Waste of counter space in my opinion!
 
As per this "sabbath mode" BS...I find these people that created such a high demand for a product with this setting are just being pompous.. If they were so concerned about following their religion this strictly, their wouldnt be the need for "loop holes" to allow them to still use these devices and not violate religious law or whatever the hell it is..
 
jared08 said:
As per this "sabbath mode" BS...I find these people that created such a high demand for a product with this setting are just being pompous.. If they were so concerned about following their religion this strictly, their wouldnt be the need for "loop holes" to allow them to still use these devices and not violate religious law or whatever the hell it is..
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who the hell are you to tell others what are 'loop holes' and how they should follow their rules??
 
Anyone making ethical decisions should do their best to make the most serious convictions accessible to those around them.

This sounds like people doing a poor job of that.
 
When it comes down to the nitty gritty there is an animal preparing the food and it was most likely grown in some kind of animal waste/fertilizer so a bone or horn handle is little different. funny story about veg's/vegans. My oldest son has had two girl freinds one a vegan and the other a vegitarian. After being convinced to try one or the other of wild Bill's Free ranging elk recipes, (because something smells amazing) they are both now raving carnivores even though neither dates my son any longer. just goes to show they don't realize what they're missing.
 
stopbarking said:
I do indeed work for Apple in the Cafe at the Austin headquarters. We have about 3500 people that work in the building and we try to accommodate most dietary needs, of which there are a large variety within this large group of people.

Dealing with this many needs has caused me to grow strangely worried about seemingly trivial things like bone knife handles.

Don't even get me started on how we just recently were allowed to serve beef, lamb, and pork.
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Right on, I see where the idea for the question came from. Apple seems like a pretty cool place to work, though it also sounds like you might have cooked a chicken or two in your time there as well.
 
Voluntary eating disorders suck

-Michael
 
If you slice off a little bit of finger tip and it falls into a dish, is it unethical to serve that dish to a vegan?
 
I did the corporate dining thing for a bit. Ugh! Free lunch for the privileged. They spoil easily.
 
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