Vegetarian's Pains

So, we had this lunch at work to celebrate a good, solid quarter of performance. The quarter's plan was a stretch and we delivered the quarter. The business had organised a lunch to thank all the employees.

In any such lunch, Paavana and I plan on staying hungry. Lack of palatable vegetarian food is the main complaint. Today promised to be different. " Hey, we have veggie burgers", they said. The line was long, and it had been a tiring morning and I badly needed some glucose. The burger pattie had a label - for vegetarians only. Hmm... Two thoughts crossed my mind 1) Wow, that is really nice. There were 300 odd people waiting to be fed and I construed the label as means to ensure that vegetarians are fed and 2) Or maybe the label was to ensure that meat-eaters did not accidentally eat the veggie pattie. That would be hard on any self-respecting meat eater, you see.

But, it was all moot. The patties were bland and tasted like soft, cooked sand. Innumerable attempts at finishing the burgers were pointless. My stomach growled and refused to take any more of that noxious pattie and we (my stomach and I) agreed to go hungry.

I used to get upset whenever this happened at work but slowly I have realised that vegetarianism is completely unknown in the midwest. People think that vegetarianism is all about eating salads or eating raw tofu - both very untempting propositions. Now I think it is admirable that people even think about ordering something vegetarian.