[DC Sunshine]

This is a question/ quandry that I've had for a while - to those of you Chefs who are practising vegetarians/ vegans, hope do you cope in areas where you are required to cook with products (obviously meat etc) that are outside of your dietary choices?

Do you taste the food, and consider it is a part of your job and a must do task, but is separate from your eating philosophy outside of work or what? I imagine it must be difficult - do you have to limit yourself to finding work in a vegetarian/ vegan restaurant?

Would be glad to hear any insights, as I'm intrigued.
Thanks in advance.

DC

[GhettoRacingKid]

I personally will try anything at least twice. (twice becuase the first time it might have been prepared differently or cooked improperly)

In school there are alot of people who dont eat pork, some for religious some for personally choice. Almost al lpeople will handle it/ cook it and whatever else but they willnt eat it.

Its part of the job.

[Harpua]

I'm not a chef, but as a cook I just deal with it. I'm vegetarian (i guess i was a strict vegan when I started pastries, now I ain't) and I don't have a problem handling meat; however, I don't taste the meat dishes though, except for the occasional rice dish with chicken stock. It doesn't seem to bother anybody, they all accepted it by now. Keep in mind though, it's not my job to taste the meat stuff, only the pastries.

[DC Sunshine]

Sorry I didn't mean to imply chefs only could answer - my bad - thanks for the replies. I guess the question has come from watching too many cooking shows where there's a competion, e.g. Top Chef, F-word, Masterchef etc, where there seems to be a kind of barrier stopping non-meat eaters from advancing very far.

Curiousity got to this cat

Thanks again
DC

[bigsimp]

DC my executive chef is a vegitarian. Here is from my expierence with him. He will usually take a bite but spit it out. He wants to taste the product going out. Doesn't mean he likes it but he wants an idea if it needs something else. A lot of the time he will ask one of the staff to taste it and takes our word for it but if it is something new we have never done he will take a bite. Hope that answers your question.
Bigsimp

[DC Sunshine]

bigsimp - yes it does answer it, that's the kind of thing I meant. Dietary choices shouldn't get in the way of work, its a matter of finding ways to work around it hey?
Thanks

[bigsimp]

Originally Posted by DC Sunshine

bigsimp - yes it does answer it, that's the kind of thing I meant. Dietary choices shouldn't get in the way of work, its a matter of finding ways to work around it hey?
Thanks

I am glad I could help you out. If you are curious about anything else vegitarian I might be able to answer your questions. Just ask.
Bigsimp

[squads]

i have had a vegetarian chef work for me for two years, she would not eat meat or fish and i wouldn't ask her too,

but i did expect her to be able to prepare and cook meat and fish to the standard everyone else does,

there are always plenty of people ready to taste something if unsure.

remember its all about the customers satisfaction and your own kitchens consistency

pastry and larder sections are usually kinder to vegies, but they have to progress at some point.

learn the prep and cooking let others taste and you'll have no probs,

[nowIamone]

What confuses me about vegetarians is, "what is the commitment?"

I have them in the restaurant (we are a steak house) and will knock my self out putting together a stir fry on a busy night. Then will find they are ordering the risotto or soup also, so I tell the server "Make them aware that there is chicken broth in it, or the chowder has bacon."

Server comes back, "They don't care, it's so good"

Or, the striving to make a dish taste like meat.

So, do they not eat meat because it's the flesh of a critter, a personal conviction? Then why do they want things to taste like "meat, like chicken, like burgers?"

Did I just hijack this thread??

[Harpua]

I don think this is the wrong thread to get into it. Itś different to different people for many different reasons. Don´t generalize.