My husband and I attended a benefit auction for a wonderful organization. The event included a dinner, and through a series of detailed conversations, we arranged a vegan meal with the event organizer. The auction/dinner was held at a community college with a well-regarded chef program, so we thought we were in good hands. When we arrived at the event, we even found little place cards at the table that said "vegan" on them under our names.
The appetizer table contained the usual cheese and crackers, but also a bowl of hummus, and carrots and celery. It was a good sign. The first course was a salad with an un-vegan piece of garlic bread, but the bread was easily removed. No problem. For our main course, we were brought plates of grilled fish. Um, this isn't vegan, we said, politely. We were then brought the same salads we'd just had. I was thinking we should just eat them, but the other people at the table, all omnivores, were upset and told the waiters we'd already had salad. Then they brought us chicken. Next came what you see above — a plate of mushy, inedible, overcooked string beans — and a message from the cook that this was the best he could do. Fortunately, there was still a little hummus on the appetizer table, so we went and got some of that.
Oh well. I really don't get too upset about this sort of thing, but I was surprised that the cook couldn't have at least stir fried a few veggies for us. Everyone else had potatoes, and I would have been happy with a plain baked potato and a salad. The plate of unpalatable beans was the strangest vegan meal I've been served in a long time, and was a reminder that although it often seems that vegan diets have gone mainstream, this may not quite be the case.
What was the most uncreative vegan or vegetarian meal you've been served at an event?
