small rant: when well-meaning omnis buy you food
So, sometimes, my mom likes to buy me food when we visit each other. It's really nice of her and I appreciate it, but sometimes she purchases things that she thinks are vegan, when they are not. I keep telling her, "Just check the ingredients. READ them. If you don't like checking ingredients, then don't buy me anything." I don't think it's too much to ask.
Usually, I just give the stuff I can't eat to my roommates, but it's so frustrating when someone brings you food and you can't even eat it. she has brought me "vegetarian chicken salad" (made with vegenaise, but the veggie chicken itself has eggs in it. WTF?), soy cream cheese that isn't Tofutti and therefore has casein in it, and spaghetti sauce with ANCHOVY PASTE in it. Seriously? C'mon.
Anyone else ever deal with things like that? What do you do? Do you make a list and make the person carry it around when they shop for you? Or what?
I know how you feel... or at least I did. My mom and dad used to do this all the time. They figured vegetarian was good enough to be vegan when reading the labels :( Now they are actually really good at it and I sometimes get to enjoy nice, delicious, over-priced vegan alternatives/products at their expense! They make a point to buy me food every time they go grocery shopping :)
Maybe try talking about specific foods you do like that she might just make them her "go-to" foods when she wants to buy you something? I think she'll learn over time as long as you are telling her that you cannot eat, and why, some of the foods that she is getting you. Maybe go shopping with her and make sure she notices how much label reading you have to do? Thats what I did.
i would just talk to your mom and thank her. then tell her that it makes you feel bad that you cant use the stuff and you feel like she's wasting her money on it. i'd suggest she stick with brands that have the word 'vegan' right on the package - alot of amys stuff is labeled right at the beginning of the ingredient list. or ask her if she'd like you to make her a 'wish-list' of things that you might not spend the money for but would love to try and would be easy for her to find. tell her if she came bearing soy delicious ice cream your day would be made!
and really stress how much you appreciate her effort, let her know that alot of vegans have families that don't even try to do thoughtful things like that or are even rude about it. she sounds really sweet!
http://vegweb.com/index.php?topic=25177.0
link to an article I posted a while back about how to host vegan house guests.....I think it may be useful for you
I feel your pain.....but I'm learning to take it in stride....
like my aunt, who is very old and I'll let that be her excuse, bought me Cadbury Eggs while we were at Walmart on Saturday....I saw that she was carrying them around, but I assumed they were for someone else....but then they ended up in my hands....so I took them - like I said, she's old - and brought them to work in hopes that someone would eat them....
I deal with it all the time....co-workers, my mother-in-law....some people just don't get it and probably never will.... it makes it easier just to accept it...
The store manager at "my" store asked me if I went fishing the other day...I reminded him I'm vegan, and he said "I didn't know fish were an animal product.." I'm pretty sure he was joking!
Another guy always says "vaygun." ..and talks about his "meatetarian" ways. ::)
Thank them very kindly for trying and point out brands that are easily labeled (such as Amy's) or things that are simple like a specific pasta and sauce or plain rice and beans.
Other than what you are already doing, there isnt much more you can do other than bring your own food everywhere.
My dear grandma brought over some Organic Meatballs....she thought they were vegetarian because they said "organic". They were actually real beef! Good thing I read the package! She meant well, but kept arguing that they were "organic". ::)
"organic is organic, right?"
Another guy always says "vaygun." ..and talks about his "meatetarian" ways. ::)
In a large proportion of the world, the "normal" pronunciation is "vay gun" particularly where romance languages are spoken. Because that's what our vowels sound like. Deal with it. ;D