» Crap meals out

Peas and potatoes are go!
Being a vegetarian some time ago, made eating out quite interesting. I'm 34 and have been vege for about 22 years now, so before it was really fashionable and people knew what to do with you when you turned up. I can well understand how awkward it must be to plan a meal and then a bespectacled 12 year old refuses it. Especially a 12 years old with allergies. Also ahead of my time, was my enormous amount of allergies - so sadly for me, the standard vegetarian staples of nut roast and omelettes were out -both make me projectile vomit and bits swell alarmlingly, worse when it's your oesophagus.

Despite all of this, I decided that the school trip to France was a good idea. Yes France, lovely France, France that even on a recent trip to Paris was slightly awkward until we found the wonderful deli which sold tomoto compote and all sorts of grilled vegetables, and the amazing curry house, where we had no choice in what to order but were told to eat what we were served. Thankfully it was rather lovely food, but a novel approach to customer service. I digress.... Our school trip was to the Ardennes, and thankfully I think it was a long weekend, ie about 3 or 4 nights away. The first night, I was duly presented with pig and potatos, I explained I couldn't eat it and was presented with omelette. I had already given notice of my allergies/vegetarian status to the school to pas on to the hostelg, as I really do appreciate it can be hard coming up with decent alternatives without advance notice! Omelette is taken away and I'm happy with potatoes and veg. Second night arrives and I'm presented with pig and potatoes (or it might have been cow). Again I explain that sadly I cant eat this, and again I'm presented with an omelette. Potato and peas for tea again! 3rd night - guess what happened? Pomme de terre avec peteit pois (eventually). Now obviously by the fourth night, the chef was probably quite pissed off with my 12 year old self, quite annoyed with a mounting mountain of rejected, conjealed omelette, so I like to think he decided to make an extra special effort. Also, because it was the last night we were staying in the hostel, you know make it a good last night to be had by all. I will never forget the pride on the face of the chef as I was presented with the ultimate vegetarian option - what seened like half a rabbit on a plate. It glistened moist and brown amid a mound of peas and potatoes (and was probably rather lovely for the others to eat). Well of course it was vegetarian - it only ate grass didn't it? At the time this inestimable logic did not work as I then thought (pre BSE days) that cows were purely herbivores too and sadly for the chef, my twelve year old self's favourite animal in the whole wide world was rabbits (I was a late developer), since the demise of a family pet (a large New Zealand White rabbit) died previously. Still on the bright side we had awards after dinner, and my history teacher presented me with his three year old daughter's dress for having lost the most weight on holiday. Nice!
(Thu 27th Apr 2006, 15:59, More)