I just remembered an of the debates that I had with some vegetarian / vegan friends following an incident that happened with my mum just after I turned vegan….
My mum was trying to make some vegan-friendly food for me. She made some kichdi (a rice and mung bean based dish). Just before serving, she decided put a knob of butter in the pan, to save us all the hassle of adding butter (or dairy free spread for me) ourselves. I saw her do this and asked her why she put butter in the food. My mum then realised the mistake she made and then broke down in tears. She had made the dish especially for me, but then put something non-vegan in it by accident – it was just out of habit rather than out of bad intentions.
I didn’t know what to do. Part of me wanted to eat the food. Once the butter was mixed in with the Kichdi, it was either going to be consumed or to be thrown away. Eating it wouldn’t make an economic impact on the cows that were harmed in the production of the butter (as the butter had already been used up). However, if I did eat the food, then it may signal to my mum that I was prepared to relax my principles, and that if she or someone else makes the same mistake in the future that I would just eat the food.
In this situation I decided to eat the food. I told her that I understood that we all make mistakes, but I explained to my mum that I wouldn’t eat it if the same thing happens in the future.
Luckily, the same thing hasn’t happened again with mum. To all the vegans out there, I’m sure that some of you may have gone to events where someone has prepared a dish for you thinking that it is suitable for vegans, but it has turned out to contain some animal product (for example a pasta sauce made with non-vegan wine).
What would you do in such a situation?
