Vegans too difficult for chefs

Of course it is. They've been taught a certain way and are scared to try new things. Veganism made me cook and made me cook creatively. I think being a vegan is a great inspiration for cooking.

bahahahahaha Veganism too difficult for chefs. Last time I checked, my dad isn't a professional chef yet he managed to go from meat, egg and dairy cooking his whole life to complete vegan cooking that is different each meal (no repeats of the same boring meals) delicious and better than any food I have had in my whole life. I have been to plenty of places with vegan options and I am telling you now it is not difficult to make a meal without the disgusting input of animal products. Ignorance is all it is. This annoys me so much.   What kind of 'chef' finds vegan cooking hard hahahaha.

Shows that she's not that good of a chef then. Chefs are supposed to be creative and know how to cater for all different diets.

To bring another "ought" into the discussion... I would have thought that a curiosity and interest in different cooking methods and cuisines would be of great importance to a chef. Most chefs I've met over the years will give anything a crack. I don't see why vegan food would be any different...

Yeah I think that gets to the heart of the matter. It depends on the person many people are so biased and stuck in their ways it's an offense that anyone should feel differently. But I agree, there's a difference between someone simply cooking and someone being a chef, being creative and loving what they do.

You ought to think it would be a healthy challenge..

Once I was in Footscray to see a show - we went to a pub afterwards for dinner. I seriously was just expecting to get chips. The menu was huge though (and mostly in French!) so I just asked the waitress if there was anything without meat or dairy - she pointed to the fish! There was nothing vegan on the menu.

But then she went and got the chef - he came out and quickly asked what I could have, got quite excited and dashed back to the kitchen.

When my vegan pasta was brought to the table, my friends were all saying "Oh I didn't see THAT on the menu, I wish I'd ordered that!"

It was great, the chef came out to see if I was happy and was really chuffed when I said I loved it - that's passion for your job! AND exactly the way people should be treated if they are willing to pay for a meal - I'll go back there (if I'm ever in Footscray again!)

I'm *fairly certain* it was the Station hotel.

I remember stopping at a servo on a long car trip once and asking the lady there if they had any vegan sandwiches.. I elaborated, saying something like: "You know: no butter, no cheese..." She responded: "What about a ham sandwich?" That's about when I gave up on that idea

That experience aside, most restaurants I've been to have been happy enough to whip something vegan up... especially if I offer simple suggestions for what they could make (tomato based pasta with some veggies usually works in most western-style restaurants). I think often they're less enthused to be accommodating when they're busy.. but in general, if you're friendly and helpful I've found they pretty good about it.

I was delighted a while ago, when a chef at a cafe even agreed to make me a tofu scramble -- she'd never made one before, but was happy to give it a bash with a few suggestions from me on how to go about it.

Jane and Jesse - that rules! Top effort on behalf of both establishments... that's the way it should be.