Vegan Gets Served Meat Burger Without Actually Knowing It —Her Experience Led To Crucial Discussion

Oct 16, 2021 by apost team

There are plenty of diets circulating around the world nowadays with people choosing which one works best for them, whether it be palo, keto, pescatarian or vegan. While some of these diets focus specifically on the food and are a way for people to track their macronutrients more appropriately for themselves, other food plans have some personal meanings.

Veganism is the act of not consuming anything derived from an animal, including meat, dairy, eggs and other animal products. This usually stems further and people who follow veganism typically also don’t buy clothes made from animals or use makeup tested on animals. It’s an ethical choice for the animals and the environment, as well as a personal choice for their own wellbeing.

A Reddit user named NarfoOnTheNet shared a once-viral Tumblr thread on Oct. 6, 2021, about a man who gave a vegan a meat hamburger instead of the veggie burger she asked for. The man never told the vegan, so she was led to believe that she still consumed a veggie burger.  While it might have been an innocent joke, the old thread has ignited a current discussion about how people should respect others’ food choices. 

What if a person has an allergy and needs a specific type of food to prevent having a reaction? While some people argue that maybe people nowadays just can’t take a joke, others have pointed out just how important it is for people to be eating the food they specifically asked for. Read on to find out more about this ongoing discussion.

A once-viral Tumblr thread was screenshotted and posted on Reddit, leading to a huge discussion about ethics and morals surrounding the personal food choices people make. Reddit user NarfoOnTheNet shared the screenshot and titled the post: “If you work in food service and roll your eyes while reading this, please quit before you hurt someone.”

Tumblr user @mary_phifer said, “So my dad gave this vegan girl a real hamburger… she said it was the best veggie burger she ever had… she still doesn’t know.” Tumblr user @soybeanqueenn responded, “Your dad is [expletive] and anyone else who thinks this is funny or even remotely acceptable is [expletive]. This is a total violation of trust, morals and more.” The user continued, “What if they had an allergy? What if they’re vegan for religious reasons? You can’t just pull [expletive] like this because ‘they’re vegan.’”

Another user had previously shared the Tumblr post with their own thoughts, and explained how messed up it is to feed someone something without their consent or knowledge. While plenty of people figured the man serving the vegan a meat hamburger instead of a veggie one was simply just a joke, several Reddit users have chimed in to explain just how wrong it is to mess with people’s food. Not only that, but it could also be incredibly dangerous, especially if someone has a life-threatening allergy.

According to MedlinePlus, the foods that most often trigger allergic reactions in adults include fish, shellfish, peanuts and tree nuts. For children, foods that typically trigger allergic reactions include eggs, milk, soy, wheat, peanuts and tree nuts.

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Although it’s common for allergic reactions to be mild, some can cause severe reactions that cause swelling in one’s mouth or tightening of the throat, resulting in a person having trouble breathing. Allergies should be taken seriously, which is why so many people have flooded the comment section of this Reddit post. On top of that, it’s common courtesy to respect people and their personal choices surrounding food, especially if you work in the food service industry and your job is to cater to people’s personal requests.

Redditors shared horror stories of seeing servers give people caffeinated beverages when they asked for decaf, or people who gave regular soda to people who asked for diet. One Reddit user commented, “As someone who works in food service, that’s quite possibly one of the dumbest, most immoral things you can do. You actually could get sued for this, and I guarantee you if they had been a vegan for more than a year or two they knew it wasn’t vegan within a few hours when their stomach started hurting.”

Another user replied, “I have a current coworker that is a vegan. I have never questioned why and never thought to trick her into eating any non-vegan food.” The user talked more about people who think it’s funny to trick others into eating food they didn’t consent to. “These people are terrible humans and obviously have zero respect for others around them,” the user said. “It isn’t difficult at all to accommodate or be considerate of others’ dietary needs. Especially for a single meal.” 

Where do you stand on this food debate? Has someone ever purposely messed with your food? Let us know, and be sure to pass this along to your family and friends, too.