I had lunch at The Magic Flute with two friends who don't seem to know about the vegan movement. They still regard vegans as I once did--as strange, picky eaters who don't know how to live--and that may be the attitude of the owner of The Magic Flute, too.
When I made the reservation, I asked about options for the "vegan among us," and his voice really did seem to become more tense. He said that the server could walk me through the menu.
The menu has NO vegan entree. I knew that from an experience eating there with friends a few months earlier.
Sure enough, when I got there, the spinach salad was all they could offer me.
One friend, a writer, expressed surprise that I was a vegan and said he was writing "about that."
The other friend asked, "How long have you been that way?"
The writer-friend, who moments earlier had said good things about Greens Restaurant, said he could understand vegetarian, but vegan?
I briefly explained about the suffering of animals in factory farms--even those not immediately killed for meat-- and the environmental concerns with livestock. I started an explanation of the artificial insemination of a cow but decided that wasn't perfect table talk.
The manager of the Magic Flute brought desserts that ignored vegans. He didn't even suggest a vegan option. He also brought complimentary bagnets to the table after we'd said no thank you.
He was accommodating to our friend's walker and other needs.
But there was no effort made to include a vegan.
Later, I sent these two friends the link to my "Plate to Plate Pilgrimage" but doubted that they'd even bother clicking on it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nDaIlEwQ8D0
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