They Served Their Niece Vegetarian Lasagna—So Why Was She Convinced It Contained Meat?
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Trying a new diet can make people cautious about what they eat, but panic is not always the best way to inspect dinner.
Imagine your teenage niece becoming convinced her vegetarian lasagne contains meat. Would you drive back to the supermarket to complain or trust the label and the obviously soy-based filling?
In this story, a disagreement about whether or not the lasagne really is vegetarian leaves one vegan host refusing to launch a complaint they believe would be embarrassing, while their sister insists nobody can be certain without tasting it.
See how one meatless meal created a surprisingly beefy argument.
AITA for not supporting my sister in making a complaint to a supermarket?
I currently have my sister and niece staying with me for a few days.
My niece is 17 years old and has recently decided to go vegetarian.
We had a long day out yesterday so we agreed to pick up some ready meals on the way home.
My niece picked a vegetarian lasagne.
Was the lasagne really vegetarian?
Later after we’d cooked the meals and sit down for dinner my niece starting to act hysterically screaming that there was meat in her lasagne.
I had a look and I here wasn’t any meat in it, it had a non-meat soy based mince in it and the look/texture matched that way more closely than that of meat.
My sister then tasted it too and was also convinced it was meat.
I was unable to taste it (I’m vegan so although it was a veggie lasagne, it contained dairy in the sauce and cheese), but I’m very familiar with the meat free products and knew it wasn’t meat without having to taste it.
Now there’s another problem.
I tried to convince them and calm the situation down but they were adamant it was meat and wanted me to drive them back to the supermarket to complain.
I refused because it would be embarrassing to turn up with a blatantly vegetarian lasagne and start accusing them of having them mixed up and it containing meat.
My sister said I have no way of knowing it wasn’t meat as I couldn’t taste it myself and that I was an [jerk] for not taking them back to complain.
Was I the [jerk]?
It sounds like they were overreacting.
People responded in the comments on Reddit:
Maybe just like, look at what you’re eating.
I mean if you REALLY need to, take something back.
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Meat substitutes often look and taste like meat. That’s why they’re meat substitutes.
If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a woman who finally blew up after years of being treated as the second-best sibling.
I mean like…
From a practical standpoint this story shows that checking the packaging carefully is usually more useful than letting dinner-table panic take over.
A quick look at the ingredients or a call to the supermarket could have settled the question without demanding an immediate return trip.
Maybe the sister and niece were genuinely worried, but expecting someone else to complain about an obviously vegetarian product was a little much.
The real mystery is how soy mince managed to cause this much actual beef.
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