Its hard to be a vegetarian

It was a fabulous Saturday. The day started off early, it’s not a usual beginning of a weekend, I have to leave home before 10AM for my dance class in Wayland, MA. It’s always fun to practice before the 1 1/2 or 2 hours class. Particularly yesterday was a very intense class, but it was fun. The leg pains later made me feel that the class was worth it.

Dear friend Kishor planned and coordinated a movie outing (Before the rains) one of the rare crossover Indian English movie @ Kendal square cinemas. The movie was a nice one and after the movie we planned for dinner. We hanged out at a local coffee shop before heading out for dinner as we all thought it was too early for dinner. Yes 6:30 is too early for Desi's for dinner. :)

We thought about Emma's pizza, but somehow we decided to go to Legal sea food in Kendal square. The moment it was mentioned I had some doubts about the menu. Since it specializes in Sea food, I wasn’t sure about the vegetarian option. I am sick and tired of going to fine restaurants and eat a salad or appetizer or just one entree on the menu. It’s particularly hard when everyone gobbles up some wonderful soups, appetizers and entrees and I had to be content with lettuce, spinach and dressing. Sometimes I am fortunately to get pasta and Italian vegetables.

It’s nothing wrong with going out with friends, but when you feel you are not going to have many options or going to eat the same thing for the 100th time, you are not excited. Leave alone the cost of the dining experience, the tension and stress of not finding a decent food is not right. Especially when you end up coming home and invade your fridge or pantry for food is not funny. At the end of the day, your wallet is very light, your stomach is mostly empty and you are not happy about the dining out experience.

I always have 3 options.
1. Don’t go out and avoid any restaurant situation
2. Go out with friends who are sensitive to your problem
3. Friends who are not bothered by my dietary restriction.

It’s not nice of me to impose my dietary restrictions on someone else, why do I have to curtail someone’s eating out experience? After all everyone like to go and dine in a nice restaurant and fulfill your palette, mind and stomach?

Anyway, we ended up in Legal sea foods at 7pm. It was crowded and people were hanging out everywhere waiting to be seated. We approached the host and asked for seating for 4. At that time I asked them to look at the menu and inquired whether they have any vegetarian option. One of the host or Manager guy said they have plenty of Vegetarian options and all of them are good. He went on to say that don’t worry about it and you will be taken care off. It gave some hope and the problem of finding decent vegetarian food lessened in my mind.

After waiting for 15/20 minutes we were seated and were provided with the menu. To my horror, only vegetarian option was a Thai dish with tofu and nothing more. Its painful to scroll thru the menu to find some vegetarian dish and there was none. I asked the waitress about this and she said that is the only option they have and they have none.

I was so pissed and angry at that point. We ordered our beverages and I didn’t feel like I am going to take this and sitting there and pretend that nothing happened. After all it’s my dining experiences also counts and I don’t have to sacrifice again with my friends around. I have done it many times and I have decided not to do it often. I was preparing to go back to the host station and confront the guy for his misinformation, luckily the guy who lied to us, walked by to the next table. I told my friends that I am going to ask him about it pointedly; they were like "oh gosh, here goes another drama" and busily buried themselves in the menu and pretended to be busy. But I am sure they are all very curious to see and hear how it goes.

When he was going back to the host station, I interrupted him politely and inquired whether there is something wrong with the menu. And I asked him that I didn’t see anything else other than one Vegetarian dish. He got tensed and defensive; I could see that in his eyes and his body language. He went ahead and pointed me to the 5 salads and said that there is always the salad option. What a crap.. I told him a salad doesn’t make a meal or a entree and it’s not fine. I told him that he should have been more honest about the option when we inquired in the first place. That fucking bastard just shrugged his shoulders and walked away, making a gesture as if it’s not a big deal for him.
At that point, I didn’t have any other option but to walk out of the restaurant. I told my friends that I don’t want to eat there and I cannot feel comfortable eating there any longer. After that, that restaurant didn’t deserve my money and not a penny of my hard earned money.
They all walked out with me and it made me real proud. I am happy to be surrounded by some understanding and thoughtful friends. After all, you have to care about others as well. Otherwise you can’t be friends with anyone who doesn’t care about you; definitely I care about my friends and their needs. It’s part of life and that’s who I am and I won’t change.

Later we ended up in Cambridge brewery (Our first choice :)) and had a fabulous time. Ended up eating a Vegetarian Pizza and it was good. At the end of the evening, everyone had a great time and much better than dinning in "Legal sea foods".

I came home happy, content and I didn’t have to invade my fridge for an empty stomach. Till the next eating out disaster, I had enough for one day to last for few months.