Food, food everywhere, but what's Vegan?

[not-enough-cruising]

19 minutes ago, orville99 said:

All raw food components used in Vegan entrees may be vegetarian, but not all vegetarian food is Vegan. The requirements for food  preparation to qualify as Vegan are significantly more strict than preparation for vegetarian. For example, I could saute a steak for a meat based entre and then wipe out and use the same pan to saute portobello mushrooms to substitute for the steak in a vegetarian version of the same entre. A Vegan would never use a saute pan that had touched meat. Strict Vegans won't even accept using the same prep kitchen as one that preps animal proteins.

Precisely. 
I don’t believe anyone had stated that a Vegan would be satisfied with a vegetarian menu 

[logan25]

Are ultra-restrictive diets accommodated at every land-based restaurant?  I hazard a guess, not.  
 

Do ships attempt to accommodate some?  Yes.  Vegetarian, gluten-free, Kosher, etc.  Of course, food allergies rank highly in their effort to accommodate.

 

I think this serves more as a PSA, and the original poster has enlightened others who might be shopping for a cruise line.  At the very least, it may alter expectations.

[orville99]

58 minutes ago, not-enough-cruising said:

Precisely. 
I don’t believe anyone had stated that a Vegan would be satisfied with a vegetarian menu 

And I was simply stating that RCL does not have the capability to prepare any truly Vegan meals. Their galleys are only equipped to prepare a limited variety of vegetarian (plant based) alternatives to their animal based menu counterparts.

Edited August 19 by orville99

[lovesthebeach2]

13 hours ago, not-enough-cruising said:

But Vegan food is Vegetarian.  I believe that was the point

It is…but the 1 Vegan choice on the nightly menu are not things I would order.  I’m not vegan or vegetarian totally, but we mostly eat vegetarian at home 

[orville99]

36 minutes ago, logan25 said:

Do ships attempt to accommodate some?  Yes.  Vegetarian, gluten-free, Kosher, etc.  Of course, food allergies rank highly in their effort to accommodate.

For Yeshiva week cruises, RCL strip cleans one of the restaurants (on Harmony it was the Solarium Bistro) and brings a rabbi on board to re-configure it to meet Kosher requirements. During that week, the restaurant is only available to passengers who pre-purchase the Kosher dining plan, and they get all three of their meals there every day.

 

Other than that unique accommodation, their galleys do the best they can within their space/provisioning limitations.

[lovesthebeach2]

8 minutes ago, orville99 said:

And I was simply stating that RCL does not have the capability to prepare any truly Vegan meals. Their galleys are only equipped to prepare a limited variety of vegetarian (plant based) alternatives to their animal based menu counterparts.

If that’s true, I wish they would have vegetarian choices on the menus. They only offer 1 vegan choice and IMO they sound not to my liking…..except the one tofu item.

[orville99]

35 minutes ago, lovesthebeach2 said:

If that’s true, I wish they would have vegetarian choices on the menus. They only offer 1 vegan choice and IMO they sound not to my liking…..except the one tofu item.

Their Paneer dishes in the WJ (they use tofu in place of buffalo paneer) are DW's go to meals. We also do their vegetarian stir fry with Thai rice noodles for lunch whenever they have it (usually on port days)

[shipgeeks]

19 hours ago, orville99 said:

Not true. Vegan is a much more restrictive diet than vegetarian. RCL serves vegetarian, not vegan.

No. If the menu is to be believed, all the options are now vegan. Nothing is noted as vegetarian. And IMO, they are not nearly as varied or as tasty as when they were called vegetarian.

[orville99]

4 minutes ago, shipgeeks said:

No. If the menu is to be believed, all the options are now vegan.

It is (according to the chef we spoke with) a label of convenience, not fact.🙁

[lovesthebeach2]

35 minutes ago, orville99 said:

Their Paneer dishes in the WJ (they use tofu in place of buffalo paneer) are DW's go to meals. We also do their vegetarian stir fry with Thai rice noodles for lunch whenever they have it (usually on port days)

I’ve had the tofu stir fry in WJ (yum) and the tofu entree in the MDR….. it what’s Paneer?

[orville99]

21 minutes ago, lovesthebeach2 said:

I’ve had the tofu stir fry in WJ (yum) and the tofu entree in the MDR….. it what’s Paneer?

Indian Paneer is traditionally a buffalo milk "cottage" cheese that uses either lemon juice or high acid fruit juice to curdle the milk, which is then pressed into a block and cubed for paneer based Indian dishes. According to the WJ Exec Chef, they substitute tofu for paneer cheese in all of their paneer dishes.

Edited August 19 by orville99

[TwoMisfits]

On 8/19/2024 at 11:29 AM, orville99 said:

It is (according to the chef we spoke with) a label of convenience, not fact.🙁

 

I believe they are not "strict" as the previous poster wanted b/c I tried to order a vegan backup as my allergy dish every night (since I like vegan, and I figured the vegan dish already solved one of my allergens and didn't normally list tree nuts/mango).  I never got served a vegan dish.  Ever.  The only vegan things I had all week in the dining room and specialty dining were berries with sorbet and a plain garden salad - nothing cooked.  

 

If they were "strict", I have to imagine at least one of the dishes didn't involve tree nuts/mango to make it vegan and I would have gotten it.

Edited August 21 by TwoMisfits