Sorry about the current lack of pics folks, but the orifice and mighty computer network/database of the KenFrost.com empire is still in the process of being set up here in Brighton.
Anyhoo, here is a wee question for you to ponder.
Why do gastropubs and other similar establishments insist on putting the label "V" (indicating vegetarian) after chips?
Errmmm...isn't it kind of bleeding obvious that chips are a vegetable?
Unless of course they have been cooked in beef dripping...yum!...in which case they would say that.
How stupid do they think their customers are?
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ReplyDeleteSince the trade you mention tends to rely on a lot of young and cheap labour, much of it often still within the education system, I suspect they are in a very good position to assess the level of understanding of many of their customers.
The elevation of more visual and less academic subjects in the curriculum further suggests that simple design symbols may well be preferable long winded descriptions or a knowledge of food 'science' when presenting a menu. More of a GUI really.
I suspect that eateries also have a little publicised legal 'requirement' to offer a certain percentage of their menu as Vegetarian with some obligation that defines what can and cannot be so described. So every menu item that can be labelled as "V", no matter how stupid such a label might at first appear, would count towards the numbers.
Think of it as a Mark for the Market.
;-)
Grant
The problem is Ken, if these Gastro-Pubs left the symbol off their menus, someone would be bound to ask!!
ReplyDeleteI suspect many youngsters, if asked where chips come from, would not say potatos, but Iceland!!
To those of us that underwent an education before this government dumbed it down so everyone got qualifications, find it crazy to put a V sign on vegetable products to show they are suitable for vegetarians, I suspect many vegitarians do need this type of help, especially those "vegetarians" that only eat chicken and fish:-))
I was in a chip shop a few years ago (in Croydon, as it happens) when a vegan-type female with appropriate 'meat is murder' t-shirt was questioning the Chinese proprietor whether the chips were fried in soya-oil, or something. The poor chap didn't really understand what she was yammering on about, so I asked here why it was so important.
ReplyDelete"I don't want to eat anything that's caused the death of an animal" she said. (To be fair, it did look like her shoes were made from knitted grass)
"Have you any idea how many small mammals are killed in harvesting soya bean?", I asked, "about 200 per hectare!" (Statistics courtesy Office of Guesswork).
"That's not the point!" she shouted, storming out, before I could ask her what was the point.
As the chippy had just lost a customer, I ordered an extra meat and potato pie.
"I don't want to eat anything that's caused the death of an animal"
ReplyDeleteStrange logic that. I don't think it's cooking fat that causes the death of the animal ... it's the death of the animal that causes the cooking fat.
Give it time. Just wait and see. The vegan in the chip shop will eventually be demanding that meat eating is banned.
ReplyDeleteThe ploy about the oil was just an excuse for her to get on her soapbox and ram her bigotry down other peoples throats. The T-shirt is the same sort of thing.
Zealous wimmin with a cause, be it Greenham Common, anti-smoking or vegans, make my old heart sink in despair. Lord protect me from their monstrous regiment until I finally depart their clamour to the great gentleman's club in the sky (men only).
look it's not as silly as putting a warning on a packet of peanuts that they "may contain nuts"!
ReplyDeleteI can live with "V" symbols against potato chips ... esp as you say it does indicate that the oil used wasn't animal fat (well, not that they're telling the customers anyway).
Sir Henry, you may be right, it was afew years ago and my memory isn't what it was, doubtless to to eating too many dead animals. Now I'm looking for a t-shirt that says "If God didn't want us to eat animals, why did He make them so tasty?"
ReplyDeleteJulie,
ReplyDeletestrictly speaking a nuts warnings on a peanut packet is reasonable, since a peanut is not a nut according to the definition of a nut. That said the warning is slightly ludicrous in relation to popular understanding.
Completely ludicrous is a warning, of which I have a photograph, printed on the packaging of an Egg box pointing out that the contents contained eggs.
Since one had to open the box to read the warning one might by then be somewhat aware that the Egg Box you had selected in the hope that it contained eggs did indeed contain objects that looked like eggs, thus making the warning somewhat superfluous.
Sadly this little gem, perpetrated by a large supermarket chain, seems to be consigned to history now. I keep looking but have never found the message again.
Grant
I just found your blog today and am enjoying it a LOT! I lived in England for 5 years, so it is a joy to read your stuff.
ReplyDeleteYour sense of humour, so typical British (oops, I'm not allowed to say that anymore, am I?) is very enjoyabe, as I'm living in America now and they just don't have the same sense of humour.
I have to defend the V's on vegetarian menus though, it makes life so much easier for us vegetarians. Do you know what a schlep it is to wade through menus, without V's? Reading all those ingredients, can take a lot of time and is really frustrating.
Thanks again for your blog, it reminds me a bit of the programs, Grumpy old men/women.
I loved to watch that, while living in England, because I'm a bit that way myself.
I'll be back!