Buddhism

[font color="navy" face="Verdana"]Not vegan, because I still eat cheese, eggs occasionally, and sometimes even fish (though rarely). When it comes to being an omnivore's vegetarian guest, I've handled different situations individually.

If there's plenty to eat other than the meat served, I've simply skipped the meat.

If there's meat as an added ingredient in something else (like spaghetti sauce), I've eaten what was served and not made a big deal out of it.

I heard a story one time about a man who was given some kind of award by his company at a luncheon in his honor. The organizers knew he was vegan and went to great pains to have the chef prepare a vegan meal for him. When the meal was presented, he asked if it had been cooked on the same grill that cooked meat, and when told it was (but the grill had been scraped clean), he rejected it and refused to eat it. To me, that was beyond rude and ungrateful.

Courtesy to one's hosts, especially when they've made efforts to accommodate vegetarian or vegan guests, comes before the technicalities of what is served.