Is a vegetarian diet that hard a concept to understand?

Nothing wrong with being a strict vegi Titan (I m a very un-strict one) but the dictatorial and rather superior tone to your posts wouldn’t put you on my Guest list ? very good that places like Wetherspoons have given you the choice to eat out and that you have lots of lovely friends who must be very accommodating if you talk to them like you just spoke on here perhaps you have a softer side in real life

A holiday in France a few years back with some omnivore friends. We ate out most evenings and asked the restaurants in advance if there was a provision for vegetarians. Most were welcoming and accommodating, proudly serving me a special dish.
However, there was one where we couldn't book who were rather rude. We sat at a laid table and when I mentioned the V word the owner took my plates away. Seriously! For the sake of the others, I stayed there and persuaded him that bread, cheese, salad and wine would be fine, he relented.
He even said the vegetable soup had meat stock. At least I think that's what he was saying.

One of my customers in M&S got very cross with me when she asked if we used vegetarian cheese. I pointed out that no ordinary cheese is vegetarian, because even if they don't use rennet many bull calves will have died to produce the milk. She threw her sandwich at me and walked out.

Flexitarians are omnivores with pretensions,

That's me told then.

Everyone has to draw their own line in the sand. I’m not in favour of trying to catch people out by pointing out where they have fallen from their own (often assumed by others) self imposed standards. It’s not about trying to be superior to someone else and their dietary choices, it’s about trying to live by ones own beliefs.

To suggest that vegetarians are inflexible or inconsiderate because they will not serve meat to guests is just silly; you might as well say you enjoy eating dog and expect your host to cater for your tastes.

Animal derived gelatine in sweets can be a puzzle for vegetarians. It is in Haribo products, Bassetts all sorts, most wine gums, and marshmallows unless you can find a vegetarian alternative. At least it makes me think twice before eating too much sweet stuff. I think Tunnock's teacakes are ok!

I knew it! tunnock's tea cakes that is.
I remember saying to a vegan friend how it must be difficult to put on weight on her diet.
Really? She reminded me that sugar, nuts including coconut milk, oil, avocados, bananas, rice, potatoes, chocolate ......... all vegan.

I cook regularly for vegetarian friends & family - I always use veggie stock & separate cooking utensils & cook with cheese & serve wine - and usually provide meat or fish for the non-vegetarians - not once have any of the vegetarians mentioned problems with wine or cheese - in fact we have jolly occasions eating & drinking & being sociable which is surely what eating with friends is all about.
Perhaps my vegetarians do not come up to Titian's standards but I know who I'd prefer to entertain. The phrase "live and let live" comes to mind.

Aldi has a good choice of vegan wine. Gin is fine?

Poor research like this has meant that I have gone hungry when eating out at friends houses and why I now choose to take my own dinner to be safe.

Surely it is up to the author of the veggie info on GN to research properly and to give accurate information.

If Titian1948 has been invited to a meal by someone who looks to GN for helpful info on what is suitable, not only Titian but also the host will feel bad if it turns out the information was wrong.

Titian, I hope you have notified GNHQ of the problems with that page.

I've often fed my vegetarian neighbours but this is the first time I've heard about rennet and isinglass. Can the OP explain the problem with pesto?
Obviously I never put chicken stock in veggie meals.

Pesto is usually made with Parmesan cheese which is always made with cow's rennet.

The Vegetarian Society website states that "the last forty years have seen several substitutes for calf rennet being developed and today around ninety per cent of the hard cheese made in the UK is made using chymosin produced in genetically modified organisms". I'm sure some people would object to this too but it goes on to point out that the enzyme does not remain in the cheese.

My family and I were vegetarian for 4 years and people used to ask us how we could possibly eat, 'those nut rissoles'.
Well, we didn't.

We had various egg meals, cheese on toast, vegetable soups with pulses; beans and chips; salad sandwiches, veggie stir fry - and so on.
I still haven't tried nut rissoles

I love vegi food because I love nuts pulses lentils, veg etc etc but I ve never gone into looking on every wine bottle or every cheese packet or checking if a bee has been near it so not a ‘real’ vegi however I m fine with it in my own way

I don't think it is vegetarians who object to eating anything pollinated by bees, but vegans.

I think it's quite a hard concept because of people who label themselves as vegetarians who only eat fish. Or white meat. Or only eat meat at Christmas..

I was vegetarian for 12 years ..only now I find I wasn't.I didn't eat meat or use meat stocks but I did eat cheese and eggs .It was about 30 years ago and all the "vegetarians" I knew ate much the same things .It appears to be much stricter or maybe people just know more now .

I was considering going back to cutting out meat but I dont think I can do it without eggs in particular and at least some cheese.The veggie cheeses I have tried are vile .

Isn't the cutting out of cheese and eggs a Vegan concept, rather than a vegetarian one, Paddyann?

I think I said before, a friend told me Vegetarians come in two forms: those who are V for the sake of the animal (they tend to be very much stricter, reading labels) and those who are V for their own health.
Orthodox and Liberal so to speak

I was always the latter and although my diet now comprises 98% vegetable and fruit, because I do eat fish very occasionally, I certainly wouldn't call myself a Vego now.
"Eat nothing which has a face" Paul McCartney says.

"Vegetarian" cheese is a rather sour joke. Dairy farmers slaughter male calves shortly after birth, keeping only the females as future suppliers of milk. The use of rennet, therefore, is virtually irrelevant.

Quite a few kosher wines do not contain isinglass or other animal products, but you have to check.

I might be wrong but I always believed that vegetarians included dairy in their diet having known a number of vegetarians.
Supermarkets include cheese in their vegetarian ranges.
Vegans as far as I know eat a plant based diet.
You sound very angry why, life can be short and most people don't think seriously about what other people eat why would they.
If you have been invited to friends for a meal it is common courtesy to explain any diet you are following surely.
Another options is to invite friends to your home and prepare a meal for them.

I have a number of lifelong vegetarian friends who define themselves as people who don't eat dead (or for that matter, living) animals, usually including fish and often including crustaceans and shellfish. They do eat eggs, cheese and other dairy products.

I was a professional cookery writer for decades before I retired and was careful to provide vegetarian and vegan equivalents if appropriate, if relevant in the particular book and if they existed. And yes, of course, Parmesan cheese is not and never will be fully vegetarian. It is a certified cheese, made by traditional methods, and Italians are rightly proud of its versatility. Me too!

If you think about it, we all eat plant-based diets. Beef and lamb, for example, are plant-based.

We're having a couple to stay next month and I'm already dreading it. She eats only plant-based food - and I don't think she means beef or lamb Baggs - he is allergic to nuts. I am an easy vegetarian and DH is an omnivore.
Who is volunteering to be cook?

I truly sympathise Grammaretto. I had a similar situation on Christmas day.We had 12 guests. 3 were vegetarian,2 of my AC have a nut allergy,a 3 year old has hypoglycemia and has to have a special diet and an 11 year old is autistic ,is a fussy eater and doesn't like food touching on the plate. It was not easy but we coped.?

Greenfinch i would seriously like some advice.
They will be staying for several weeks and I will expect them to share the cooking. I can only think of barley broth with some meaty side dishes.