Oh God that is awful!

I am not a vegetarian, and I even eat a few foods that an omnivore would find morally questionable, but I would never try to trick one of the vegies

That would be soooo wrong!

I'm a vegetarian and I know people who have done this. =(

Why would someone do that?

The only veggies I cook for do it for health not morals, but it would still be so wrong! Besides, there's plenty of yummy veggie meals, why lie?

So mean. Just today I brought a new type of veggie burger into work for one of my veggie friends, she loved it!

that is just so immoral

NO NO NO NO NO - being a vegetarian, i find the thought of this to be offensive and really irresponsible. i don't eat meat because it's my belief and my choice, and for someone to know that they are giving me something that has an animal product in it that i don't eat - well that's just wrong.

i'm not a vegan yet, so that's not something that i have to worry as much about, but i have called a few people out on saying they are vegans and watching them eat certain dishes that i KNOW are not vegan friendly.

I was a vegetarian for 15 years and still eat very close to veg, and as someone with food allergies along with food aversions I would never ever do this! I recall when I was a veg, my aunt trying to get me to eat her homemade red sauce, key ingredient: meat. Her reasoning was that it was "mostly" tomatoes so it was okay for a veg to eat! YIPES! Even now I wouldn't make or eat meat sauce!

People are vegetarians for a variety of reasons and intentionally giving them meat is terrible. I know people who have never consumed an animal and doing so could make them sick. And anyone who chooses not to eat meat for ethical reasons should be respected - I wish I had enough discipline to make that choice.

I put other. I'm not close to any vegetarians (not because I don't like them or anything, just the way it worked out) so I've never been presented with this dilemma. And since I'm not acquainted with the ways of vegetarianism I would probably cook with something on the no-no list and not know it. Like the refried beans and chicken broth? I would totally not consider them meat things because they don't have meat chunks in them. I'd be a terrible vegetarian!!

HORRIBLE!! the second option is the worst, "no one will know it's chicken broth and not vegetable broth" ?! So what, you're fine being the b*tch that served something against someone's principles? Classy.

Although ppl have mentioned being veg by choice, the religion aspect has kind of been neglected here - my best friend is strictly vegetarian because he is HINDU, and he went to a friend's dinner party on the condition that there be a veggie dish for him. She agreed and her mother made a casserole, idiotically using chicken broth in the preparation without telling him. Half-way through the meal she off-handedly mentions the chicken broth and he's completely horrified and has to leave.

Whether someone is vegetarian by choice or because of religion, it's very important to respect that. Would you put peanut sauce in something if you knew your friend was allergic just because you thought it was technically unnoticeable? uh, no.

I have never done this and never would. My husband is so great -- he's not a veg but I am. He does our grocery shopping and really pays attention to labels for me -- for example vegetable soup often contains chicken broth.

I can't imagine that anyone would do this deliberatly but there are people who don't realize that a lot of baked beans and stuff like that are not vegetarian.

nope. i have several vegetarian friends and always make sure i have veggie safe dishes for them. if i have a question on the extremeity of vegetarianism then i ask them so i don't make a mistake. common sense and respect for others beliefs and lifestyle.

I have a friend who is a vegetarian because she is severely allergic to most meat products, so I know how important it is to be careful! You could really hurt someone.

Ohmygosh how is this a question!! You would be going against someone's beliefs, a horrrrrrrrible friend, extremely deceiptful AND you could make someone physically ill if their body is not used to digesting meat!!! This is the worst thing I could ever think of doing food-wise!

If I have made a mistake, I have yet to discover it, but because I don't pass storebought foodstuffs as my own, I don't really have that issue.

Unlike TidalWave, I don't think this is the very *worst* thing that I can ever think of doing food-wise. That is reserved for those who serve what they know not to be Kosher to observant Jews. This is, to be certain, a close second. But still second.

I am vegetarian, but most people are considerate of it. I tell people I don't eat meat, but I won't force them into making special arrangements for me, though- if we're in a group and someone is really craving a burger joint, I will grab a salad, fries, or wait a few hours to eat a full meal.

When I first went veggie (at age 13), my mom disrespected my decision and wouldn't make stuff for me (unless it was kiddie junk food like Spaghetti-Os). I quickly learned how to cook (better than my mom!). Now she gets excited when I make bean and rice enchiladas or spinach pie.

So, who *has* done this? There are quite a few "Yes, no one will ever know it was made with chicken broth instead of vegetable broth" people...

Once, I was out to a restaurant with my friends, and we were handed an amuse bouche of butternut squash soup. One of my friends is a vegetarian, and was about to eat it when I told her I could taste chicken stock in it. We checked with the waitstaff and indeed it was not vegetarian. Sometimes your taste buds just know!

shoneyjoe: you don't consider them of equal value because one is due to moral beliefs and the other is due to religious beliefs?

I know people who are just ignorant and serve accidentally. I had a friend rave about how excited she was she was serving a full veggie meal for me and another friend who is a non-meat eater. And when i walked into the kitchen i saw chicken broth on the counter and I asked her and she said it was used in the gratin, it wasnt till i told her that she realized that made it non-veggie.

HAHHA aprilmay - my mom used to always make me spaghetti os on evenings she was serving meat too cause it was too much of a hassle to make 2 things (nor could i expect her to). Thats when I started learning to cook too and my mom always steals my veggie recipes.

I have never done this but my grandma did this to two of my cousins. She is very old fashioned and thinks vegetarianism is just a "quirk". She served them soup made with beef stock but because it didn't have any chunks of beef in it, she told them it was vegetarian.

I can always taste animal stock in food. I think it's because I haven't eaten meat in 13 years — that kind of taste stands out. But when I was in Guatemala, I ate some lardy beans. It would have been so inappropriate for me to turn them down, so I just went with it.

Nope, that's just mean. Plus, a lot of people who've been vegetarian for a long time can feel sick because their systems aren't used to animal products. I wouldn't want to be responsible for that.

My mother in law still doesn't realize that being vegetarian means not eating chicken stock. I have found the cans in the trash later. I should have realized while eating but she knows I'm veg so I never thought about it. I don't think she does it on purpose but growing up in a small town the midwest, I think being vegetarian is such a foreign concept to her.

I would NEVER, NEVER, NEVER do this. My mother has been a vegetarian since she was 11. She was once served a meal with meat in the recipe (after asking if it was a vegetarian meal) and became extremely ill. Her body isn't used to it. But, it is tough (depending on where we go) because places might use a chicken broth and the waitstaff will tell us it is meatless. So frustrating! I do realize that people don't do it to be malicious (at least, not that I'm aware of! Unlike this question...) but it makes it very difficult for my mother to venture out and try new dishes.

That would be so wrong. I would never, ever do that.

You have to be pretty dumb to think you could get away with something like this, especially when after you're done eating, the vegetarian at the table makes a break for the bathroom and has a night of explosive diarrhea.

I've done it on accident, but I would never do it maliciously. That's just mean! I've accidentally bought and served baked beans that weren't vegetarian, even though they didn't have meat in them they had bacon fat. I felt so bad. I have lots of vegetarian friends and I always try to respect their eating habits.

my parents did this to me a lot....and i was a vegetarian for 6 years...i got really violently ill once...

I have never put meat products into a veggie dish and if i did by accident i would let the person one. Most of my immediate family is vegetarian but i have forgotten a few times during the holidays when making mashed potatoes that my sister in law is vegan. And i have added butter and milk. Ive only done it twice and i told her once about it. We usually make two verisions of certain dishes on vegan one and one regular.

that is terrible!!! If it was by accident that is completely different but that is just so wrong. How could someone do it on purpose??

TidalWave, the moral beliefs are a purely personal standard. You do harm to the individual, but to no one else. The religiously held belief of Kashrut is an agreement between the individual and God, and the affront is against both.

I think that there are many who take their vegetarianism to be a personally moral decision on par with a religiously-held belief, but there is still the external objection stemming from contravening a commandment issuing forth from a third party.

I would never do that... but I HAVE done the opposite... as in, made a vegetarian meal using faux meat and passing it off as "real" meat...lol... is that as bad?

I would never do that to someone b/c I'm very picky about the food that I eat. It's not right.

the only vegetarian that I know is my stuck up stepsister and we dont make food for her anymore because its a waste of our time, so she brings her own meals to family get togethers. So there isnt any way i could serve her something that was false.

I have however ordered a steak super rare just to see her cringe.

I'd never do it but I don't know why so many people are saying its "horrible" and "immoral."

no but my mom freaked on me when I told her that the vegetarians at our wedding might not want to eat the crab cake appetizer. but that might just have been wedding stress more than an insensitivity to non-pescatarians.

I've done it on accident, but I wouldn't do it intentionally.

Never!!

i've been a vegan for 13 years and i would like to think that everyone that offers me food is honest!

restaurant waiters have lied to me before - saying they checked ingredient labels when i know they haven't. that's wrong (and not to mention a major liability for the restaurant) but at least it wasn't someone who was close to me lying to me!

This would indeed be evil!