It's impossible to make parmesan without animal rennet, so why do so
many restaurants and writers still include the cheese in vegetarian
recipes?
While Adele caused a storm last week
with a rude gesture, the "V" sign offends me on an almost daily basis.
Until I belatedly discovered the apparently well-known fact that
parmesan is made using calf rennet
and is unsuitable for vegetarians, I merrily ate platefuls of
pesto-drenched pasta with the hard cheese shaved liberally across it,
safe in the knowledge that no restaurant would say something was
suitable for vegetarians when it wasn't. How wrong I was.
A trawl of veggie web forums reveals heated debates on the subject
going back years (Word of Mouth readers brought the subject up again
recently in the comments on this post). The message clearly wasn't getting through, though, because in 2010 the Vegetarian Society launched its Say Cheese campaign
to help make restaurateurs aware of their error when shaving heaps of
the hard stuff over food which they then credit as suitable for
vegetarians: diners were encouraged by the charity to leave cards in
offending restaurants explaining the mistake.
The next few years
could spell more for restaurateurs than disappointed diners, as the
terms "vegetarian" and "vegan" will soon have legal status. UK Food Standards Agency labelling guidelines
were adopted in principle by the European Union in 2010, and following a
five year period for compliance civil suits may be brought against
anyone misusing the terms from 2015. Just as a maker of parmesan can
bring action against anyone outside the region using the p-word, so
could offended diners against clueless chefs. Restaurants, manufacturers
and publishers will really have to know their cheeses
Read Full Story Here.
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