Dirt Candy (emphasis on the dirt)
I was going to try this new vegetarian restaurant called Dirt Candy that opened recently in Manhattan, until I read this article on the Huffington Post.
I did my homework on Amanda Cohen and found that she did in fact say those things and they weren't taken out of context.
With all the really non veg-friendly restaurants out there, it is sad to see someone who could possibly bring so much to a veg-friendly place instead using her voice to put a wedge between vegetarian and vegan eating. And especially between meat-eaters and veg*ns. I can understand wanting to attract a diverse crowd to your establishment and not being pigeon-holed as a "crazy vegetarian" place, but doing so by alienating what could potentially be a large number of your patrons is not only poor business but bad manners.
What I find most strange is that after putting down vegan restaurants who try to recreate non-vegan dishes, the menu at Dirt Candy says any of their dishes can be made vegan. How is adapting your vegetarian recipes to be vegan (somehow replacing all that cheese and cream and eggs you seem to revere) any different? I think if you are going to stand for something then you need to stick to that philosophy or get out of the kitchen (so to speak). If you don't want to be vegan-friendly, that's fine, just don't talk one thing but then try to do the other. You're not fooling any of us.
I did my homework on Amanda Cohen and found that she did in fact say those things and they weren't taken out of context.
With all the really non veg-friendly restaurants out there, it is sad to see someone who could possibly bring so much to a veg-friendly place instead using her voice to put a wedge between vegetarian and vegan eating. And especially between meat-eaters and veg*ns. I can understand wanting to attract a diverse crowd to your establishment and not being pigeon-holed as a "crazy vegetarian" place, but doing so by alienating what could potentially be a large number of your patrons is not only poor business but bad manners.
What I find most strange is that after putting down vegan restaurants who try to recreate non-vegan dishes, the menu at Dirt Candy says any of their dishes can be made vegan. How is adapting your vegetarian recipes to be vegan (somehow replacing all that cheese and cream and eggs you seem to revere) any different? I think if you are going to stand for something then you need to stick to that philosophy or get out of the kitchen (so to speak). If you don't want to be vegan-friendly, that's fine, just don't talk one thing but then try to do the other. You're not fooling any of us.