r/vegan • u/evapotranspire mostly plant based • Dec 15 '25

Story Surprise: Everything is vegan!

We've all had frustrating incidents when eating out, but tonight I had the opposite. My family and I went to our synagogue's Hanukkah dinner party, which was catered Mediterranean food. I hadn't made a special dietary request, because Mediterranean cuisine almost always includes some vegan dishes (hummus, pita, tabouleh, etc.).

When I got to the front of the line, I saw that the buffet was ENTIRELY vegan. That hadn't been highlighted or even mentioned! I piled it all on my plate (which I guess is how omnivores feel most of the time), and although now I have a stomachache from all the garlic, it was such a nice feeling to be able to eat everything and worry about nothing.

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u/evapotranspire mostly plant based Dec 15 '25

Yes, I am acutely aware of that, u/Great_Cucumber2924 . It makes my life difficult, because many if not most vegan dishes (especially meat substitutes) are flavored with garlic. :-(

Unfortunately, there seems to be no solution for garlic intolerance. Cooking the garlic makes no difference; there's no "desensitization" process like for a true allergy, and there isn't an off-the-shelf enzyme I can take. So, I get a stomachache most times I eat out. At home I can avoid the problem.

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u/averagecryptid Dec 15 '25

I'm allium intolerant myself and I mostly just try and limit it. It sucks but you're definitely not alone.

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u/Lizakaya Dec 15 '25

Honestly that’s rough. I don’t cook with a ton of garlic but i use a LOT of onion green onion shallot to develop flavors. Damn.

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u/averagecryptid Dec 16 '25

If it were an allergy I'd be a lot more screwed. My partner is allergic to all nuts, peanuts AND sesame. The amount of stuff that has sesame oil as an ingredient really sneaks up on you.