Dear Olive Garden,
My name is Michael Doss, and I’ve been a vegetarian for 14 years. In that time I’ve enjoyed your restaurant many times, and find your vegetarian selection as good as most chain restaurants.
About a year ago I decided to maintain a vegan diet while dining out, and my choices at your restaurant have gone from “simple” to “confusing.” The following is from your website:
Which menu selections are vegetarian?
A few of our menu items can be adjusted to accommodate a vegan or vegetarian diet, but none wholly meet the criteria. Depending on your personal philosophy, we can suggest the following items as meatless, but not necessarily vegetarian or vegan…
I’m not sure what that even means, but it’s the only hit on your entire website for “vegetarian” or “vegan.” In one paragraph you not only further confused me about your vegan options, but made me doubt your vegetarian choices. I realize you don’t want to give your recipes away, but letting folks know what items have meat, eggs or dairy products doesn’t seem that tough to me.
Remember, if you don’t provide this information to your customers, the collective minds of the internet will make it up for you. In a quick search today I’ve learned your salad dressing has anchovies, your soups all have a chicken stock base, your pastas all have egg, and some or all of your sauces have chicken stock, cheese, or both.
Is all of that untrue? Probably. However, without an official response or ingredient listing on your website, there’s no way for me — or other vegetarians and vegans — to know. So instead of going to your restaurant, we’ll head somewhere else, with our entire party of meat eaters — it only takes one person with a special diet to change a party’s plans.
I look forward to hearing back from you on this issue, as do my readers.
Michael Doss
The Liberal Atheist Vegetarian
www.ocregister.com/lav
