I have met two vegans. I felt sorry for them. One I had known for years, the other was her boyfriend. They were at a Southern Protestant Church Luncheon. I think they might have found one thing that didn't have animal products. The corn had cream and butter. The beans all had pork products. The desserts were all made with eggs and milk or cream.I wasn't. I wasn't judging all American chefs at all. I was just reporting what happened on that forum. In fact, there is a lot of prejudice here in the UK against vegetarianism (although that is changing). Many restaurants only offer one vegetarian option on their menu and there are plenty of folks here who wouldn't dream of eating a vegetarian meal.
As I said in my follow up post:
Re pescetarians - my daughter is one - they are not vegetarians. Vegetarians are not vegans either. Personally, I think veganism is a much more difficult thing to achieve and I also find it illogical (from a moral stand point - I'm not talking about those who are vegan because of allergies). So you see, I'm prejudiced against veganism!
I think the salad was the only thing that didn't have a meat product in it.