I was at my friend's house today, and I stayed a bit later than expected so we could work on something. While I was there, her mom made dinner. My friend is a bivalvegan, so her mom made something called kimchi (which I haven't heard about until today), which is some veggie thing that she made with oysters. She asked if I wanted any without oysters, but I said that it was ok and I'd just eat dinner at home.
She made it anyway, though, which I thought was really nice, but it tasted... Fishy (see what I did there). I mean, there's no way there wasn't oyster in that, whether unintentional or knowingly put in. Seafood has a very distinct flavor.
It was spicy, so I kind of used that as on out from eating it, which works because I'm white.
I didn't accuse her of anything, because I didn't want to accuse her if it wasn't true and insult her. But... I mean, really? Maybe she thought it wasn't a big deal because I said I saw nothing wrong with eating oysters, but that I just don't personally do it. But obviously it should be enough just to say I don't eat oysters, and I didn't pressure her to make me anything.
Looking back, it was probably cross-contamination. She probably used the same pan to make mine that she used to make the kimchi with oyster, so it had oyster juice, or something. I mean, I have a hard time believing she'd intentionally give me oysters.
What do you guys think? And what do you do in situations like that, where you're not sure if food someone made you isn't vegan and that the person possibly made it that way knowingly?
Fishy Situation
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Fishy Situation
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Re: Fishy Situation
I'm sure she made it for you without oysters, but kimchi itself normally contains fish sauce.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kimchi
You can make kimchi without fish sauce, but it takes days to ferment, and very few people actually make their own kimchi. They buy it from an international store which imports it or (sometimes) makes it there. She probably just didn't realize that the kimchi itself contained fish, or didn't think it was important because it was just sauce or a small amount of anchovy paste and not whole pieces.
You can usually trust people's intentions, but not their competence and knowledge.
Getting out of it due to the spice was a good call.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kimchi
Vegan kimchi is uncommon.The most common seasonings include brine, scallions, spices, ginger, chopped radish, garlic, saeujeot (새우젓, shrimp sauce), eoriguljeot (어리굴젓, oyster sauce), and aekjeot (액젓, fish sauce).
You can make kimchi without fish sauce, but it takes days to ferment, and very few people actually make their own kimchi. They buy it from an international store which imports it or (sometimes) makes it there. She probably just didn't realize that the kimchi itself contained fish, or didn't think it was important because it was just sauce or a small amount of anchovy paste and not whole pieces.
You can usually trust people's intentions, but not their competence and knowledge.
Getting out of it due to the spice was a good call.
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Re: Fishy Situation
I'm actually going to Korean Barbeque this week. I didn't know kimchi wasn't usually vegan, I assumed it was just cabbage.
Thanks!
Thanks!
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Re: Fishy Situation
You'd probably know pretty quickly, since it tastes like fish, otherwise it's sort of spicy sauerkraut.Cirion Spellbinder wrote:I'm actually going to Korean Barbeque this week. I didn't know kimchi wasn't usually vegan, I assumed it was just cabbage.
Thanks!
I don't know if you'd be able to tell from smelling it. It's a safe bet that it's fish, though. I wouldn't take the risk of putting it in my mouth.
Been there/done that with other things and it wasn't fun.
Beyond meat has a meal that has vegan kimchi in it, though. It may not be as uncommon as I assume.