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Thanks Danielle for the heads up on this. Sucks you had to learn the hard way. This is the reason more actual vegans/vegetarians need to open restaurants!
This is what Danielle wrote:
"I didn't know where else to post this so I'll do it here. This weekend I went to Sweet Basil, a Thia restaurant on NE Broadway for some take-out. They advertise special vegan sauces if you want them so you'd think they knew what vegan meant. You would be wrong. We orded a bunch of to-go food, including a special curry, all VEGAN of course (we said that and we said the typical no-fish sauce right?) A kid brought us the order and told us he noticed everything on the ticket said "VEGAN" but the only curry they can actually make vegan is the yellow one because all the others have shrimp paste in them! He said the ingredients are clearly on all the other curries in the kitchen (I guess they aren't fresh then...?) We told him we'd like the vegan one instead and that we appreciated him telling us, also if he could tell the kitchen that shrimp paste is not vegan! I think I'm going to call and talk with the manager about it as well. Just a warning for anyone who goes there, also at other Thai restaurants, maybe add "shrimp paste" to your list of things you ask about. Sorry thi is so long.
whoa, and sorry about all the typos!"

posted by Food Fight! Vegan Grocery # 11:30 AM

Comments:

If only there were an all vegetarian Thai restaurant in Portland.

# posted by Anonymous : 4:00 PM

there is! vege thai on hawthorne. just make sure you ask if the fake meat they have in stock is vegan or not. sometimes it is, sometimes it's not.

# posted by Food Fight! Vegan Grocery : 4:15 PM

I've noticed that most Thai restaurants use pre-packaged curry paste (at least the cheap ones I would go to, maybe the more expensive ones make it fresh). Mae Ploy is a common paste, I've noticed that the same Mae Ploy product will sometimes have different labels, on one label it will say "shrimp paste" and on some it says "condiment". The yellow curry paste by Mae Ploy has neither, so I'm assuming that it is safe. But, assuming something is vegan isn't a very safe assumption, ever.

# posted by Anonymous : 5:58 PM

Did Vege Thai do anything about the betta fish in tiny vases yet? Anyone know? That really bothers me. Bettas can be in "relatively" small containers, but not tiny vases where they can't even stretch the whole length of their bodies out. That's just cruel. They need a couple gallons at least, and they were in maybe a couple cups of water last I saw.

# posted by Anonymous : 7:08 PM

i haven't noticed any fish when i've been in over the last year or so.

# posted by lauren : 7:20 PM

They were/are? high up on the ledge above the last booth to the right (that is, if you walked in and went to your right and went to the last booth that you could go to). The booth is in a private little alcove. You have to be in the bench to the right to look up and see them on the dividing ledge between the booth and the work/employee space. I said something to them but haven't been back to see if anything was done. This was in the last maybe 6 months They should know better.

# posted by Anonymous : 7:41 PM

NEVER trust a meateater with your own vegan purity. Either they don't care, or the're too fucking stupid to know the difference (You mean whey isn't vegan?!?!) This is why FF is so fucking awesome. No worries about anything, and if you opened a resturant, I'd let you shovel the food right into my mouth without ever asking you to go read the label in the kitchen, or anything!

# posted by Anonymous : 9:17 PM

i've never seen betas in anything other than small little fishbowls. small, as in the size of a softball. fish lose their memory every 10 seconds, i heard.

# posted by k : 12:11 AM

oh man, I'm too tired to do the research to respond to the last post. But let me say: no, a bowl the size of a softball is too small. Research bettas and you will see this is considered cruelty. And no, they do not lose their memory every 10 seconds. The research is that they actually have VERY LONG memories - something like the equivalent of a 40 year memory for humans, for small details like directions. Maybe I'll get back to this with some articles tomorrow night, but you are badly misinformed. It is typical for humans to underestimate the ability and sentience of animals, because they don't understand them. Don't spread the misinformation around that allows humans to feel o.k. about animal abuse.

# posted by Anonymous : 1:52 AM

lame!

# posted by Webly : 10:00 AM

I'm not vegan myself but my girl friend is allergic to all seafood. So finding true vegan products for my girlfriend is more a matter of life or death. Can anyone 100% confirm that Mae Ploy Curry Pastes don't have any Fish Sauce or Shrimp Paste in them? Finding out the hard way means a trip to the hospital...

# posted by Anonymous : 9:29 PM

Sunday, June 18, 2006

Don't trust Sweet Basil's "vegan" sauces!

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