Ordering Food at Work

One of the biggest challenges I've faced in my transition to veganism has been the work dinner order. On late evenings spent at work, one of the nice perks of my job is that you can be reimbursed for your dinner. There are even several local restaurants that accept your business card in lieu of payment and they will bill my employer directly.  When many people are staying late, the support staff will put in one order for everyone at one of these places and pick it up so that you barely even have to leave your desk (... so helpful ...).  While sometimes it can be difficult to find a vegetarian item on the menu, it's even harder to find a vegan option.  But I thought I'd managed it yesterday when I ordered a poached pear salad with no cheese.  Here's the description:

 

Baby spinach, bleu cheese, red onions, dried mixed fruit, candied cayenne pumpkin seeds, roasted pears with a grilled peach vinaigrette.

 

Sounds delicious, right?  Even without the cheese, this one would be a winner.  Unfortunately, when the delivery arrived, there was the blue cheese, all over the top of the salad.  Whomp whomp.

 

What to do?  It would be totally obnoxious to send the support staff out to get me a new salad.  And just throwing away the cheesed salad doesn't help the cow in any way.  I wouldn't be able to get every bit of cheese off the salad, but I also am not far enough into this transition for it to make me sick.  Ultimately, I got as much off as I could and chowed down.  (I also took off the red onion because yuck!) 

 

So I guess I've drawn one line for now: if the damage is done, I can minimize what I ingest, and the alternative is to be completely obnoxious about it, just go with it ...  This might not be the line every time, but apparently that's where it falls late on a weeknight when I'm stuck at work and hungry. 

 

P.S. I realize those pumpkin seeds might have seen some butter in the candy-ing process.  Line number two: when you don't have a choice about where to eat, if all we're talking about is a hint of butter that only may or may not have been involved, just go with it.  Make the stand at home or when I have more say in the eating options.