A vegetarian woman has vented her frustrations online after she made a meat-free dish for a party she was going to and ended up facing the wrath of her friends for not preparing meat.
Explaining her story on Reddit, the woman said she and her work colleagues were holding a potluck where everyone was tasked with bringing one dish - and as a vegetarian, she was bringing a homemade cheese dip with some tortilla crisps.
But after one of her co-workers had to drop out of the event, she was asked to pick up a second dish to cover the missing attendee, who was supposed to bring pulled pork.
And even though the woman told her colleagues several times that she was vegetarian and therefore wouldn't be touching pork, they didn't listen, so she went ahead and made a meat-free alternative using jackfruit instead.
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In her post, she explained: "I’m a vegetarian. Ion’t really eat meat, so I don’t ever buy meat. My place of work was having a little potluck with sandwiches, nachos, dips, etc.
"I was put in charge of making a queso dip and bringing tortilla chips, as I’m a vegetarian and not vegan so I still eat dairy.
"The person who was in charge of the pulled pork for the sandwiches cancelled the day prior and no one else wanted to step up and bring something extra, so everyone asked me to make the pulled pork.
"I don’t eat meat, nor cook meat, so I agreed but reminded them I’m a vegetarian and don’t even buy or eat meat so it wouldn’t be real meat. So I make a jackfruit pulled 'pork' for the sandwiches, and reminded them it isn’t pork."
The woman's colleagues tucked into the jackfruit just fine, but when she went to make herself a plate of the tasty meat-free alternative, they realised what they were eating and immediately "flipped out".
She added: "Everyone ate them just fine and enjoyed them until I made myself a plate and everyone asked why I was eating pork. I reminded them 'it isn’t pork. It’s jackfruit'. Everyone proceeded to get angry and flip out that I brought 'fruit covered in BBQ sauce' for their sandwiches.
"Honestly, I feel pretty annoyed and just told them not to eat it, but they seemed entirely offended and shocked that the vegetarian brought a vegetarian dish after begging them to bring it."
People in the comments were baffled by her co-workers' reactions, with many saying they seemed to only be angry because they weren't expecting to enjoy a veggie dish.
One person said: "It’s a potluck, you bring whatever you want. I bet they’re mad they ate it and liked it."
While another added: "You gave them ample warning. If they didn’t want a vegetarian dish, then they could have made it themselves."
And a third posted: "You told them more than once that it wasn't meat. It's absurd to ask a vegetarian to bring the pulled pork anyway! They were probably just embarrassed at how much they liked the jackfruit."
But others were sceptical of the poster's honesty, as some said they don't believe people would have been fooled into believing jackfruit was real pork.
Someone wrote: "This isn't real. The jackfruit substitute for pulled pork tastes good, but nobody would ever mistake it for actual meat. Especially not an entire room full of people, and especially not after you specifically told them what you would be bringing."
As someone else asked: "Your colleagues couldn’t tell the difference between jack fruit and pulled pork? What witchcraft is this?"
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