I was staying at a hotel in the south of France once for two weeks (I was working for a big software company at the time, and they'd sent me to their French site) and the staff comprehended I was vegetarian, but didn't change the menu or offer to do me anything special (by their way of thinking, if I didn't like to eat the delicious animals they prepared, that was my problem). Of course the vegetarian food that was available on their menu was delicious, especially the omelettes.
They always did one special dish each evening that was different from the main menu, and of course this was usually no good to me - roast duck, roast pork, roast lamb, etc.
But one evening as I came in I saw that the dish of the day was Aioli, and I practically whimpered with delight. I have made aioli - Elizabeth David provides a very followable recipe - but it's a lot of work. I knew from background reading (and I could see on other people's tables) that they would supply both fish and vegetables to be eaten with aioli, so I asked (my French is terrible) for aioli sans poissons, juste légumes.
The waiter asked twice did I mean "juste légumes" and I assured him I did, and that's what I got: just the vegetables. No aioli. When I protested, I got a little tiny bowl. When I finished that (it was heaven) in five minutes, I got a proper-sized bowl. I think they thought I liked boring food: but the aioli was so good I couldn't bear to leave a drop.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
branchandroot
(no subject)
Date: 2005-07-30 10:31 pm (UTC)They always did one special dish each evening that was different from the main menu, and of course this was usually no good to me - roast duck, roast pork, roast lamb, etc.
But one evening as I came in I saw that the dish of the day was Aioli, and I practically whimpered with delight. I have made aioli - Elizabeth David provides a very followable recipe - but it's a lot of work. I knew from background reading (and I could see on other people's tables) that they would supply both fish and vegetables to be eaten with aioli, so I asked (my French is terrible) for aioli sans poissons, juste légumes.
The waiter asked twice did I mean "juste légumes" and I assured him I did, and that's what I got: just the vegetables. No aioli. When I protested, I got a little tiny bowl. When I finished that (it was heaven) in five minutes, I got a proper-sized bowl. I think they thought I liked boring food: but the aioli was so good I couldn't bear to leave a drop.