re the Madoff sitch, while feeling empathy for those involved…tough cookies. Enjoyed the free ride while it lasted, of that there is no doubt. I do think those feeder funds provided no discernable service for the sizable fees those entities received.

Is “bonkers” a good thing in the UK, or does it mean “deranged” to you, too? Because I’m not sure I follow. I’m a gleeful carnivore, but I don’t disparage the improtance of veganism to those who practice it. If a “Kosher” restaurant’s fare turned out to be tainted with shellfish, that would obviously be a problem, wouldn’t it?

So it’s bonkers to make sure that what a restaurant says it’s serving is what it is actually serving? Forget the whole “vegan as a lifestyle angle.” Ever heard of food allergies? I would think so, considering you’re supposedly in the news business (which is what your blog on Reuters would lead people to believe), but perhaps I’m mistaken about that.

I’m not vegan (though I am vegetarian) and I don’t have any life-threatening food allergies, but there is nothing wrong with people wanting to know what’s in the food they’re eating. Unless, of course, you happen to like ingesting melamine.

Actually, as a vegan I found the article fascinating and a little scary. It made me realize that what I am assuming is vegan may not be. As the other posters said, THIS IS IMPORTANT.

First, there is the food allergies issue.
Second, there is a pure “truth in advertising” issue.
Third, there should not be a different standard for say a kosher deli serving non-kosher food vs a vegan restaurant serving non-vegan food.

Great blog overall, but a wrong call here I am afraid.

Even as a non-vegan (a.k.a. ‘normal’), I found the article fascinating. It was an insanely devoted expose to a small special interest that you can only find on a blog as it would never survive unedited in print. Not totally unlike some of the stuff that you write about…

C’mon – surely you shouldn’t decry one of your own!

Agree with all about truth in advertising and why treat it differently than Kosher, Halal, etc.

That said, it seems bonkers to you because never was there a diet more perfectly suited to be marketed to people with OCD, which perhaps you don’t have. Every Vegan I’ve met very clearly getting way more satisfaction from obsessing over their food choices than the many actual benefits there may be to Veganism. Just sayin.