Hi /c/vegan,
I just picked up tacos from some cheap Mexican place. They don’t really do anything to cater to vegans but in the past, they basically just gave me extra rice and beans and removed any cheese, cream, or meat.
Today I ordered and they put sour cream on it. I know that this place doesn’t have a vegan sour cream, so it was a mistake.
For a second I thought I wouldn’t eat it, but I got in a moral debate in my head and decided that at this point, the damage is already done, and I tried my best to scrape off all the sour cream and ate the tacos.
Obviously I still consumed a decent bit of sour cream which makes me sad, but I don’t know, I couldn’t see it being more moral to not eat it. And I don’t want to call them back and harass some minimum wage workers about it either, since they’ve gotten it correct in the past.
TL;DR: Cheap takeout had sour cream in it, would you scrape it off and still eat it? Throw it away? Demand a refund?
It all depends on why you are a vegan. If you are trying to minimize harm, will discarding the sour cream reduce the harm? In this case no, so I say eat it. Personally I find it worse to just toss it because then it is also a waste. Will not being more careful in the future to be sure they get your order right cause harm? Potentially. I’d put your effort there… Kindly.
If it is for health reasons, you have to weigh the potential damage of eating it. For most people the risk is small and scraping it off would be fine. For a severe allergy, that wouldn’t be sufficient.
Trust yourself. There are a ton of people who will tell you how to live and they will never all agree. If you are going to disappoint someone no matter what you might as well follow your heart.