I went to lunch today with a group of people from work. The pub down the road is nice enough to allow us to book our meals before hand so that we don't overrun our lunch break into working hours. This means that we all look at a menu and pick what we want from it up to 2 days in advance.
There is one person (I won't name them and will hereto refer to them in the same way) who ordered a jacket potato with cheese and chilli.
When the waiter was collecting the plates this person took the opportunity to ask him if his meal contained any meat.
"It's chilli..." He says.
"Yes, but does it have any meat in it?"
"Yes. It's mince meat. That's what chilli is."
"Oh..."
This person thought that chilli would be chili as in the hot pepper things, not chilli as in chilli con carne. After learning it contained meat they went to the toilet and, well, lets just say that they "un-ate" or "de-consumed" it.
I don't blame them for not seeing the difference as they are from a different culture and therefore wouldn't necessarily know about this difference. Although I would have asked for clarification before I started eating it. I found the fact that they un-ate it a little odd. Even though I am not vegetarian, if I was I wouldn't make myself sick just because I had accidentally eaten meat.
My position is that I eat meat, but I always treat it with respect. After an animal gave its life to feed me I make sure that it isn't wasted. When I buy some I make sure that it always gets eaten, even if that means that some vegetable goes off waiting for me to eat it.
So I found this a little disrespectful to the animal, regardless of this person's belief.
What would you do?