[Green Leaves's Vegan Quesadilla is overloaded with casein according to tests]
Earlier this week Quarrygirl posted the findings of Operation Pancake, their investigation to determine whether LA-area vegan restaurants serve food containing casein, egg, or shellfish. With painstakingly careful testing, they found that selected dishes at seven out of 15 restaurants contained non-vegan ingredients.
The tests—true-to-life egg, casein, and shellfish testing kits that work kind of like pregnancy tests and are used in the food industry—offered five results: invalid, negative, positive, high, and overload. (The testing process is kind of complicated, so I suggest reading the blog for details.) The single restaurant whose food tested overload for anything is Green Leaves Vegan, where the quesadilla contains casein. Quarrygirl hilariously excerpts an image of the menu, which claims the quesadilla contains “casein-free (non-dairy) melted vegan cheese.”
Here’s a chart (via Quarrygirl) detailing the results:
While disappointed by the results, I can’t say I’m terribly surprised. Recall a time in December, when Rudy asked readers to call bullshit on restaurants that misrepresent non-vegan food as vegan. Reading his post, my first thought was of Quantum Leap, where the sauerkraut is laden with honey and the buns occasionally contain whey depending on the brand, reported my favorite (and ex-vegan) waitress. Le sigh. Is there no place for vegans to go where they don’t have to read every label or interrogate every employee? At least we have the 10 restaurants that passed Quarrygirl’s test.
Never having been to that most glorious fair-weather land, I don’t know any of these places. But I bet you do. So tell us, what does this mean to you? How will it affect your dining routine, if at all?
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