E-Paper
‘I was so hangry’: Indian woman left out at US office lunch for being vegetarian
A San Francisco-based Indian woman has expressed her disappointment after being excluded at a work event due to her being a vegetarian.
A San Francisco-based Indian woman has expressed her disappointment after being excluded at a work event due to her dietary preferences. Runjhun Misra – better known by her internet moniker ‘The Wicked Vegetarian’ – said that she was excited when her workplace informed employees not to bring lunch as food would be provided in office the following day. However, when the time came, Runjhun was angry and disappointed to learn that there was not a single vegetarian option available for her.
In an Instagram video, she spoke about the struggles that Indian vegetarians face abroad.
No vegetarian options at work lunch
“Raise your hand if you’ve ever gone hungry at a work event,” the San Francisco-based woman said in her video, before cheekily raising her own hand.
“So yesterday I was told ‘Don’t bring lunch because we are providing lunch for everyone’. And I was so excited,” she explained in her Instagram video.
“So finally I walk in and I see this huge array of sandwiches,” said Runjhun, who is a physician and medical news correspondent. The sandwiches – of which there were more than 60 different varieties – included halal, kosher and even gluten-free options.
However, Runjhun was disappointed when she asked for a vegetarian sandwich and learned there weren’t any. “There was silence. There was complete silence,” she revealed when she asked for a vegetarian sandwich.
The physician noted how the caterers had thoughtfully provided halal, gluten-free, and kosher sandwiches, but nobody thought of adding a vegetarian option.
Hangry and irritated
Eventually, she was told that she could make a vegetarian sandwich. “What they meant is what they always mean: you can take a meat sandwich and carefully peel back all the layers of meat that have been juiced into that sandwich and make it vegetarian,” said the visibly irritated influencer.
“That doesn’t make me want to eat a vegetarian sandwich. It makes me want to vomit,” she said, adding that “this happens all the time” with her.
She questioned why vegetarians are not even an afterthought, giving further examples of not being able to find plant-based foods.
You can watch the full video here.
While sharing her video on Instagram, Runjhun wrote: “I walked out so disappointed that they felt bad and offered to go grab me something after an hour but by then I had already ordered myself lunch bc i was so hangry.”
In the comments section, many commiserated with her and said they had faced similar problems.
“I feel like vegetarian should be the norm and then you can add meat and cheese if you want. So much more inclusive that way!” wrote one person. “At my old corporate job, they would always order a vegetarian sandwich for me, but I would never find it. I found out later that my coworker would take it and throw it away before I could get to it,” another person commented.
