This Haunts Me: The Single-Slice Banana Dessert
Of all sad vegan meals, this has to be one of the most pathetic.
While the fast food industry has made strides in accommodating vegan customers, the dessert world leaves quite a bit to be desired.
Just take it from a Twitter user named Yasmin, who went out for her birthday dinner only to receive an extremely anticlimactic treat to close out the night. "I went out for my birthday and I'm vegan so they gave me a single slice of banana instead of cake," she captioned, attaching a photo of the hilariously desolate plate. Sure enough, the restaurant gave her a single sliver of a banana, topped with one candle and a haphazardly-scribed "Happy Birthday" in chocolate syrup.
For nearly a year, I adhered to a fully vegan diet and never encountered anything quite as humiliating as this pathetic excuse for a treat (although I did have french fries for dinner on a few occasions). But it somehow gets worse; Yazmin followed up the travesty with an account of her actual birthday, on which she went to Olive Garden and was given a plate. Just a plate. No banana slice.
Believe it or not, Yazmin isn't alone. As the tweet went viral, fellow vegans of the Internet began responding with similar stories of miserable desserts, including but not limited to: a cup of ice with a cherry on top, a half-peeled orange with a candle, and a "fruit salad" of just two grapes and one strawberry.
This is especially baffling to me considering that vegan desserts aren't nearly as difficult as you may think. Although these restaurants should be applauded for at least trying to accommodate, baked goods free of animal byproducts are easier than they seem, as a user named @QueenDorkula pointed out.
But even if these restaurants don't have the means to create special vegan desserts, Oreos are vegan. At least give the lady a damn cookie (they're cheaper than bananas these days, anyway).