Can a vegan go into anaphylactic shock if...

Can a vegan go into anaphylactic shock if they have a pat of butter, or the grease from bacon / a burger?

I know that they can get sick if they suddenly are introduced to certain foods, but going into anaphylactic shock..

also: if they have a serious sensitivity to certain foods, shouldn't they let the waiter/waitress know when they place their order, especially if it's in a place like a diner?


Edit: asking because a woman told me this on my last night as a waitress. Her daughter ate meat And dairy. Ive seen parents not eat eggs, nuts or dairy in fear of forgetting and kissing their children.

I'm no vegan or vegan expert, but our bodies are built to handle meat/meat products, so wouldn't have thought beacon/burger grease would harm them unless they have allergies to it.

a reply to: oblivvious

Can a vegan go into anaphylactic shock if they have a pat of butter, or the grease from bacon / a burger?

No probably not, from such a small amount. But anything you're body is not used to can cause a reaction if you consume too much of it, all at once.

What are you afraid of in that regard, leftover grease on some cooking surface?

a reply to: oblivvious

Anaphalactic shock is triggered by an allergy to protein. A pat of butter has no protein. Therefore, no anaphalactic shock.

Goat grease may be contaminated by a protein but you would have to first be allergic to goat.

Tired of control freaks

I would think yes.

Back in the 1990's McDonalds started opening up stores in India. Understanding the culture, they used fish sandwiches instead of beef patties. However, they forgot to change the fries which are beef flavored. Nobody even realized this until people in India started getting violently sick from the fries. McD's quickly apologized and fixed the fries and thus eliminated the problem. (Well other than putting McDonalds in even more countries)

Thus I would reason that if the mere flavor of beef could effect people who don't eat beef, then actual meat by-products could effect people who don't eat meat.

But you also mentioned vegetarians eating butter. To my understanding vegetarians eat animal by-products (i.e. milk, butter, and eggs) so they would already eat butter anyway. Vegans on the other hand are the hard-liners who won't even eat the by-products, it was explained to me (in-depth) by a vegan that they are the purists while vegetarians only are half-hearted about the whole thing. While at the same time, a vegetarian friend of mine told me she ate the animal by-products because they didn't contribute to hurting the animals.

So, take from it what you will.

also: if they have a serious sensitivity to certain foods, shouldn't they let the waiter/waitress know when they place their order, especially if it's in a place like a diner?

Sorry left out this part.

Most people I know who have allergies research a restaurant before going to it or at least ask the waitress or manager about food prep prior to ordering in order to be on the safe side.

As far as liability is concerned, it is actually on the consumer since this is something that waiters and restaurateurs cannot know in advance. However, at the same time many restaurants still list common allergens that are in their food for CYA reasons.

a reply to: oblivvious

I was vegan for about eight years, and when i had a good stake for the first time, it got me high as a kite, it was awesome!

a reply to: oblivvious

Hmm... I'll add something, though I don't know if it'll help much.

I've been a vegetarian for the last 5 & a half years. And before that, I would go several months without specific meats. Well, one time I'd gone several months without beef (I want to say 3-6 months). Then I ate what was once one of my favorite kinds of beef: a Thickburger from Hardee's (-drools-). Needless to say, that was one of the worse culinary mistakes I've ever made.

For about the next 36hrs or so, the grease or beef continuously messed my stomach up. I won't go into the unsavory details, but it was almost as bad as the time I got food poisoning. As in, my stomach purged everything in it and in every way possible. It pissed me off so much that I went another week or so before trying beef again. That 2nd time had a lot milder reaction, though there was still a reaction.

Another time, I'd gone several months without seafood. So the next time I tried my favorite seafood (battered shrimp and fish fillets), it messed my stomach up too. But it wasn't nearly as bad as the beef reaction. Over time, I've concluded that it's probably the grease because even now, greasy foods like french fries and onion rings upset my stomach. They didn't do that before. But who knows.

Sorry to be so long winded. But I can definitely vouch that if you go a long time without certain foods, the reintroduction of them can suck. lol Of course, everyone's body is different so the reactions may vary.

a reply to: enlightenedservant

moral of the story . . . take it sloooow

a reply to: oblivvious

being a vegan = a lifestyle choice NOT a medical condition

a reply to: JDeLattre89

Great post! It sounds like they went through the same beef reaction that I had. So I guess it's not that uncommon after all?

And yeah, many vegetarians eat any animal byproduct that doesn't contribute to hurting animals. In fact, I'm technically not a "vegetarian". I simply don't want to harm animals, and therefore, won't eat anything that contributes to the killing or harm of animals. Obviously that includes their bodyparts, hence me being labeled a "vegetarian".

It also means I don't eat fertilized eggs, since they would grow into a lifeform. I do eat unfertilized chicken eggs though, since they won't develop into anything.

originally posted by: JDeLattre89
a reply to: enlightenedservant

moral of the story . . . take it sloooow

I think so lol.

a reply to: oblivvious

anaphalyxis is a severe allergic reaction. Its not caused by eating proteins that your biome is unfamiliar with.

So, unless someone is allergic to what is in that pat of butter....not.

Here's a question.
Can a vegan go into anaphylactic shock from eating a peanut?
Or a tree nut?

Being Vegetarian makes you stronger, not weaker.

a reply to: oblivvious

No, they cannot...unless they have an allergy to one of those things already. Anaphylaxis is not common, and it is caused by an acute, overwhelming allergic response.

It strikes without warning and can kill a person within minutes; they lose their primary airway and suffocate, and brain tissue begins to die rapidly from oxygen starvation. A couple of years ago there was a case where a teenager died minutes after kissing her boyfriend, who had proteins from peanut residue on his lips...which she was fatally allergic to. That was anaphylaxis.

It is a life threatening condition that cannot be reversed without immediate emergency medical intervention. And if a person is lucky enough to survive it the first time, it is unlikely that they would live through another exposure to the same agent...anaphylaxis is the most severe allergic response next to death, which soon follows without access to IV drugs and an emergency tracheotomy to provide airway access and a ventilator or bag to artificially breathe for the victim.

People throw the term around casually, because it's a big medical word and sounds important...such as in a case where a restaurant patron is trying to intimidate the wait staff. But being a vegan and suddenly eating butter or bacon grease is not going to cause a life threatening allergic response. At most, it'll cause severe gastric upset...which is never fun, but rarely becomes a deadly threat to the sufferer. That is simply a sensitivity to the fats in those particular foods...which can happen to carnivores too, if they don't routinely consume them.

It is possible to develop a sudden allergy to a previously eaten food or other substance, because many different things share the same biological components. Latex, for example, shares protein strands with bananas and melon, among other very common things, so they can cause the same reaction.

If your customer had severe allergy to something that shares the building blocks of both butter and pork, she would have already been told to avoid those foods completely. No one with a shred of gray matter would be stupid enough to take that risk and eat in an establishment knowing that those items are on the menu.


If she had ever suffered a near death experience by an anaphylactic reaction to butter and bacon, she wouldn't have even thought about eating at a place that routinely serves those foods...nor would she be so cavalier about it. No, she was just parroting something she read on the internet and using it to get her the special treatment that she was seeking. That actually IS a common condition, unfortunately.

a reply to: JDeLattre89

Yes, but there is a real difference between that type of illness and actual anaphylactic shock.

What those people in India experienced was likely something more along the lines of the same sort of illness through revulsion you or I might experience when we see another get violently ill and have to somehow interact with it. Maybe you are different, but that always makes me feel sick.

Half my life as a vegetarian, I eat fake meat products, not because I "crave" them as some people think, but it's just another food product to choose from.

In ancient China, the monks developed a menu of mock meat entrees to convert the Emperor to vegetarian practice. I wish I could be more specific, but they are common, like General Tso's Chicken....but it's seitan.

Just that meat flavor in itself won't make someone sick.

a reply to: FlyingFox

I didn't say it was the flavor.

If you believe you are violating sacred precept, it's repulsive. It's the feeling of revulsion upon realizing what you ate.

Imagine being a Muslim or Jew and discovering that you were accidentally fed a hot dog with pork in it. They might become violently ill, not because the pork actually makes them physically sick, but through psychosomatic illness. The mental realization makes them ill.



Or there is this - Kari is a vegetarian. And for this test, they wanted to see the effects of fear. She is not being made ill in a real sense. It is a psychosomatic response created by revulsion. The idea of eating a living thing repelled her that much.

I have a similar reaction to liquid medications.

a reply to: intrptr

It's not something I'm afraid of personally, but a customer on my last night as a waitress made me go back to the kitchen to see if any animal by-product or what have you was in contact with her food.. She told me she'd go into anaphylactic shock if she had any butter or meat