I thought I would post this email I sent out to those who have bet against me.
From: Tim Crockett
Sent: Wed 9/26/2007 6:21 PM
To: Greg Long; Raazi Imam; Ben Brown; Chris Cook; Alex Smith; Ryan Lynch
Subject: Appeal for RulingGentlemen,
In the interest of full disclosure on our bet I'm letting you know about a possible lapse on my part in the vegan diet. Hopefully you will agree with me that this doesn't count as a violation of my six week pledge.
Last night I did some shopping at Safeway and took about an hour and a half to buy $40 worth of groceries. The reason for this is that I had to scrutinize the ingredients on everything I bought, even things you would never expect to have dairy in them. I'm finding out that even things like Tofu-burgers aren't vegan friendly. Nearly the entire frozen vegetarian section was off-limits, as were most cereals, cookies, and chips. I read the ingredients of almost everything. I agonized over ingredient list and finally made some purchases that I thought were safe.
Then I went home and the first thing I ate from that trip turned out to contain a milk product.
Quick quiz: If you were in the frozen food section and you saw these two products sitting side by side, which would you thing would contain a dairy product?
The correct answer is "both". If you notice on the soy product there's a little disclaimer that says "Contains Milk Protein". I didn't notice at the time, all I saw was the much larger "Soy" and "Lactose Free". I thought I read the ingredient list in the store, but apparently not, because it appears there too:
Notice the big text emphasizes the lactose-free qualities but the ingredient list contains "Caseinate - A Milk Derived Protein".
I didn't notice any of this, until I'd already eaten the "Mac and Cheeze" for lunch and was taking a picture of the box to post a food review of it on my website. That's when I saw the "Contains Milk Protein" and had an oh-shit moment.
I think this falls within the "reasonability" clause of our agreement, in my opinion it's unreasonable for a third-day vegan to suspect that a product from a prominent vegetarian-food company that proudly advertises itself as a soy, lactose-alternative food would contain a dairy product in it. I also think that it would be really shitty to lose the bet on nine ounces of yellow sludge:
I think that stuff was the "yellow cake uranium" that they accused Saddam Hussein of buying.
But I leave it up to your discretion. If you think this is an unforgivable breach, I'll gladly cut a check and make tracks over to Arby's. Keep in mind if the bet ends you won't be getting any more entertaining website updates, and there's still a very high chance of me losing the bet in a more spectacular manner later on. It's only day 3, after all.
Tim
P.S. My next email is an irate missive to Amy's Kitchen, Inc.
Luckily they were understanding of the situation. The challenge continues!