Half-vegetarian

The cafeteria at my workplace is now open! The cooking staff seem to be all from Turkey and the food, it has been promised, will be MUCH better than what can be obtained from ordering it from the 'tea boys'. As there are at least three vegetarian members of staff, it has also been promised that there will be a half-vegetarian option each day. After all, the kitchen manager claims to be a half-vegetarian himself. Now you might be wondering what this 'half-vegetarian' means? Some people go 'half-vegetarian' and eat no red meat, but still consume chicken, fish and eggs. And R thought that maybe it meant that it was food for people with one vegetarian parent and one non-vegetarian parent. Both NOT the case! As it turns out, 'half-vegetarian' means regular menu items with HALF THE MEAT! So on Wednesday, there was lamajun (an Arabic snack conisting of nan spread with sauce and minced lamb - the 1/2-veg version had more spice and half the lamb). On Thursday, there was rice, bread, and salad with an option of 2 entres: eggplant stuffed with beef or green beans cooked with half the usual chunks of meat.

Anyway, I should now apologize for calling the 'tea boys' tea boys. They have names; R & R (not standing for rest and relaxation)! We just call them 'tea boys' because on first arrival, it seems like all they did at work was run around collecting stray tea cups, smoke, teach us random words in Kurdish and wear tight pants.