Good gravy indeed -- sorry about being too serious; those militant vegans can be pretty dern serious, and you caught me responding in kind.

By the way, white gravy -- at least, as served over biscuits in Texas -- is far from meatless. It's made outta fat ( skillet drippin's), if I'm not mistaken.

If I may, let me introduce some thread creep here:

Those vegetarians who are dictating your potluck menus -- are any of them chainsmokers? I've encountered this more than once in the past, and considser it the height of hypocrisy. After all, if you don't want to eat meat, you can pick and choose your selections from the buffet, but if you are offended by / allergic to secondhand tobacco smoke, there ain't a damn thing you can do about it.