help - vegan coming for dinner.

[HufflepuffRavenclaw]

Having friends over for dinner next week. Woman of the couple is quite faddy in her eating. Over the time we have know them she has been gluten-free for about 6 months, abandoned that and then gave up alcohol completely for about a year, stopped doing that and then cut out sugar, was also a pescetarian for a while. Latest is that she is vegan.

I am not a vegan and have zero interest in vegan food/cooking. I am looking for ideas which are easily adapted to vegan diets - so for example I could do tomato/mozzarella/basil and crusty bread for a starter and use vegan "cheese" for her.

Think I may buy a dessert for her as any decent pud has to have cream and butter in it.

Any ideas?

You don’t have to eat it though, do you. No one is asking you to. I sense hostility. I wouldn’t particularly want to come for dinner either….

Plenty of meals can be adapted to be vegan fgs. Are you that unimaginative that you need to post on mn…. 🙄Suppose it’s been awhile since we had a vegan hating post. I was only saying yesterday- when someone posted their vegan dish! - Check out the vegan board for ideas.

Chilli is great- easily adaptable. Curry- same.

As for desserts- not everyone likes them overflowing with cream if you are drinking wine. Though you can’t tell the difference between creamy vegan desserts and normal cream. At least nobody can here.

I eat a huge range of things. And there's nothing wrong with the old classics. We've had these friends over before and made tapas, or paella, or chilli prawns or a huge range of other foods and cuisines. I am not one of those restricted meat and two veg eaters who is suspicious of anything foreign.

Food made using no meat, fish, dairy or eggs is not a natural way of cooking for most of us. Lentils and chickpeas do not instantly get my mouth watering. I know that I can put together a really good meal for friends and family. I do not trust that I can produce something equally tasty using vegetables and kidney beans. I have eaten things like tofu in the past but have zero experience in cooking it.

Definitely not interested in cooking a vegan meal for all - the partner of the vegan is not a vegan and cooks his own food at home.

hahaha this is exactly what I was thinking 😂Yes also to Middle Eastern – Ottolenghi has some really wonderful vegan recipes! And I also don't see why curry can't be 'special'?? Isn't that a bit offensive?! We went to a dinner party a few weeks ago with no vegan guests and our hosts had made three really wonderful vegan curries, homemade naan bread (including a GF one for one guest), and a variety of raitas and chutney – it was one of the most impressive dinner parties we've been to!

Well I do have to eat it @Suzi888 as I'm not cooking for DH and two friends and standing back while they eat, am I?

And I have repeatedly said that the concept of three people eating one meal and someone else having something entirely different is odd to me.

If I care for someone enough to invite them to dinner, I will cater for their dietary requirements. Appreciate vegan is difficult if you're not prepared to put the effort it learn about it. It doesn't have to be difficult.

This asparagus, courgette and halloumi salad is lovely and tastier it sounds. Just leave the halloumi off a

Oops accidentally pressed post! Just leave the halloumi off the vegan version. Agree re not using vegan cheese. You could add something like walnuts to the vegan dish, shows them that you have applied some thought.

I would be beyond irrigated if I turned up at a friends for dinner and found myself with a vegan dish because of someone’s fad
Really? I would be pleased that someone had invited me and some other friends over, cooked and entertained for us and possibly gave me a new to me meal to try.
I would be grateful and happy to have a night out with friends tbh.
Being irritated sounds very entitled.

( I really don’t believe you would be irrigated if you have a vegan meal tbh,😂)

Lots of people have made suggestions based on your plans E.g. mushroom bourguignon to match your boeuf, ready-made vegan kyiv for your chicken.

Many of those suggesting plant based mains are suggesting adding non vegan options on the table too, thus fulfilling your adaptable criteria.

Some people are helping you understand that modern vegan food is tasty and interesting by sharing recipes.

Please stop the vegan suggestions, this isn't what I was looking for!
I don't think any of us know what you are looking for. You know lots of meat based dishes, people have suggested ways to veganise these. You have also had lots of vegan suggestions and ways to put meat into a version of them.

Starters:
How about sweetbread for the meat eaters and celeriac gnocchi for the vegan?
www.greatbritishchefs.com/recipes/lamb-sweetbreads-recipe-pea-puree
or
Liver mousse for the meaties and mushroom mousse
or
Devilled kidneys vs devilled walnuts
Melon with parma ham or pink ginger slices

And @RockingMyFiftiesNot you're right, I'm not prepared to learn it. Because this my only "vegan" friend and based on their past history of going gluten-free, sugar-free, alcohol-free, pescetarian, I know by summer they'll have ditched the veganism and it will be the next fashionable fad. Paleo, or raw food or whatever.

I am looking for easy options for cooking one meal which can be suitable for both vegans and non-vegans. Lots of helpful suggestions given. "Why doesn't everyone just eat chickpea curry and fruit salad" is not a helpful suggestion.

There are plenty of other suggestions that go beyond "chickpea curry and fruit salad" 🙄I think the issue is that you were posting here expecting to get a flurry of responses in support of how you feel (ie. how inconsiderate of a guest who is newly vegan to expect a vegan meal at your dinner party, I mean what even is vegan food?!) and instead you have quite a few responses questioning why it's even an issue. There are also plenty of really great desserts that are vegan that aren't just fruit salad. If you can post on MN about this I'm sure you can also use Google...

This is such a bizarre thread. OP you've had so many suggestions. If you're unwilling to cook anything other than meat and 2 veg, don't invite a vegan round.

There are plenty of meals that you wouldn't think of as 'a vegan meal' that just happen to be vegan.

e.g. Pad thai. The sauce is peanut butter, soy sauce, limes... rice noodles. Very easy. You can make chicken for yours but tofu for hers if you don't want to eat tofu.

You're being dramatic and looking for a problem where there isn't one.

Also to be honest it's a bit weird that you seem to think of yourself as a 'foodie' and into cooking and yet you've just totally ruled out a whole massive set of really delicious tastes because of your own prejudice.

Cutting off your nose to spite your face.

Maybe you and your mates go out for a meal until your friend is over her vegan trend and then you can go back to serving your favourite meals, especially if you say her fads change frequently ?

Where did I say that I only wanted "meat and two veg" recipes? I'm open to a huge range of ideas. There is a whole spectrum of food between "meat and two veg" and "entirely vegan".

Thanks again to those who took the time to understand the issue and read what was actually being asked for. Still undecided but will probably go for some sort of salady thing we can all have for starter with halloumi on the side for non-vegans, and she'll be getting a shop bought dessert. Undecided on main. Will consult with DH although may do tapas, make most of it and get some vegan stuff from Waitrose.

That salad without the halloumi is just a pile of roasted vegetables - which are nice but I wouldn't invite someone round for dinner and just serve that!

Vegan cooking can be fairly simple. Just google some recipes as a basis then add meat for the non vegans. How about stuffed peppers for starters? Personally i would go down the Indian route - loads of options for all.

Fair enough. I did also give a suggestion for a starter that can be adapated, or something similar.

You mentioned bœuf bourguignon being a typical main course for you. If you created the sauce for that, or coq au vin using vegan ingredients (check them first whether they insist on vegan wine, some don't). you can add most of it to browned meat or chicken. Then either brown chopped up vegan sausages or vegan 'chicken' and add the same sauce.

Dessert: make a cake (lemon drizzle/chocolate gateau) and some sort of fruit in sauce (blueberries in lemon saiuce/baked soft fruits/macerated strawberries). Serve with ice cream and whipped cream.
Vegan: if yoh don't want to make a vegan cake for everyone (wouldn't blame you!) buy vegan brownies or sponge cake. Swedish Glace ice cream is vegan and my family have enjoyed the leftovers even though none of us are vegan, you could serve that foe everyone.

It's a little extra work and definitely extra expense but doesn't have to be as bad as you think. We have a couple of regular guests who are vegan, it gets easier - and has also helped me with another couple of guests who aren't vegan but have to be dairy free.

Any time I've made Pad Thai it's had both fish sauce and egg in it.

So if you have done tapas before why not again, bread olives Patatas bravas are all vegan without changing then just do one other vegan dish and do the rest non. Mezze is the same.

That salad without the halloumi is just a pile of roasted vegetables - which are nice but I wouldn't invite someone round for dinner and just serve that!

You'd think so wouldn't you but it is gorgeous with or without the cheese.

For a starter I'd do her some kind of bruschetta. Toasted sourdough with avocado and tapenade perhaps. You could have meaty options for the meat-eaters.

For mains try this. I've served it before now to a mixed crowd of carnivores and vegans and everyone's liked it. The puy lentils give it a meaty sort of texture that people assume is minced beef.
www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/burnt-aubergine-veggie-chilli

Tortilla chips (check they don't have lactose/ milk), guacamole, mango salsa (finely-chopped mango, juice of a lime, chopped fresh coriander), some grated cheese for the non-vegans and some plain vegan yoghurt for your vegan guest.

Not many people will turn their noses up at a vegan brownie: they're pretty good. Serve with a scoop of vegan ice-cream and some fruit.

I highly recommend this for dessert, I’ve made again for my family when vegan relative not even here. She’s also GF so I’d subbed Oreos for GF cookies, but easier without. Vegan butter sounds worse than it is , the flora marg I use everyday is actually dairy free! You can leave out the whipped cream
vegetariangastronomy.com/easy-no-bake-vegan-chocolate-pie/

@HufflepuffRavenclaw

would it really kill you to cook and eat a vegan meal for one bloody night?!

you found really precious