Veggie wedding question

[RoseRuby26]

We are currently mid last minute wedding plans. In the evening we are having a 7 piece buffet for guests. Day guests will have had 3 course dinner but for evening guests this will be their only food. We have a choice of about 20 delicious items but cannot come to a decision about how many items out of the 7 should be veggie. Partner thinks 2 out of 7 should be veggie. I would rather 3 or 4 veggie items as 2 items of food e.g. a couple of veggie samosas and a Halloumi skewer is not enough for vegetarians and meat eaters will surely eat veggies foods too. He is a big meat eater and is making a fuss. There are likely to be about 10 vegetarians out of 150 guests. AIBU?

[RichardBucket]

RoseRuby It doesn't need more 'healthy' options - it's a buffet at a celebration, and ONE meal! Anyway there will be vegetables in the samosas, on the skewers, and in the sandwiches.

Anyone who turned their nose up at those options would have to be seriously fussy.

[SpiritedLondon]

I eat meat but I wouldn't want 5 out of 7 items meat based.....I think 4 veggie options and 3 meat. Or perhaps 3 veggie, 3 meat and 1 fishy option if there is one.... Particularly if there are no other salady things

[Magstermay]

I think they all sound lovely and I would def go for 4 or 5 veggie options. So hard to choose but I'd make sure there were a couple of 'mains' eg sandwich and risotto balls and a couple of 'sides' eg halloumi skewers.
I'm a meat eater but with veggie friends and I'd much prefer being able to eat what I wanted rather than worrying I couldn't eat the veg stuff just in case, so the more veg the better!! I wouldn't want to eat 5 meat dishes with just a bit of cheese or nachos on the side.

I also think it's a bit OTT to get someone to announce that the vegetarians should get to the buffet ASAP unless you're not catering for them properly- I imagine most veggies have had enough experience to know that they should get there early just in case. As long as the buffet is announced that should be sufficient.

[MrsJoeyMaynard]

Meat eater here who also likes eating vegetarian food.
Definitely 4 veggie options, and if possible, give the vegetarians first go at the buffet so that there's a good selection for them. Maybe get the staff member acting as master of ceremonies to announce that vegetarians are to go up first?

I'd happily eat all the veggie options except the prawns (which I wouldn't consider a veggie option anyway), but would go for the Brie and cranberry parcels, the halloumi cheese skewers, vegetable samosas first if i had to pick.

[SuburbanRhonda]

I'd happily eat all the veggie options except the prawns (which I wouldn't consider a veggie option anyway)

It's not that they're not considered a veggie option. They're not a veggie option. Prawns are animals.

[ghostyslovesheep]

oh Freedom why are you trying to stir it all up again!

The point was that veggies often go hungry because by the time they get to the food all the veggie stuff is gone - that's a fair point :)

OP I'd go with the Samosas, not sure about the rest - very cheese heavy - I'd like more salad options

Might be nice to make up 10 plates of veggie food as well so the veggies aren't fighting for food.

[BikeRunSki]

3-4 too. Imagine if you went to a buffet and there were only 2 dishes.

[SuburbanRhonda]

Of you could do what we did and have it all vegetarian

[FreedomIsInPeril]

I was on that thread. To say freedom's synopsis is an exaggeration is something of an understatement

Who says we are thinking of the same thread? It's been done a hundred times!

[BarbaraofSeville]

Ridiculous and unneccessary to say 'vegetarians first'. Just put out enough food without meat hence at least 5 vegetarian, two without cheese.

[mogloveseggs]

They all sound delicious! I'd be tempted to do 5:2 in favour of veggie. I eat meat but often eat veggie when out as I like vegetarian food but others at home don't.

[originalmavis]

It's nibble though isn't it, not a full meal.

If it's risotto (yum) and risotto balls yumscrum) they sound lovely and a bonus that they are veggie. The meaties won't even notice the lack of carcass.

Did you say veggie pate? I love it and was at a work lunch where I was the only veggie do had my own plate of the stuff. I stupidly asked the meaties if they wanted a try and the biggest scoffed the lot!

[originalmavis]

Will there be any folks there of religious persuasion who may avoid meat for that reason?

[BlueberryJuice]

3-4, i had 10 items at my evening buffet, and i did 5 veggie options even tho there were only two veggies at my wedding, simply cos my family will eat anything and are greedy buggers and didn't want the veggies missing out

[SuburbanRhonda]

Who says we are thinking of the same thread?

You and I both know which thread it was.

[sodabreadjam]

Go for more veggie stuff - 5/2 would be great.

Meat eaters can and will eat veggie food. Veggies definitely don't want to eat meat.

I went to an evening wedding reception recently where the only veggie options were cones of chips (not enough for everyone) and breaded jalapeno/cheese sticks which are not to everyone's taste. Luckily I managed to snaffle two bits of wedding cake!

[Smurfnoff]

Definitely the samosas and the skins. Everything else has cheese in, and you may have vegans in the ranks. (Don't assume that because no one has explicitly said so that they're aren't any. A friend of the bride at my cousin's wedding was very stroppy about her main being non-vegan, despite not requesting it.)

[MiddleClassProblem]

4 veg
1 fish (prawns in this case)
2 meat

[LivingOnTheDancefloor]

as Middleclass said
I am a meat eater but fussy on meat so often end up eating mostly veg. Everybody loves veg dishes, right?

[coconutpie]

Meat and fish eater here and I'd prefer the veggie options on a buffet! I'd actually go minimum 5 veggie options, although I think all 7 as veggie options would be good!

[Paulat2112]

Must admit I'm laughing at the people asking where the salad and couscous options are :) it's an evening finger buffet lol

[Smurfnoff]

Agreed Paulat! Have none of them ever been to a buffet? Someone actually said 'No actual vegetables? Eek'. I'm still cringing!

[MaidOfStars]

5/2. I'm a vegetarian but the result of the last thread I was on (maybe the one quoted here) was a consensus of 2/3 veggie 1/3 meat. Meateater don't eat mostly meat, they eat a portion of meat plus a portion of carbs/salad or veg. The idea that, for example, 80% of our guests eat meat, therefore 80% of our food must be meat, is ridiculous.

[PridePrejudiceZombies]

The OP didn't say it was a finger buffet until several posts in, though. Perfectly reasonable to think a buffet might include salad, rice etc.

Agree with poster upthread who said make sure you don't overcheese it. As well as the vegan thing, odds are you'll have some lactose intolerant guests too. Quite possibly the number of people not wanting cheese will be around the same as or higher than the number of people not wanting meat.