To tell newly vegan guest to bring their own dish on Christmas Day?

[GunpowderGelatine]

I'm hosting Christmas day at my house this year, not something I've done in ages. There's ten of us, including the kids, which is a great number - my plan, like every year I cook, is to order M&S food and pick it up on Christmas Eve then just bung it all in the oven and make some homemade gravy. I usually get a pork joint as I'm not a turkey fan, but will also be getting a turkey joint for my guests. I'm not usually the type to stress about Christmas dinner (it's only a roast after all!) but I also want it to be as simple as possible. One of my guests has declared they are now vegan. Which is a bit of a PITA for dinner if I'm honest as I'll have to sort a vegan main, gravy, dessert etc. I also have a nut allergy sufferer in the group which excludes quite a lot of vegan options as mains.

WIBU to ask the newly vegan guest to bring their own dish on the day or is that really rude? I've kind of planned the food around the size of my oven/hob and could do without the added stuff having to go in it (don't mind warming something up though)?

think I might be the only one though!

You’re not, I detest goose fat.

Why should she do everything vegan except the meat? This is supposed to be a special meal.

Blinkin heck. If the vegan guest is welcome then buy her a vegan meal from M and S. No need to be inhospitable on Xmas day! Sorry this is aimed more at some posters than the OP. I’m not vegan but completely respect the decision anyone makes to become vegan, whatever their motivations. There is a lot of weird hate and pointy fingerness directed towards vegans. The comment somewhere about deliberately giving them non vegan whine...? Eh?
You can by all means ask (not tell) them to bring their own, but why not just be a great host?

I think there is a big difference between someone who is a committed vegan and someone where it is basically a food fad. The OPs vegan sounds like the latter. And IME of this type they will eat non vegan food if they fancy it.

Yanbu. I’d have no problem bringing my own just give her plenty of advanced notice.

But she’s not actually vegan she’s plant based (and maybe not for long if she’s only on a detox). Vegan means to avoid animal exploitation as far as possible and practicable and was defined as such when the word was created in 1944.

Just buy a Tofurkey. It's November - hardly a last minute change of plan. No nuts in those.

Can't you just give them the veg? That's all a vegan main will be anyway 🤷

YANBU. We are hosting Xmas for the first time and as we're vegetarian we have told my parents that if they want turkey and pigs in blankets then they will need to bring them themselves. They're not too happy but they respect our beliefs.

I’m in two minds about this -
OP You don’t sound as though you approve of her/him wanting to eat vegan - in fact you sound downright scathing so I was wanting to say yabu.
However if this is a family member then I see nothing wrong at all in asking her/him if they would like to suggest or even bring something. I’m a lifelong vegetarian and often offered to bring something to a big complex family type chaotic meal. Lovely either way frankly.
Have fun !

Yabu. It's not like they're telling you this on Christmas Eve. You've got plenty of notice. It's so easy to do veg in oil and add any butter at table.

Honestly you're not much of a host if you won't cater for someone with over a months notice.

My guest is vegan not because they object to animal cruelty but because they are on a bit of a detox and purging meat and dairy from their diet - at Christmas! I would cook what you are cooking and let your picky guest decide what she is or isn't eating.

I think there is a big difference between someone who is a committed vegan and someone where it is basically a food fad. The OPs vegan sounds like the latter.

Yy. Realistically OP has to get a vegan dish in for her, but doing a vegan detox over Christmas and obliging your host to cater for your self-imposed restrictions at a time when nearly everything is full of animal products is a twat's game. In a way that it isn't if you were doing it out of ethical convictions.

Nothing says Christmas like a Quorn roast

Don't think Quorn roasts are vegan. They do have vegan nuggets and burgers, but not very Christmasy!

Morrison's have a vegan main (individual size) for £3 which I've ordered, or Lidl has a vegan mushroom pie thing frozen today, then serve with the normal veg. Supermarket onion gravy granules are vegan.

There is a light hearted article about this sort of thing in the Christmas (December) issue of Woman and Home.

A guest survival guide including

The Grinch
The Exhausted Townies

The Fussy Eater including a sudden decision to be vegan

The Hands Off Parents

The Scary Organiser.

I just found it unbelievable the entitlement of some people, you can expect a vegan to prepare a vegan meal if they invite you for dinner but expect someone, who knows little of the diet to learn to cook a vegan meal with unfamiliar ingredients just because you wouldn’t eat what is being served is ridiculous.

Oh give over if someone is proficient enough in the kitchen to cater for 10 (including a nut allergy) I'm pretty sure they are capable of also buying a vegan main.

I can cater for 30 including a person with multiple severe allergies, I am totally unable to make a respectable vegetarian or vegan main dish.

I can cater for 30 including a person with multiple severe allergies, I am totally unable to make a respectable vegetarian or vegan main dish.

That’s very hard to believe.

I’d bring a dish for me. As long as there were some veggies available to boost it up, I’d be happy! My grandma used to have Linda McCartney sausages in her freezer and give me veg and boiled spuds. I was happy!

It's rude sorry OP, you don't ask guests to bring their own food. Get a ready made vegan option so it's less hassle. The supermarket s are making it very easy to cater for vegans now.

I wish people would RTFT. The OP has said she has it sorted now - way back in the thread.

yes someone doing it for fad,diet,shitty horrible follow the herd reasons i would really not want to help out(deep down).its all bollox for that reason and a dangerous and quite wrong way to balance your eating and food and feeds into all that wrong with the way we see life and the balance of food.eating meat is not going to make you fat.

we have a lady with an eating disorder comeing this year and i would feel incredibly bad for her who is braving it and trying to eat with us and has made no requirements to then have someone picking over the fats we use or the meat etc.

@GunpowderGelatine

From no one gives a shit love to They'll have to prize the goose fat out my cold, dead hands!

Your responses on this thread have been pure class and made me laugh so much. Spelling was right btw.

Spelling was right btw.

No, it wasn’t. You prise something out of someone’s hands. You win a prize.