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)?

No thanks. Il gladly give yours one tho sweetie

@MyGhastIsFlabbered this new vegan should have made the OP aware before accepting an invitation for Christmas or should have immediately offered to help with catering when they had their vegan epiphany. It is a really stressful catering for a large number of people over the Christmas period without last minute demands that cut out pretty much every traditional recipe that the OP has planned. Foisting these restriction on the OP without offering to help with catering shows an unbelievable thoughtlessness and, from experience, few people stick with a vegan diet for long.

I choose only to buy organic, free range meat from our local butcher for reasons that are just as valid as a vegan's, but I don't demand others do the same when I accept an invitation. Nor do I demand that the soya products provided by another friend are rainforest friendly for my visit. I eat what I am given and I complement the catering. When in Rome and all that.

On another thread, it is the height of rudeness for a guest to bring a dish of their own. 🤷‍♀️

Vegan is dead easy now. Visit supermarket. Buy something to put in the oven.

The op has sorted this out.

Those new Richmond vegan sausages are very good. They look a bit realistic, they probably taste realistic - I don't know though I haven't eaten a real sausage for 40 years. I'm sure a meat eater would be able to tell the difference. But why eat animal sausages when you can plant sausages like these?

Oooops, i meant eat plant sausages like these.

I have never planted a sausage.

YANBU, but speak to them, maybe they can tell you about a simple dish you can make or they will be happy just eating the potatoes and veg.

@PurpleDaisies It's not actually dead easy if you have to simultaneously avoid palm oil, excessive food miles, plastic packaging....in this household I'm thinking Christmas dinner will basically be porridge oats grown in the UK (or Ireland, at a push), packaged in cardboard, made with water, and plain water to drink. Even then, they'll have to be organic oats, and no insects will have had to die.

That way, nobody can complain. Except maybe the cats, you know, obligate carnivores and all that. Maybe we'll be able to convert them to veganism too, in time.

It's not actually dead easy if you have to simultaneously avoid palm oil, excessive food miles, plastic packaging

None of those things have been specified by the op’s guest.

What you don't want them doing is bringing something full of nuts! Buy a small vegan tart or pie. Many are cook from frozen and the person will only require veg (or salad) with it. Many puds are vegan now too. I'm a fan of Waitrose for stuff like this...loads of choice online and you might get tempted away from M&S!

I don’t know any vegans who don’t automatically bring their own food. I was born a celiac and I always brought my own food to parties so as not to inconvenience anyone. I imagine you will have some vegetable side dishes that your guest can also eat. Unless you cook everything in lard, how difficult can it be for your guest to manage? In fact, I don’t know why you should even have to agonise. Use olive oil for any frying and have some soy or almond milk handy and all should be fine. Maybe order some takeaway vegetarian curry or dal to have as a side. Also offer hummus with carrot sticks. Sorbet and berries for dessert. Done!

Maybe order some takeaway vegetarian curry or dal to have as a side.

For Christmas dinner?!

Just give them Rudolph's carrot.

Holland and Barratt do a fake turkey dinner that is all on a plate you just microwave it. It is made from Quorn. My dh has this one of the days over Xmas and a lentil loaf on other days and just eats the veg I cook for a roast. I cook all roast potatoes in his oven.

Being' newly vegan' doesn't mean it won't be long term
You can't follow ' when in Rome' and all that because if you are vegan you don't eat meat and dairy at all. But vegan eaters are used to going without food and not being able to find food and snacks straight away. It's a diet that excludes a lot of choices so people tend to make the best of it but it's a bit miserable to not have anything in Christmas Day so I would take my own and hope fir olive oil roasters and veg.
To be fair pork on Christmas Day sounds horrific. As does all ready made food.

Yes, Indian food on Christmas! 28 million Indian Christians swear by it. The traditional goose-and-suet-pudding ship sailed when it was rejected by the vegan guest.

28 million Indian Christians swear by it.

Well, yes but the op is doing a traditional British Christmas dinner. I love daal but it’s an odd one to go with the rest of the food. I’m not even commenting on the houmous and carrot sticks

Cooking vegan is easier than you think.
Most Sage and onion stuffings are vegan
Obviously veggies are
Use vitalite as your margarine And a vegan gravy (Bisto red is vegan) and you’re good.
If they want a meat replacement item then they can bring their own.
I usually have Linda McCartney red onion sausages currently in Lidl for £1.19.

Go to Iceland
They do a great vegan range

I would see what the vegan eats and get something quick and easy for them, there are lots of things around for vegans to have like vegan quorn chicken, you could pick it up now while shopping before Christmas and store in the freezer

To be fair pork on Christmas Day sounds horrific. As does all ready made food???

On which planet does pork become ready made food?

I find the whole worried well 'wokeness' in the developed world staggering to be honest. Having worked in Africa a few years ago and seen the level of poverty and disease amongst people there whose idea of a real feast is to kill and butcher one of their goats - when they even had one left to kill - , I shake my head in disbelief at the 'up your own bum' self righteous attitudes of the advocates of the latest food fad.

YABU!! If your hosting you host for everyone. If you are already cooking two different kinds of meat to suit people it's very rude that you can't accommodate for vegan...

Being' newly vegan' doesn't mean it won't be long term

Exactly.

And you can't win when you're brand new to veganism, if you are really strict at the start people think 'why is she being so extreme' and if you give into peer pressure and be a bit flexible people say 'well she's not a real vegan she's just being annoying'.

Also lots of vegans start by being 'plant based' and say it's for health because it's actually really scary to be vegan at first because people can be aggressive about it.
Saying 'it's for health reasons' usually shuts everyone up and we can all get on with having a lovely time while the vegan pretends not to mind the actual dead bird on the table.

Yes, Indian food on Christmas! 28 million Indian Christians swear by it.

Are you sure about the veggie curry and daal? My friend's family are Goan Christian and from what she's said their traditional Christmas food is pork vindaloo. I don't know if she's representative but a quick google would suggest the customary Christmas dishes for this group ain't vegan. I don't believe that's the norm amongst Keralese Christians either. By all means do an Indian Christian spread if wished but it isn't going to assist with the vegan issue which was solved many page ago

I’d feel awful catering for everyone except them. I couldn’t bring myself to ask them to bring their own. If I’ve offered to host, then I’d make sure I included everyone.

Yes I would, as someone who is mostly plant based here I take my own gravy and puddings to peoples houses. On Xmas day I'm happy with just all the veg and my vegan gravy. I have even taken my own roast potatoes when the host was cooking theirs in goose fat. It's no biggy.