How far would you go to accommodate a vegan?

[Juicyj1993]

In a few weeks we're hosting a bbq for my Husband's birthday.

We have about a dozen guests coming, one of whom is vegan. As we don't normally buy vegan food I've started looking at what we'd normally buy and what is and isn't vegan. To make sure the vegan has the same variety of choice as everyone else I'm going to have to spend quite a bit on alternatives. As we have the non vegan alternatives we won't be eating the vegan versions, so they'll either go home with the guest or be thrown.

How much would you accommodate a vegan?

Would I be unreasonable to provide vegan burger with vegan cheese, plus bun and nothing else or do I need to go the whole hog and get vegan sausages, vegan condiments and vegan coleslaw?

Ps they are vegan by choice, not for medical reasons

@NeonSoda i like lots of foods that are unintentionally or naturally vegan - what I don’t like are lots of the vegan alternatives that don’t in my opinion come close to the products they are trying to recreate- butter for example. Proper butter is creamy with a rich taste, the vegan ones to me seem to oily. I find things like oat milk grainy and I don’t like the mouthfeel. Vegan cheese for me has a nasty sour aftertaste.
there are lots of lovely vegan dishes out there I enjoy- I don’t enjoy many of the substitute products that vegans tell me “taste just like the real thing” but they don’t.

if I could host and serve alongside the meat options lovely things like yemista then I’d be happy. What I don like is being made to feel like a bad host because I don’t have milk on stand by if you want a cup of tea, the option of cream and ice cream with dessert (because meat eaters have that option), things like mayo that are being suggested here when one spoonful (might) be wanted and then I end up with loads of substandard products that i don’t enjoy

Traditionally vegetarian, sometimes pescatarian Japan:

Back in Japan, the latest "food balance sheet" published by the agriculture ministry shows meat consumption totaled 89.7 grams per person per day in the fiscal year ended March 2018, up 17.6% from 20 years earlier.

Japan has the shortest history of eating meat in its food culture. It was only after 2007 that household fresh meat consumption surpassed fresh fish consumption in Japan. Although it was forecast that slowing population and economic growth would limit the demand for meat, household meat consumption in 2020 increased remarkably from that in 2019, perhaps due to COVID-19. Meat consumption has regional variations within Japan attributable to historical background. Japanese consumers prefer domestically produced meat and focus on the visual characteristics of meat, in particular marbling. Extrinsic factors such as information also contribute to Japanese consumers' meat choices more than the quality of the meat. Although Japanese consumers are concerned about the safety of meat, reassurance from appropriate inspection will restore their purchasing intention. Novel factors such as animal welfare and environment-friendly production are also recognized in Japan. Also notable is that wild animal meat consumption is beginning to increase in recent years.

what on earth is racist about knowing about foreign tardions, history and culture? Quite the opposite, I would have thought.

The Chinese seem to be getting a taste for meat too.
‘Meat consumption in China has increased steadily since the early 1990s. In 2021, the Chinese consumed almost 100 million tons of meat—27 percent of the world's total 1. and twice the total consumption in the United States.’

Hi, just popping here to suggest using some separate foil dishes or tin foil wrapping to avoid cross contamination. I know it's not ideal from a waste perspective but it helps for a one off. I have friends and colleagues with allergies so on our holidays away, BBQs etc we're always very careful.

I wouldn’t. If they’re going to be deliberately fussy they can cater for themselves.

@MegMez That's a great idea - thank you!

I’d serve things that are naturally vegan as others pointed out such as BBQ veg skewers, corn on the cob, salad etc which everyone can indulge in and then would also buy some meat free burgers and cheese slices. Other people can eat the leftover vegan burgers, they won’t poison you.

I usually do a big salad bowl, lemon and herb rice and veg skewers & corn cobs & giant mushrooms, jacket potato etc find a vegan bread a nice dip and chips option i also text to tell them what we are making and to bring along anything special they want ditto vegan booze. Although all the vegans I know are surprisingly unvegan when the 'good' wines are uncorked

So because one person chooses to be vegan, nobody can eat meat?

@ApplesInTheSunshine

its not being fussy
its being morally opposed to eating meat and animal products
BIG difference
can you really not understand that??

@Meeting

why not? Nobody NEEDS to eat meat

I have read @Sartre 's post twice, and nowhere has she said anything even remotely like that!

@Meeting my point still stands though. Meat isn't the sole purpose of a BBQ. If it were, It'd be far more convenient for someone whose purpose was to eat some meat, to cook it in an oven at home and eat it there by themselves, whether said meat is value range cheapest organs ever sausages, or prime cut organic steak.

BBQs have other purposes. Socialising being one main one-being out in the sun, having fun with friends and family, enjoying a few glasses of booze. Your 'Why would a vegan want to be at a BBQ' implies that vegans don't enjoy any of those things. We're not aliens.

@Whenwillglorioussummercome It's still easy. Ask the vegan (same as anyone with a diet that would put them into the minority) how they'd like things done. Their answer could be 'I'll bring my own burgers and do them in the oven/on BBQ wrapped in foil'. Could be 'Don't worry, I'm happy with salad in a roll'. Could be 'Just get me a couple of vegan sausages please-not bothered about them being near the meat/cook them first'. Nothing is too difficult about any of that?

I can't imagine anyone with any 'different' diet, for whatever reason, answering that they expect a full on spread dedicated to it, although it is nice when there are different options and making a few dishes everyone will enjoy, couscous or pasta salads etc is a nice thing to do and may make the day more enjoyable for everyone.

@Dryinginthesea your post states you 'couldn't be arsed' and then details all the ways you could 'be arsed'.

I take the point about waste-I abhor food waste!

Although I'd probably stick things in the freezer for next time.

I quite often take vegan desserts to BBQs as I like baking, but don't like baked goods, so it gives me a chance to bake. I always take dessert to BBQs at a relatives, It's now my job! As long as the V word isn't mentioned (as this thread proves, it frightens people and along with my previous post about my family birthday) the whole thing is polished off.

I don't think statre was saying no meat

Just lots of stuff is easily accidentally vegan like corn on the cob , salads and breads so everyone can eat

Put the dressing on the side so people can add their own - not everyone likes mayo even if they are not vegan anyway

And then vegan burgers for the vegan rather suggests that the others will get meat products - otherwise it's rather unfair giving the vegan more

Sorry, yeah, it’s not just being fussy. It’s being sanctimonious too.

Not read the whole thread but some of Jude's Ice Cream is plant based and is gorgeous. Small tub, expensive but gorgeous

@Sartre "So because one person chooses to be vegan, nobody can eat meat?"

Of course they can. But if I have vegans or vegetarians coming to my house, everybody will eat vegan/vegetarian. Because I can cook lovely vegan/vegetarian food, and I can't be arsed to cook separate stuff for snowflakes who think they will die if they don't have meat every day.

It's a barbecue for fucks sake.

I think you misunderstood what I meant to say (or I phrased it badly). For some people the point of a barbecue is clearly lots of cooked meat. That makes it a lot harder to think about the introduction of vegan elements, however straightforward it might feel to someone who actually is one. Meat is the point of a barbecue for them.

For others, the meat on the barbecue is one element of a wider meal, and therefore catering for vegans is far easier to get your head round, because you have a variety of elements, and for some of them to be vegan is less of a mind shift. I am one of these people and have catered for vegan friends at a barbecue with very little effort.

But it’s obvious from this thread that if a barbecue for you is meat + bread/potatoes + sauce (and I am quite happy to be at those barbecues too with my friends) that everyone talking about salads etc feels like a much bigger effort and shift than it does for others.

@plantsandwich my point was these were all the things that I’ve done in the past, but I can’t be bothered with anymore. I wouldn’t mind at all if they took things away with them- in fact a lot of meat eaters would - I often get requests from people if they can take a few left overs home and at the end of the day almost everything has gone and whatever is left we can finish the following day.

In the same way many vegans do so for moral reasons- I guess my line is food waste and sustainability. What I objected to was trying to be a good host, catering for the vegans and them then refusing to take specific products that they had requested away and I always get the feeling that they are doing so in order to get you to try them so they can act as sort of ambassadors for the movement.

as I detailed on a reply to another poster I enjoy lots of vegan food that is naturally vegan- but I do find that most of the vegan alternative products milk, cheese etc to not be as nice as their “real” (sorry don’t know what the right word would be-original perhaps??) counterparts

I’d just ask them what vegan alternatives they’d like to eat and buy a generous amount of that. Better to over cater than have hungry people. I’d encourage them to take any leftovers home afterwards.

@ApplesInTheSunshine

how do you work that out? Why is is sanctimonious to care about animal welfare and as such adjust your diet?

@Meeting

and? People go for the social element! Have a few drinks and a catch up with pals. Most people are not just thinking MEAT MEAT MEAT!

I know right
it’s like some people are meat obsessed and only think a meal is a proper meal if meat is included

Then have a garden party.

What makes a BBQ different from the above is the BBQ, the clues in the name. And according to every BBQ I've ever been to, meat is what is cooked. Yes, various side dishes can be served to accompany this, but they are not the main dish.

From Wikipedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbecue

Barbecue or barbeque (informally BBQ in the UK, US, and Canada; barbie in Australia; and braai in South Africa) is a term used with significant regional and national variations to describe various cooking methods that use live fire and smoke to cook the food.[1] The term is also generally applied to the devices associated with those methods, the broader cuisines that these methods produce, and the meals or gatherings at which this style of food is cooked and served. The cooking methods associated with barbecuing vary significantly but most involve outdoor cooking.

'A style of cooking using live fire and smoke to cook food, usually outside'. No-one said anything about that food having to be meat.