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

I wonder if OP has considered how the food will be cooked?

I wouldn't swap vegan fake meat. Just look at the veg you normally eat.

Potatoes wrapped in foil and put in the charcoal.

Whole beetroot the same.

Veg kebabs - use 2 skewers to stop the veg spinning, peppers, mushroom, baby corn, water chestnuts.

Make a mixture of mashed potato, mashed carrot and swede, peas and sweet corn, season with herbs and salt and pepper.

Cut the end off a baguette and stuff with the mixture, wrap in foil - and put on BBQ.

I assume you will also have salads. Put any salad dressing / sauces on the side.

There's no reason to be vegan for 'ethical reasons'. Ridiculous.

She's not grim.
I was vegan for 3yrs. Now I eat meat and I feel and look amazing. I now can not believe that I fell for the vegan propaganda and got utterly brainwashed into believing it was more ethical and more healthy. Yeah right!! What a joke!! Now I am very, very pro meat. A lot of people are ditching veganism and healing from it.
Having said that, I am a great host and would still cater for a vegan but I absolutely refuse go fund the fake meat industry. Its SO unhealthy and misleading. I would do veggie kebabs, BBQ'd cauliflower steaks and BBQ'd watermelon, chargrilled tofu.

Google 'chicken cooking time'. Its not hard. I got it right the first time I did it. 🤔

I think they need a complete meal (but I assume they can eat salad?) not just a sausage and a bun. I'm low tolerance for these kinds of things, so I'd tell them what you've done for them and tell them they're welcome to bring their own food if they want to as well. My sister is a vegetarian and she always brings her own food, she doesn't expect anyone to specially cater for her and that's how I think it should be

When I had a vegan friend coming over for a BBQ I made salads (and made sure the dressings and ingredients were all vegan. Anyone can have those). Made the breads were vegan. Made sure I had vegan sausages and patties.

Then vegan friend decided that if we were cooking any meat at all, they weren't coming, because it was offensive for their family to even have to look at others eating meat. I told them I was happy to fully provide for them but some others wanted meat and I would provide for them too. They are no longer my friend.

I'd probably ask them to bring something they like to throw on the BBQ, I'd also ask them to bring it as early as possible to get it cooked before the meat goes on. That way they can be sure it's vegan and cooked apart.
Then the salads should be fine as they are and I'd leave it at that.
Do not do what was suggested here and make the other 11 go vegan for the meal just because of one person.

I think @catscalledbeanz has the right idea - lots of side dishes that happen to be vegan, as opposed to "meaty" things turned vegan. It also avoids the risk of dietary issues to have e.g. a simple vinaigrette dressing rather than a veganised mayo dressing as some people can be sensitive to soy / nut based alternatives.

I would definitely double check with your guest about preference for a sauage / burger alternative as well. Some vegans might love a convincing meat alternative such as Beyond Burgers, whilst for others that would be completely stomach turning.

We did a fully vegan bbq recently and guests were there from 1pm to just before midnight. So not sure why you're saying that, maybe prejudice?

I’m sure you did.

Vegans can be vegan for ethical reasons:
Animal welfare
Environmental reasons
Health reasons

Are you getting vegans confused with something else?

We did 😂what's with the patronising disbelief?

No I wouldn't go out of my way to accommodate them if it was only one person. I'd tell them to bring their own food. If they're happy to have it cooked on the same grill then that would be good because I wouldn't provide a separate one.

I find vegans that wear leather etc to be hypocritical, but your comment is ridiculous as that's why most people are vegan! 🙄

My sil is vegan. She wont not eat the fake meat. I wouldn't do anything more than just provide sides so she got an option but she doesn't eat anything anyway so not wasting food.

I would ask them, if it was my friend coming to your bbq then she would be expecting a separate bbq where meat hadn't been cooked on it!!

I'm done with cooking for vegans.
I've done plenty of it, and every dish ends up being not quite to my taste.
Yes OP, I think providing buns and vegan burgers is fine. They can have the sliced onion and ketchup too. And maybe one of your salads would work for them anyway.

I'd have one vegan "main option" like burgers or sausages (definitely don't bother doing both!) and then I'd make at least one, probably two, of the sides things that happen to be vegan anyway. Salads or whatever.

You don't need to find vegan coleslaw or vegan mayo. Some normal condiments are vegan anyway (ketchup, mustard) and presumably you aren't putting cheese or egg or bacon bits into all the salads. Cook up at least 8 vegan burgers if you want the vagan to have the option to eat a second burger. If you just cook 2 then I 100% guarantee that a non-vegan will take the second one.

Mmmhh sounds delicious. Not.

Make one vegan plate and set it aside.

A lot of the substitutes are odd tasting/expensive, so no point putting a big bowl of vegan potato salad for example.

I would also say that I have dietary requirements (which I usually try and avoid mentioning as I find it creates work for the host as they are numerous and not super easy to explain, but I can usually eat around them) which involve my generally not being able to eat vegan substitutes - I can't eat beans of any type - so soy, haricot, butter beans all out, or lentils, or chickpeas or normal peas.

So the idea that doing an all vegan barbecue is someone inclusive and suitable for everyone is just not true.

I have to say I have got to the point now where I do have to explain as I can't assume people won't have veganised everything in an attempt to be more inclusive but I wouldn't previously have considered a barbecue one of those meals.

Obviously that's ultimately my problem not anyone else's but it doesn't make it not irritating.

The time I catered for a vegan friend at a barbecue I did 2/3 substantial interesting salads, and miso aubergine as a ‘main’. There was enough for anyone who wanted it as well as her. Then there was meat for meat eaters too, but we mostly all ate the same.

If you don’t want to cater for them at least tell them, that way they can bring their own.
Vegan potato salad and coleslaw tastes the same in any case.

I’m vegan but had a bbq not so long ago, made burgers from scratch- (which made me queasy to be honest) but I still did it. There was chicken, lamb, sausages. I know guests wouldn’t have expected a vegan spread - though they tucked in to both meat and the plant based foods and I hadn’t purchased lots of plant based as there were only two other vegans- you can guarantee meat eaters will end up eating both.