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

Surely most people would be doing salad, veg skewers, corn on the cob anyway, so you would then just need to buy a cheap pack of vegan sausages or burgers to cook in the oven or on a disposable bbq. Not a lot of effort of money required.

It’s not fake meat though is it? It’s plant based protein moulded into the shape of a burger because it’s a convenient shape to go in a burger bun. The texture is different to meat, the taste is different to meat, there’s no meat flavouring in there? Mayonnaise is an egg based dish but it’s ok to have fake mayo on your potato salad? Vegan butter? Plant based milk?

It was thanks 😁it was bit spontaneous so we only did: beef style burgers and barms, sausages and hot dog buns, lamb style kebabs, potato salad, tofu and vegetable kebabs, curly fries in the oven and homemade brownies.
I would have done more if I had known we were catering for so many people. Everyone loved it, noone went home early and the food was all eaten.

I think it's good that you've asked. I am a vegetarian of 35 years, was vegan for one.

My inlaws did not even cater for vegetarians at their BBQ a few years ago, despite DH reminding them that I'm veggie. His sister (in her 50s) was helping, so it wasn't just the fact they might not be aware what was needed, they just didn't care.

I had anticpated this, so took my own sausages, pre cooked and ate them. A younger grandchild was also grateful as he was veggie. My point is, even as a veggie, I often take my own dish. Certainly as a vegan I woild do this just in cass too.

It isn't hard to cater for vegetarians or vegains. Neither are 'alien'. As pps said, salad, pack of burgers and rolls - Just remember with vegans, some bread rolls are pre-glazed with egg etc.

I would make sure they felt as welcome as any other guest.

It's fairly easy to make some things that suit everyone.

Salad
Corn
Baked potatoes
Veg kebabs

To class it as Vegan bashing is taking the piss.

Oh, I hate fake meat too so that's a good point that not everybody likes the 'meat tasting' replica versions of sausage or burgers.

Genuine question - can you recommend any bean or mushroom burgers for a bbq as I find they usually disintegrate

I would make sure there were things they could eat--things to grill, sides, condiments, dessert. I would not make the entire BBQ vegan or make all the sides vegan. I would probably have one meat-like item that can be grilled and one vegetable option (vegetable kebabs etc). I don't get involved in wars over fake meat, but if I know someone is a long time vegan I avoid the ones that really try to look like meat as I've just met too many vegans and vegetarians who find that off-putting.

I have no objection to vegan food per se but 95% of vegan cheese is vile.

I was vege for years and always took my own
Stuff to a bbq so assuming the vegan will bring stuff

But some vege/vegan sausages are great so you could offer to meat eaters too

Some other things you can do for everyone

Smashed avo
Houmous
Roast potatoes
Vege skewers
Portobello mushrooms
Make a big salad with couscous or bulgar wheat
Pasta salad with vegan pesto?

Just check which crisps are ok. Nuts obviously are. Carrot sticks for dips

You can buy vegan brioche in the supermarket as well as vegan coleslaw

Dont get vegan cheese . Awful

Ketchup is fine
Olive oil/balsamic is good for salads

@EbonyRaven

The difference though is that expecting vegans to provide you with meat and dairy is asking them to behave unethically, go against their values.

It's not the same as providing them with fruit and veg.

Maybe you need new friends

Have you seen the Beyond Burger and similar products? They ooze ‘blood’. There is a growing market for vegan food that can be mistaken for meat, for those people who have become vegan but miss meat. None of my vegan or veggie friends can stomach them.

My DH is vegetarian and would not eat anything cooked on a BBQ that had ever been used to cook meat. Buy a cheap throwaway BBQ for them vegan burger, vegan sausages with buns and kebab made of cherry tomatoes, peppers, chunks of vegan cheese and mushrooms. Plus green leaf salad.

@Fandabedodgy Tesco frozen bean burgers are vegan, they definitely start to collapse when BBQing. We deal with this either by tin foil or metal spatula and some swearing.

Never tried, but I wonder if falafels would work with some careful tong action.

Home made or good quality beef burgers fall apart too to be fair.

Thank you everyone for your suggestions. Final list is:

• a tomato based pasta salad
• corn on the cob
• veg skewers
• frying some mushrooms in garlic and chilli
• a big salad undressed with some dressing choices
• a vegan burger option

• meat burgers and sausages for meat options

Making the whole thing vegan isn't an option because the other 11 guests (plus myself and my Husband) would be gutted if there was no meat.

I want to make someone feel like they haven't been left out and that they have choice and been provided for, so thank you for all suggestions.

I would also bring my own supplies! But would love a veggie skewer or 2 for sure. I’m not a fan of the ‘fake’ meat, so a vegan burger wouldn’t get eaten, but that could be just me. Corn on the cobs always go down a treat… cut up veggies, hummus, crackers, lots are naturally vegan so is bread. I just attended a wedding and none of the Apero snacks were vegan, didn’t really bother me, think i was the only vegan one, but i’d thought ahead and bought supplies so knew i was covered. Nice though to be thinking of what to buy, you’re a very nice friend to have 😌

Also to answer another question about cooking arrangements. We have a separate griddle that sits on our bbq that has only ever been used for onions and we have separate tongs too, we were planning on using that. There is no point cooking a vegan burger to then fail at cross contamination.

Presumably this person is a friend of yours? Why not just talk to them about it? You don't need to guess.

I'm not a vegan but am vegetarian.

If Im going to someone's BBQ I always always say I will bring something vegetarian for me/family. Usually hosts will insist that's not necessary and they have already bought/planning to buy X for m/us which is always very gratefully received. Other times hosts will gratefully accept my offer of bringing things. Both are fine for me as a guest.

If I were hosting a vegan at a BBQ - we don't have a garden, so we've never hosted a BBQ admittedly! - I would definitely buy them something but I'd suggest if there's anything really specific they'd want them they're best of bringing it themselves. I wouldn't necessarily buy vegan alternatives to everything on offer unless it was very easy to do so. So for a meat item of e.g. burger and sausages I would only buy one of them as a vegan alternative. Certainly as a guest I wouldn't expect to have more than one veggie option and if I were taking my own I'd only take one option anyway. But as a host I would keep and eat whatever vegan food is leftover anyway though unless I particularly didn't like it but that would be very rare as usually I'm quite happy to eat vegan food obviously as a veggie anyway.

This looks great and I would be more than happy with this (not totally vegan but I don't eat meat or dairy).

Dd is veggie so I always have veggie sausages and burgers for a bbq. I would do halloumi skewers for her, but you could just do veg ones for a vegan. Green salad, potato wedges and couscous are vegan and everyone would happily eat those.

dd isn’t too fussy about where her food is cooked. So as long as it’s not touching the meat and different tongs are used it just gets cooked on the same bbq. But I guess you could Chuck theirs in the oven if they were very picky about it.

I'd just make sure most of the food is naturally vegan so suitable for everyone eg cous cous, chick pea and roast veg salad, green salad, bread, crisps, salsa, hummus, guacamole,that sort of thing.

Then I'd provide a standard range of meat and cheese and ask the vegan person what equivalent they'd like as everyone has different preferences.

It really doesn't need to cause any issues or extra expense.

Missed your update but that sounds good.