Catering for a vegetarian?!

[Magenta3]

My brother's gf is a vegetarian. We're having everyone over next weekend for a get together. My family eats a lot of meat and I feel a bit unsure of what to cook her, and if I'm being honest I don't see why we should change our catering for one person.

I asked my brother to bring along some of their own food for her (he eats meat so will be fine, it's literally only for her) and he seemed annoyed at me. He obliged but I could tell he wasn't happy. When we've been to theirs she doesn't cook meat for us so it feels one sided. She jokes she'd probably poison us as she doesn't know how to cook meat but realistically she doesn't want to cook it, so why should we for her?

@Purplebunnie , vegetarians don't eat fish.

Tofu pig head?

Do you not want her to feel welcome in your home?
She is probably vegetarian because she finds slaughtering animals for meat deeply upsetting. Asking her to cook it for you may also be upsetting, so it’s really not the same when you go to her is it?
I cater for people when they come to me as best I can. It is rarely that difficult. You sound mean.

Not necessarily. Sample menu.

Breakfast : Bagel with salmon and cream cheese. Or eggs on toast.
Lunch : Chicken salad.
Dinner : 'Main meal' meat (e.g. Roast chicken).

The issue isn't really the presence of meat but the volume and quality. Small amounts spread throughout the day is far healthier than, say, eating a large portion of red meat every night even if it was only for one meal.

Agree.

I eat meat from time to time and don’t like handling or cooking it myself despite knowing how to. Meat is nice but not nice enough for me to want to handle raw meat, and cook it every other day. It’s more time-consuming and a faff for me than just omitting it.

checks the year

God I thought it was the 1980s for a sec reading that. Are we really still doing this?!

If you’re making curry, that’s one of the easiest meals to include vegetarian options with. A vegetable curry is very simple to cook, especially if you buy a ready made sauce. Make it a few hours ahead in the slow cooker and it won’t even get in the way of other prep, and you won’t be faffing about spooning off into another bowl. Many sides are veggie- poppadoms, onion bhajis, veg samosa, naan, rice.

Your line about avoiding food waste is a red herring. Meat eaters may try the veg curry. It can be frozen (you could add some cooked meat when you reheat). Your brother’s girlfriend could take the leftovers home.

What a stupid thing to say. The vast majority of people who eat meat also eat vegetables and therefore know how to cook them. A lot of vegetarians have never cooked meat and have no need, and most importantly, no desire, to learn. Also, it’s a damn sight harder to get food poisoning from badly cooked vegetables than it is from badly cooked meat.

So you’re actually an omnivore…

When we've been to theirs she doesn't cook meat for us so it feels one sided.

I'm not a vegetarian, but I've never understood this argument. I've never heard of someone believing it's morally wrong to eat a meal without meat, so there's no comparison.

It's like saying a Jewish or Muslim host should serve you pork, because you've served non-pork meals for them in the past. (Apologies if someone's already made that analogy, I haven't read the full thread!)

I was being facetious 😁 Good menu though👏

You could have asked differently, and I think you would have got good advice and less of a roasting, @Magenta3.

Eg. My brother is bringing his vegetarian girlfriend over for a meal. I very rarely cook vegetarian food, and I’m hoping the wise heads of MN can give me some ideas of what to cook so everyone is happy - most of the guests eat meat, only the gf is vegetarian.

I have the makings for salmon and cream cheese bagels, I know what's for breakfast tomorrow now.

What a silly, spiteful post.

It's really not at all difficult to cater for a vegetarian and, as others have said, this sounds like the last forty years or so have passed you by completely. I'm a meat eater and have never had any difficulty whatsoever cooking for vegetarian friends or adapting dishes when there is a mix of people. Nor would I be so damn selfish as to expect them to handle and cook meat for me; they object to it on moral grounds, I don't object to anything they eat on moral grounds. Big difference.

If you feel that way, just serve her the veg. Or ... the veg and some cheese. Or...the veg and some humous/ a hard-boiled egg w mayo/ something ready-made that you don't even have to heat up. While I don't necessarily agree with your position, I would support your decision not to have to make two different meals when you don't want to.

I'm actually more of a pita 😀

I'm glad I'm the gf, since with this attitude I would not feel welcome and wouldn't go.

My mom made me a vegetarian Thai curry a while back and just cooked some chicken pieces for her and my dad using the same spices. I just had more curry. It was simple. (Although actually my dad liked the veg dish so much he said he didn’t really need the chicken, so will often cook a vegetable dish for us all now.)

And yes, brain cell isn't working today. Omnivore not carnivore

You're entitled to that view.
Hosting people can be hard work, and stressful, adding the time (and cost) of making another option isn't ideal either.
As it is it sounds like there will be veggie sides, or at least it would be easy to get veggies sides, so the GF will have food to eat. I wouldn't be making a whole main dish just for her though.

@ZoeCM we don't know why the GF is veggie but choosing not to eat meat isn't the same as not eating it for religious or health reasons.

A bit odd some posters assume that just because people eat meat that they are definitely going to want meat in/with their meal or eat a meat option if it is offered.

OH is veggie, I'm not. It's pretty trivial to cook the same meals, but substitute mushrooms for beef etc. There is, actually, pretty much a mushroom for every occasion - chestnut/button mushrooms for things with chopped meat (eg stews, stir fries), trumpet mushrooms instead of larger pieces of meat (eg steak), portobello for stuffed dishes etc.

Just cook the meat/mushrooms separately from the sauce, then divide the sauce at the end and use it to deglaze the the mushroom and steak pans separately, then dress the plates exactly the same - nobody feels short-changed, because they're all essentially eating the same dish.

Obviously they don't want to be eating mushrooms on a daily basis, but for a one-off dinner party it's absolutely the easiest thing to do.

Just buy a put in the oven veggie bake or something to have instead of the meat in your meal. It sounds like you just don’t like your brothers gf imo

I'm not a vegetarian but probably have non meat meals at least half the week. Your diet must be... Interesting... If you can't comprehend how to cater for a veggie