Vegans, is this bad manners?

[Pruni]

Posted a couple of weeks ago about having some vegans round for dinner.

I cooked dismally. It was gross. I can't even remember what I made, I've blanked it out of my mind.

So I went to the library and borrowed a book on vegan cooking (my god how do you DO this every day??! What a faff btw). AM aiming to do better.

Want to know, is this bad manners: to give them fruit and soy ice-cream for dessert, whilst we have proper dairy ice cream? I cannot stand that Swedish Glace stuff, it's rank. Obviously I won't say that, but isn't it bad manners to give someone something you think is to disgusting to eat yourself? Would you be offended?

I would eat another human being if I were stranded inn the Andes, but not if it was served for Sunday lunch at someone's house

Be afraid, be very afraid - cooking for a vegan is not the worst thing that can happen in this life, you know!

Total wimps!

(goes off to set up trangeai - or whatever those little camping stoves are that became all the rage when Lavenderrrr was planning her air crash)

HA!
yes the Lavendar aircrash, with lav junior as chief marksman for the weaker and more maimed of the passengers

To answer original poster, they love that Swedish Glace stuff, absolutely love it so dish it up and hope it brings some colour to their cheeks

I'd cop out and give them fantastic dark chocolate instead. Actually I have a chocolate sorbet recipe that doesn't involve eggwhite somewhere.

OK all taken on board.
The thing is, i can't find any vegan food that is gourmet. I want to cook something special but it's all so thrown together, sort of like student food. Grimola.

Ditch the vegan cookbook, it's a mistake to try and produce vegan food that bases itself on normal food with the tasty bits left out. Go for something like Thai or Keralan food instead, that lends itself easily to being both vegan and tasty. I have a vegan friend who is also quite foodie, and that's the kind of thing she cooks for me - it's delicious. Love meat and fish normally, but I don't feel deprived by a yummy vegan Thai dinner.

Being vegan is going to affect their sense of taste, so I'm not sure if you can say with any accuracy what they will like or dislike.

Veganism is more like a religion than a set of choices, thus for many it's actually good that they suffer for their beliefs.
By that logic if you serve something barely edible alongside enticing non-vegan food they will feel virtuous by resisting temptation.

Seems to me the acme of a good host is someone who can feed her guests in a way that makes them feel good about themselves.

For a while I dated a serious vegetarian. I failed that test big time. She simply didn't know the true contents of most foods, and when I cooked I was scrupulous in not including animal products. Was fun as a challenge. Sadly, she didn't know just how prevalent animal fats etc were in food (biscuits ?), and learning this did not make her happy at all.
Thus there is an ethical dilemma in dealing with such people. If one knows that they are accidentally breaking the rules of their faith, should they be told ?

Most biscuits now don't have animal fats in them, though, and most of the veggies I know give a quick glimpse to the back of the packet.

Pruni, quick thought inspired by other thread - do them puy lentils cooked in red wine. Delish, v easy. You can combine this with a dal recipe by popping cumin seeds in the oil before putting in onion and garlic (soften, then put in lentils and red wine and some stock). It is by this point Echt Fusion Food.

I have a nice coconut milk thingywossname which can be happily adapted to vegetables such as leeks which I can find if you like. It is my mother's and therefore Echt Fusion again.

Sadly for your thesis DC my friend is vegetarian for ethical reasons and vegan because of a severe (and v real and hereditary) dairy intolerance. It pisses her off and embarrasses her, rather than giving her the inner glow of martyrdom you allude to.

And you underestimate vegetarians - your sample of one isn't really that impressive. I know some kooky and odd veggies but they all know about animal fats in biscuits/anchovies in Worcester sauce etc.

MMM at lentils in red wine etc, am thinking that would be great...

I used to like swedish glace

can you make ice cream with rcie milk? I rather like that too

and provamel custard, yum

Just attempted to actually drink some soy milk.
Thought I'd better know my enemy.
Holy shit that stuff is vile.

MTPW, basically avoid substitue animal stuff- make a good almond choccy cake or somthing.
I was vegan for several years and found that planning was key to eating tasty stuff-work with stuff that is already good to eat like nuts good quality dark choc, fresh seasonal veg and pulses.
but i do get it, cooking new stuff in new ways is always daunting whatever the reason behind the need to.

it is the devil's tit-milk Pruni and no mistake. DH is awash with it. Shudder

That's a very interesting approach nickiey (you're not dadslib in alias are you?)

no its not rude .. its caring

SW does your dh have a faint tang of rotting legume about his person always?

well to be fair he only has it on his cornflakes but it whiffs

I hate it, it's like drinking blackboard chalk powder mixed with dishwater, I would imagine.

What's that bridlingly vile stuff made out of pressed beans that vegans eat, Tempei? That is the devil's bread.

In my former life as chef-to-the-stars I used to do Asian food for vegans, pad Thai without the egg of course with ground peanuts and deep fried tofu and bean sprouts and stuff with Asian greens in pretend oyster sauce and very very hard scaley brown rice ( that last bit isn't true)
I love the idea of chocolate sorbet for dessert.

All sounds delish.
I quite like tempeh.
Or am I confusing it with natto?
Anyway it's academic because what I really want to cook is a fine stew. (Am too lazy/disorganised for good-looking food.)

OH hellfire, do you??? What on earth do you do with it

do you mean you want to do a vegan stew?

Picked up some seitan in the wholefood shop no Saturday (stocking up on lentils and beans:)) after reading about it on here. It looks like a sort of grey, ulcerated, rubbery Spamalike. Why anyone would want to devote time and energy to synthesizing Spam escapes me, but I certainly shan't be eating it!

i'm trying to not eat dairy foods, and only eat meat/fish once or twice a week, for medical reasons. I bloody hate sorbet and fruit salad - I'd rather eat dark chocolate (good stuff like Green & Black) any day. Puddings are incredibly difficult to do for vegans and there aren't many options. I actually do like the Swedish Glace stuff - just discovered chocolate flavour. Hate soya milk too - we have rice milk which has less of a flavour.
I'm just grateful that anyone makes an effort to feed me according to my dietary requests - fab.

pruni - I've got a receipe for a root veg stew which is absolutely fab - do you want it?

Stew is easy: Merchant Gourmet vacuum-packed chestnuts, mix of good mushrooms, leeks, lots of garlic and good olive oil, few sprigs of fresh thyme or sage, glass of red wine or guinness and some veg stock. Put in a low oven for hours and hours. You could put those puy lentils in this too, it will be yummy with or without them. Crusty bread and green salad to go with.

Nickie's almond choccy cake to follow would be heaven, with ice cream for those that do, and that swedish frozen toenail cheese for the rest. Or not.

Have you come across Madhur Jaffrey's 'Eastern Vegetarian Cooking' Pruni? There is lots and lots of stuff in there that is both yummy and vegan. (When I was student I used to cook a lot from 'The Single Vegan' (what a happy image that conjures up) by Leah Leneman. All vastly improved with grated cheese or a good dollop of double cream.)
Don't think it is bad manners to have both soy and dairy ice cream. And buy some fancy and out-of-season fruit for the pudding (unless that offends them).

lalaa! I've just remembered - I make a great root veg stew that is vegan I suppose...thanks for the offer and reminder!

Honeyflower's sounds great too. Thanks so much for that. it is all beginning to sound so much less daunting.

Almond chocolate cake also sounds incredibly nice - where would I get a recipe for that?

that stew sounds divine honeyflower, but you may have to get vegan wine as normal wine can contain isinglass which si squeezed out of dear little fish

"The Single Vegan"is very very dour in imagery is it not?

I've found the \link{http://www.slimmerrecipes.co.uk/view.php?id=762&type=\chocolate sorbet recipe} - take no notice of the slimming website it's on, it's from the Green and Black cookbook.

Nige Slater also recommends doing a cheating sorbet of whizzing up frozen raspberries with a slug of framboise liqueur. Gives you a hell of a hangover though, I find.

He also has the most divine pudding called Utter Bliss where you whizz up either strawberries or raspberries, can't remember which, I've done both, with sugar (a bit of cassis goes well here I find), plonk in teh hollow of a melon half, fill up with fizzy wine and eat immediately.