New Year dinner - starter ideas, lots of restrictions

[HalloumiFries]

Help. I have the in-laws coming round for dinner on New Year's Day. Main is fine - we're scottish so going traditional with steak pie. Dessert will be a cheeseboard - FiL is diabetic but refuses to eat a sensible diet. He has a very sweet tooth so it's easier not to offer any type of pudding otherwise he'll have about 4 helpings and arguments will ensue.

I'd like a fairly light starter as the following courses are quite heavy but I'm stuck.

I'm allergic to shellfish and the in-laws don't do fish of any sort. MiL also won't eat mushrooms and FiL won't have anything made with cream or yogurt, anything obviously "foreign" or anything spicy. Obviously I can't do anything with pastry or cheese as these feature prominently in the rest of the meal. This pretty much knocks out my entire repertoire of starters.

I'd happily go without but they are also sticklers for tradition and very clearly expect three courses when they come for dinner.

Ideas gratefully received. Thank you.

I'd be tempted to do something I'd like to eat for everyone else and then give them melon and parma ham. If they are that fussy they can't complain about a lack of variety

Oh yes avocado vinaigrette is a good idea. As is endive salad.

Do you think they might be scared of figs? I’d stick to melon and ham- if it ain’t broke!

All my parents and in laws’ generation seem to prefer quite bland meat and veg now they’ve got older and it definitely wasn’t always like that for all of them.

If it's not too late, another option would be cock-a-leekie soup (traditional at ours, alongside steak pie, on New Years Day).