Catering for vegetarians at large party

[SevenKingsMustDie]

DH is turning 40 this summer and we are having a party in the garden (as long is the weather is ok!).

We DO NOT want to be tied down to a BBQ and not be able to mingle, so I am buying a heap of bread rolls, and making slow cooked beef, pulled chicken and pulled pork for people to fill the rolls, with sauces and 'naice' salads.

Am looking for suggestions for a veggie alternative - needs to be ok being kept warm in a chafing dish for a while...

TIA for your ideas!

And they're always very accusatory 'the meat eaters storm in and hoover up all the vegetarian food leaving us to starve'.

But yes, it's the caterers fault for not providing a balanced selection taking into account what people generally eat.

Yes, because they do. It’s not a criticism against meat eaters, it’s a statement of fact.

Most veggies have been meat eaters at some point and realise no one lives solely on meat, and most people prefer a variety of dishes, including veggie and vegan.

the criticism is for caterers who don’t seem to be aware of this phenomenon. Which is why vegetarians point it out to anyone planning to cater. No veggie is suprised that everyone will share veggie dishes, yet caterers don’t seem to realise in their calculations and provide enough to share between every guest.

I refer to my earlier post about caterer maths.

What I'm not understanding is why is this even a thing that needs to be said? Do people think vegetarian food is something other than just food? Surely it is common sense to provide more of what everyone can eat (i.e. plant-based foods) and a smaller selection for those who like other things in addition to this (i.e meat). People really need to get it out of their heads that vegetarian food is special food only for vegetarians.

It needs to be said because people regularly under cater the vegetarian food. I'm not exaggerating when I say 90% of the non-family events I go to, I see vegetarian food being undercatered.
I went to an event with a pizza buffet last year, there was 1 vegan pizza and 9 meat pizzas. The vegan pizza was gone before I got to the buffet table. The hosts hadn't thought the meat eaters would eat anything other than the pepperoni pizzas.

Also I agree, caterers and hosts need to get it out of their heads that vegetarian food is special and only for vegetarians. That's the message everyone is trying to get across by pointing out that meat eaters eat vegetarian food too.

I've been banging on about this for ages. Stop talking about meat eaters and start thinking about most people being omnivores and some being vegans/vegetarians.

Vegetarians (and vegans) need to understand that, too. I'm sure I'm not the only person who has been told off or told I can't have something because "that's for vegetarians". I had a colleague at a lunchtime work meeting tell me that I couldn't have a cheese and pickle sandwich, and that there were chicken salad sandwiches for me.

Again, your issue should be with the caterers. I don't know a single vegetarian or vegan that wouldn't be happy for anyone to be eating a vegetarian option. The only time I've ever seen vegetarians point this out is when the caterers have under catered and have intended the cheese sandwiches to be for the vegetarians and the chicken sandwiches to be for the people that eat meat. And hence vegetarians go to great lengths to remind anyone hosting or catering that everyone will eat the vegetarian food.

These all need to be served hot. I'd prefer salad to lukewarm curry.

If there were a limited number of cheese & pickle sandwiches & a tableful of chicken salad ones, I might have said the same thing. This is why buffets should be vegetarian by default with a few extra bits for people who want meat.

I don't agree with this. There is a lot of gatekeeping of food by some people that has nothing to do with catering. No one should be telling anyone else what food they can and can't eat.

But if you were standing in front of a table of food and knew that you could only eat food from one plate, while everyone else there could eat from the whole table, wouldn’t you want to object to people eating from that plate?

I've never experienced or witnessed any gatekeeping of food except when the caterers have under catered. Due to allergies, I check with the caterers at every event and will regularly get told that they've catered XYZ for meat eaters and cheese sandwiches (or similar) for vegetarians. I've then seen meat eaters accusing vegetarians of gatekeeping food by pointing out that the cheese sandwiches are for the vegetarians. The vegetarians aren't to blame that the caterers haven't included any cheese sandwiches for the meat eaters when calculating how many they need.

I don't eat sandwiches with mayo. Hence why I went for the cheese and pickle. Why should I go without food when there is food there that I can eat? Why is a vegetarian more entitled to eat than I am?

But that is what happened. I wanted to take the thing I could eat and was told I couldn't have it because I wasn't vegetarian.

I've then seen meat eaters accusing vegetarians of gatekeeping food by pointing out that the cheese sandwiches are for the vegetarians.

Vegetarians should be taking it up with the hosts and caterers, not dictating to people what they can eat.

We do, I'll ask the hosts/caterers what I can eat and then go to get some of that. If someone else is about to take the last one, I'll politely let them know it's not intended for them. We're all adults and it shouldn't be a case of running to the hosts so they can enforce their intended catering.
Also re: your mayo example, if you'd told the caterers in advance that you don't eat mayo then I would expect they would cater enough non mayo sandwiches and you could have politely replied 'oh I told the caterers about my dietary preferences and these are for me too'

I have no control over catering at work meetings, so I can't request mayo-free food.

Anyone with a very specific dietary requirement like being GF or lactose-free usually has to pre-request this, and then it is set aside until they go to get it. If you want exclusive access to vegetarian food, then arrange to have it set aside for you alone.

Food open to everyone is for anyone.

God I've never been to a catered event, work or otherwise, where they've not checked for dietary requirements in advance. I've also never been to a catered event where the food intended to cater to my allergies is separate, it's always out with the food that is viewed as 'for everyone'. Sounds like your work caterers are the issue.
At a barbecue wedding reception, invites asked for dietary preferences. When food was served, I asked the caterers what I could eat and they said there was 10 veggie Kebab things that were veggie, gluten free, and catered to my allergies, as they had 10 guests in attendance that were veggie/gluten free/allergy sufferers. For the meat eaters they had catered beef burgers and pork sausages. The meat eaters had eaten half the veggie options despite being told they were for people who had specific dietary food, as they thought it was just 'vegetarians gatekeeping food'. The caterers apologised and explained they hadn't expected meat eaters to eat the veggie kebabs. We ended up ordering fast food on deliveroo.

Were all the meat eaters asked in advance whether they eat beef or pork? Just because it is meat doesn't mean it is meat that they like.

Anyway, if food is specifically for you, it shouldn't be available to everyone then.

As for my work, it's a hospital. Sometimes you have to do training session or meetings over your lunch break. They provide sandwiches and tea/coffee. It's not a fancy event. Funnily enough, patients with dietary preferences are catered for individually. Everyone else gets to select what they want from the main trolley that day. The main trolley includes meat-free foods which aren't just for vegetarians.

Everyone was asked to specify any dietary preferences on the rsvp, so yes people had the opportunity to specify that they didn't eat pork or beef.

Every catered event I've ever been to, they just put out all the food in one place, no keeping food specifically for one group separate.

I've found hospital catering terrible personally, I wasn't fed once when I had to stay in hospital, as they couldn't accommodate my allergies. I wasn't well enough to leave the ward to get food. Luckily I had a protein bar in my handbag and my relative brought me food on my second day in hospital, by which point I'd been 48 hours with only water and a single protein bar.

After giving birth (2010, not the 1950s) the caterers in the hospital just couldn’t get their heads around me not eating meat. They offered me a cheese salad with potatoes. The potatoes were mashed.

That night they were very pleased to present me with a whole plate of mashed potato scoops, overcooked frozen broccoli and about a pint of instant gravy - whole thing was cold so the gravy had set. 🤢

I got DH to bring me food.

Everyone was asked to specify any dietary preferences on the rsvp, so yes people had the opportunity to specify that they didn't eat pork or beef

But it's not always that straightforward. I don't 'not eat beef or pork' but I'd never choose steak, burgers, pizza with meat on or chicken sandwiches over pretty much anything else, so faced with a choice of burgers, sausages or vegetable kebabs, I'd probably choose the vegetable kebab, especially if it had halloumi or something with it. But I wouldn't know until I saw the food.

If they served something like belly pork, or marinated chicken, I'd probably eat that. You can't really put that in a preference that you can ask for 'I don't like dull, fast food like cooking', which is probably how it's best described.

Not Quorn. Lots of people are allergic to it.

I was in hospital about 10 years ago, so also not the 50s, and the caterers couldn't understand that anyone could have food allergies to anything other than peanuts.
I was so ill, I was running a fever and remember thinking that I must be losing the plot because I was telling the caterers that I am allergic to XYZ but could eat a piece of fruit or even dry toast if they had any, and they were replying with comments like "the only allergy option is XYZ, it doesn't have peanuts.. Your options are..." and list the options that I'd already explained I couldn't eat. I laughed a bit hysterically, nurses came in, I explained the issue and they said they'd find something for me to eat, then never came back. This happened three times a day for my entire stay.