Neighbourhood "running dinner"

[NewToRenting]

We live overseas, in a multicultural community (with lots of Britishers hence asking on here!). One neighbour has decided to organise a "running dinner".

Google definition: A running dinner is a dinner where (almost) none of the participants know each other and every course is eaten at a different house of one of the participants. This participant is called the host of that round.

I'm an introvert but decided this would be a good chance to know some neighbours at least, so signed up.

The schedule for the evening looks like this:
5.30pm - Arrive for starter.
7.00pm - Arrive at main course - I have been asked to host this.
8.30pm - Arrive at dessert course.
10.00pm - After dinner drinks.

Ours is a (boring!) teetotall vegetarian household. I'm planning to serve chick pea curry, rice and raita. Does the menu sound ok? Should I be serving soft drinks/ salads/ side dishes as well? Does this look like enough food?

Though the instance I remember most clearly, they were living in a village in Buckinghamshire, and were, I assume, using whatever expression was used there? I mean, they weren’t the organisers, they were just participating and hosting one course. From what I remember their village one had six ‘stops’…?

(I’m not sure I get why ‘safari supper’ makes any sense, anyway, unless you’re eating what you shoot on the spot? I’d never heard of one.)

@NewToRenting Your update sounds perfect. Please let us know how it went!

Would people not bring their own drink? It's a lot to expect you to serve drinks to strangers - they probably all like very different things.

Thanks for all the comments and suggestions.

Organisers have already said they would expect to see wine or some sort of alcohol with the meal. It's not really fair but I'm going to suck it up and be nice.

Organisers have also been warned that food will be vegetarian. I offered to swap with the person doing Starters and was nicely but firmly steered back to veggie mains.

To those worried about spicy, it's Indian cuisine so yes there will be spices but it will definitely not be hot, as my family likes fairly bland food. I appreciate that what constitutes 'spicy' will differ from person to person. Hopefully sensitive stomachs will cope with rice and raita.

I remember my very English (non South African) parents having safari suppers in the 80s

Meat eaters can eat vegetarian food
Vegetarians can’t eat meat.

Surely you can see this.

Mango chutney! Essential in my opinion!

How did you get given the main anyway? It really does make more sense for the veggie teetotaller to have the starter if they’ve got such a problem with it. Would be different if they were cool doing it your way, but they’re obviously not. As suspected, which is why you got the advice of having to serve alcohol. It’s just odd that they have you this course.

This. The whole point of something like this is to get to know each other isn't it? I would look forward to being served something I might not have tried before. The obsession with meat and alcohol is so bizarre-most cultures across the globe have fantastic vegetarian dishes as meat was (and is once again becoming) prohibitively expensive to eat every day.

And surely people can go without alcohol for one course? 🙄

Really? What if you're a recovering alcoholic?

OP: I would serve a fancy ish meal that I and my family would normally eat with a lovely selection of soft drinks. I have never assumed that I will automatically be served alcohol when dining in someone else's house.

@FourSteeples
(I’m not sure I get why ‘safari supper’ makes any sense, anyway, unless you’re eating what you shoot on the spot? I’d never heard of one.)

It’s condescending colonizer terminology which is why I said “ew”.

Then that’s on you, not all the neighbours you’re inviting over. If you can’t host the way that is expected in a progressive dinner then don’t host at all.

It’s different if you’re throwing your own dinner party; do it however you want. But you can’t do that in a progressive dinner where expectations have been made clear.

I would provide nice cold beers but request that if people prefer other drinks that they bring them along.

(I’m not sure I get why ‘safari supper’ makes any sense, anyway, unless you’re eating what you shoot on the spot? I’d never heard of one.)

Inasmuch as I’ve thought about it, I suppose I assumed that it was derived from the fact that if you’re ‘on safari’, you’re travelling round to different places to observe the wildlife. In this case, your neighbours!

It feels a bit your expectations tbh. I've had dinner parties with and without alcohol. It's never been a big enough factor that it had to be there or not.

Personally I love a couple glasses of wine with a meal but it's certainly not an expectation...

I'd suggest two bottles of wine total, and two rather than three curries.

You really don't want to make it so delicious that you get lumbered with mains each time

But it is an expectation of the people involved in this dinner journey, so that’s kinda what matters.

@NewToRenting I'd be inclined to serve Indian Pale Ale or lager rather than wine.

One idea for drinks is lassi which will go perfectly with your curries. It's an Indian yoghurt and ice based drink, can be fruity (eg with mango pulp) or salty, easy to make, recipes on line.
Lots of the Indian restaurants local to me serve it.

cookbook.pfeiffer.net.au/carrot-salad-gujarati/

Add this Gujarati carrot salad to your repertoire

"Lucky" draw maybe. I honestly don't know how. I reconfirmed the veggie main, and offered to swap with the Starters person. The offer was declined.

It sounds good to me, and thank you for people posting recipes. I've bookmarked some.

As an aside, I'd never heard of these dinners until I read a book (I think, may have been something I watched) where the neighbourhood had one of these dinners and someone died from anaphylaxis. It turned out he was abusive and beat his wife so all the neighbours got together and killed him by putting nuts or something in all the courses. It was a good tale.

Your menu sounds lovely but please check for allergies - some people who are allergic to peanut (a legume) are also allergic to other legumes such as chickpea (and lentils, peas, etc).

They did it in that show Desperate Housewives. That’s the only reason I knew about them 😂

All you wonderful helpful people, please help me choose the beer - I checked for what's available, sensibly priced, and brands I have heard of (not that that means much!): Asahi Dry, Budweiser, Stella Artois, Corona Extra. For 4 people (max) drinking, are 6 bottles enough? There will be other non alcoholic beverages: mango lassi, salty lassi, lemonade, water.