recommendations for a veggie buffet? (my contentious wedding) :)

[bohemianbint]

Need to come up with items for a buffet and they have to be fantastic (lots of aggro carnivores ready to pounce.)

THinking maybe a couple of hot dishes - tagine, thai curry, chilli? Rice, cous cous, salads, but really need some inspiration. Any suggestions?

my friend and i were talking about wedding today, she is veggie

stuffed peppers/big flat meaty mushrooms iyswim
salad
big crusty bread

your hot dishes sound lovely.

A couple of big lovely cheeses, lots of nice breads. Went to a belgian wedding which had essentially cheese, bread, stuff to go with cheese and bread, and beer. We copied it, but added cold meats such as parma ham, and it was fab - 5 years ago, and people still talk about the lovely food!

oooh, stuffed peppers...

I just hope the venue can come up with t he goods - they seem a bit clueless and their suggestions looked like they just wanted to raid the freezer cabinet at Iceland...

pizza

Blue cheese/goats cheese ones, with red pepprs, mushrooms etc

potato wedges

I think if you had three hot dishes (chilli, curry, and something non spicy), plus rice, couscous and baked potatoes, salads, cheeses and bread, then no one could complain. It would also be good to cater for vegans and gluten free people in the main plan.

Make sure theres some nice chutneys/pickles as well, then those who are scared by the hot dishes being veggie can do a ploughmans.

I'm veggie and for Christmas did some goats cheese on top of cranberry sauce on top of puff pastry bite type things (have since made larger) and my carnivorous friends and family loved them. My Dad even told me I could make them again (which for him is a massive compliment)!

Felafel, rice salad, mini muffins? (Delia does a really good recipe that freezes well too.) will watch this with interest as I have a buffet to do too for my 2 DS's Christening in May....

all fab ideas, thank you...mmmm, some lovely falafel, pitta bread and loads of home made hummus...greek salad...

am starving now!

I don't have any useful suggestions but just wanted to say that I had a veggie wedding breakfast-buffet (lots of moaners as well) and I had it at a much-loved, no longer in business veggie restaurant in Lewisham.

The food was fab. We had things like, spicy red pepper and peanut soup for starters and lots of other stuff which I can't remember (it was 12 years ago). Oh, and a huge
mountain of profiteroles for pudding.

Good luck with it.

I don't have anything to add either, but just wanted to say all your suggestions sound absolutely wonderful. Just make sure you have plenty of it, cos carnivores always seem to complain that they are still hungry after a veggie meal - I'm sure it's psychological. Oh BTW what about spanakopitas spinach and cheese pasties? yummm

The most important thing is that you enjoy your wedding day with your nearest and dearest and have a wonderful time, so enjoy and don't worry about the moaners

Congratulations and good luck [wedding bells icon]

Whole brie with intense mustroom mixture on top, wrapped in filo pastry and baked

Blue cheese cheesecake (very rich)

Leek and spinach and goats cheese in filo (sorry it is filo again)

Masses of interesting salads

Stuffed mustrooms/peppers

Can I come to this wedding - it is gona be so great

I'v been to 2 wedding which served hot adn cold vegetarian dishes

One more Asian themed - mushroom curry, dahl, rice, various salads

The other - wild rice salad, 'posh' quiche and pastry type things, green salads, ratatouille, couscous etc

Could you approach a veggie restaurant and pretend you want them to cater for it and see what they come up with? Bit cheeky I know

I've been to a vegan wedding and the food was great and no-one complained

try the ottelenghi (sic) cook book. Fabulous recipes and has the cachet of being achingly trendy.

2 types of quiche, mini puff pastry pizas, lots of salads-greek, broccoli (red onion and dried cranberries), pasta, lots of cheeses and interesting breads. amazing desserts- cheese cake, choc cake etc

can I just recommend also that you are very firm with your venue's chefs if they are doing the catering. Meat-cooking chefs can sometimes be very scathing of vegetarian food and, as a result, are neither good at coming up with inspiration nor motivated to make it well. Its your big day and your choice to have veggie food, so make sure they know who is boss and that your expectations for the food are every bit as high as if there was meat in it (i get the impression that some chefs think that people who are veggie just arent interested in food [is there a rolling eyes emoticon?] so they treat veggie catering slightly disdainfully. EEjits!

Lots of "mini" things are good fun at buffets

• Mini veggie-burgers and chips
• Mini blue cheese cheesecake (yum - do you have a recipe indignatio?)
• mini pizzas
• mini halloumi and pepper kebab (or stuffed pitta parcels)
• mini veggie hot-dogs
• mini meatfree pork pies etc
• mini quiches
• mini yorkshire pudding stuffed with roast onions and gravy

if you like the stuff, you might want to contemplate using meat substitute like chilli made with quorn mince - usually the meat eaters dont realise its not a meat one til you tell them! But depends if you like it yourself, I love them (lapsed veggie) but my brother (veggie) does not.

Thank you so much for all the ridiculously lovely sounding suggestions.

Have now forwarded a list to the venue - but SRM, you make a good point and it is something that concerns me, if the chef seemed a bit clueless about veggie food am going to have to keep my eye on him.

I really don't understand people who make hard work of not putting meat in a meal, it's really quite ignorant, from a chef, isn't it?