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I'm glad you warned them in advance. As someone who very closely resembles the people who you have invited to dinner I have to say honestly, that it would be difficult for me to enjoy the meal that you have planned. I have nothing against people who are vegan or anything like that (I am not a militant omnivore, lol).
If you were invited to a dinner at someone's house that ate meat would you expect them to provide you with some non-meat dishes? Certainly you would. It's a matter of courtesy, I would say. Just because your sensibilities are such that you eschew animal products, does not mean that your guests should be forced to eat the same way that you eat exclusively. The decent thing to do would be to provide them with some non-vegan choices just as a host would provide YOU with non-meat choices if the roles were reversed.
20yrsinBranson
I don't prepare meat in my home and I don't handle it. That's the way it is with most veg*ns.
Since it's about ethics can you understand why a veg*n would not serve meat or dairy if they were completely vegan?
I don't have meat in my home, nor do I permit meat in my home. My cooking utensils, my stove, my counter tops are all meat free. I also find meat disgusting.
The OP is making a genuine effort to serve a delicious meal and even asking the advice of people who do eat meat. But she and her SO do not and will not be preparing it for their guests.
To the OP: I eat just about any food and cuisine. I think the menu sounds terrific. The flavors, textures are great and the dishes all have aspects which will feel familiar to someone used to a mainstream American diet. My only hesitations are in the fruit with savory. I personally love that combination but I do find that many meat and potato types find it "strange".
Just an idea, but perhaps the salad portion could be served salad bar style. This will give the guests a sense of control over part of the meal and perhaps help them relax a bit.
To the posters who would not accept a meal at a vegans home: Wow! You would decline a chance to get to know someone better just becomes their life style is different than what you are comfortable with? It is just one meal - if it is not to your taste you can always hit McDonald's on the way home. This is not the same as going to a restaurant. This about a person making a damn nice offer of friendship, hospitality and graciousness to you when you are in an entirely new environment. The Op is putting a great deal of thought into a menu with the hope that the guests will enjoy it. I relish a good steak but I can certainly survive and even completely enjoy a vegan meal or two or three. Get over yourselves.
I, for one, would have been ecstatic if I had been welcomed so genuinely any of the times I've relocated.
I wouldn't accept a meal at a vegan's home, if I was told that they'd be serving tofu-turkey with mock-turkey gravy, eggplant with daiya cheese-"parmasan" and some other thing passed off to look like flesh, but wasn't. I don't eat those kinds of foods. And the host shouldn't be offended if I politely decline. Just like I wouldn't be offended if I told a friend I was having a pig-roast with mac & cheese at the shore, and she politely declined. There's no shame in not wanting to eat certain types of food, and neither side should be made to feel uncomfortable for their choices.
If the vegan host offered the type of menu that the OP is offering, you betcha I'd come. And if I told a vegan couple that I was preparing a tapas-style lunch with hummus and falafel with tahini, fried zucchini balls with tziziki, tabouleh salad, bean chili, and shredded real dairy cheese on the side, and fresh-made pico de gallo with fresh fruits for dessert...I'm sure the vegans would find *something* they could eat among my selection that would fill them up and be nutritious.
I wouldn't accept a meal at a vegan's home, if I was told that they'd be serving tofu-turkey with mock-turkey gravy, eggplant with daiya cheese-"parmasan" and some other thing passed off to look like flesh, but wasn't. I don't eat those kinds of foods. And the host shouldn't be offended if I politely decline. Just like I wouldn't be offended if I told a friend I was having a pig-roast with mac & cheese at the shore, and she politely declined. There's no shame in not wanting to eat certain types of food, and neither side should be made to feel uncomfortable for their choices.
If the vegan host offered the type of menu that the OP is offering, you betcha I'd come. And if I told a vegan couple that I was preparing a tapas-style lunch with hummus and falafel with tahini, fried zucchini balls with tziziki, tabouleh salad, bean chili, and shredded real dairy cheese on the side, and fresh-made pico de gallo with fresh fruits for dessert...I'm sure the vegans would find *something* they could eat among my selection that would fill them up and be nutritious.
This sounds reasonable. Meat analogues are an acquired taste, and one that an individual who eats meat may not even wish to acquire. Tofukey, after twenty years of holidays, and my kids growing up on the stuff, takes like Thanksgiving and the beginning of the holiday season. However, unless I am having other veg*ns to dinner, it would be the last thing I would serve.
I agree that the mael proposed by the OP sounds like haute cuisine, prepared meticulously and well thought out. The type of food I have eaten at vegan eateries in Manhattan and LA. Some of the items are made with different ingredients, than one might expect: but I am
sure that they will taste delicious - to anyone's palate!
I also don't think that you need to "give them a feeling of control" by having a salad bar.
Let's face it, eating out, at another person's home or a restaurant involves a degree of trust. There are restaurants that I don't trust, and there are a few people whose kitchens are not clean enough or who are not above slipping chicken broth into rice pilaf with the idea that I wouldn't notice. (I would) Thank God none of them have asked me to dinner!
Going to a "pig roast" is a nightmare for any vegetarian or vegan - and for many who do eat meat. A lot of people who practice an omnivorous diet, are appalled at the sight of a baby pig, face intact is revolting and sad.
Growing up Cuban and going/having many pig roats, I love me some roast sucklings but I had to have the plate brought to me. I can't stand going over and picking at it's insides. When I make roast pork, I just get the picnic shoulder cut.
As for comparing Vegan to a religion. While being Vegan isn't a religion in itself but it's similar as both follow a code of ethics. While I admire them, I can myself never become one fully. But it does inspire me to have a few vegan nights a week for health reasons. I hate to paint the entire Vegan community with a brush that says all of them preach and judge. Just like religious folks, you have the doorbell ringing kind and you have the regular people that just believe a different thing and have no desire to change you over to their beliefs. I have met more relaxed vegans/vegetarians than the judgey kind. It seems like for some people in this thread it's the opposite.
You would think we were talking about having children at this party with the gaging on vegetables and not wanting to try a new type of food. Grown adults should act in a better fashion and just try to enjoy the social aspect of this event.
You would think we were talking about having children at this party with the gaging on vegetables and not wanting to try a new type of food. Grown adults should act in a better fashion and just try to enjoy the social aspect of this event.
I agree, grown adults should act better.
This thread could not possibly remain about "what would omnivores think of this menu?" There is no way that it wouldn't turn into a debate about the merits of vegetarianism. And that's because MOST vegetarians are evangelists for their cause. Furthermore, they aren't content to eat how they please. They feel compelled to ban foods they find particularly offensive -- foie gras for instance.
I do not head to the vegan forum to stir up trouble. For instance, I could mention the hundreds of millions of little animals that are mangled in the threshers, combines and harvesters every year. And then I could watch vegans try to wrap their heads around the hypocrisy of their "I object to killing animals so that I can eat" position.
But I am quite content to let them enjoy their ivory tower on that yonder sub-forum. Pity they won't stay there.
"And that's because MOST vegetarians are evangelists for their cause."
I disagree. I think it may be that MOST vegetarians you are AWARE of are evangelists for their cause...I know as many vegetarians and vegans as I know meat eaters. They don't preach. We accept each others beliefs - in food,religion, lifestyle, etc.
I have found the proselytizing more in young adults. But that is part of the pov at that age - we are often very black & white in our outlook in our youth.
Should I paint all Christians as pushy and preachy based on the handful that knock on my door to "share" their philosophy? EVERY group has it's extremes. They are the ones we notice because they ARE extreme. The balanced live and let live folks don't make a fuss so their beliefs stay off our radar.
Order some foie gras in California and then tell me about the "balanced, live and let live folks who don't make a fuss."
They have posted pictures of chef's children with "crosshairs" on them because the chefs serve foie in their restaurants. Well, "served." They then simply banned the stuff. Pity, too, because those ducks were just about the most humanely-raised animals in America. By banning foie production in California, they snuffed out a beacon of responsible farming.
I have yet to meet the vegan who wouldn't personally ban all meat consumption if they had the magic wand to do so.
Most vegetarians I know aren't like that at all. But, most vegetarians I know, aren't vegans. The few vegans I know ARE like that. Out of around a dozen vegans, only two of them don't make an "issue" out of their veganism to anyone else, unless someone else goes out of their way to specifically ask.
Many vegetarians I know, are vegetarians because they keep kosher and find it easier to simply be vegetarian, than to have two different sinks, two different refrigerators, two ovens, two sets of dishes, etc. etc. etc. I tend to agree with them and if I kept a strictly kosher home I'd probably be vegetarian again as well.
In the case of my kosher vegetarian friends, it -is- a matter of religion, combined with practicality. I also know several Muslims who observe their dietary laws, and as such, are vegetarian when they're in the house, and not quite as strict when they're outside of it. They still won't eat any pork though.
Also - as a hard-core bacon-loving hot-dog eating chicken-consuming ex-vegetarian ex-pseudo-macrobiotic dietary mishmosh kinda gal - you couldn't pay me to eat foi gras. There is a line over which even I will not cross. That's pretty much past the line.
Again, the foie gras situation is the extreme. PETA tends to be very much at that end of the spectrum.
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