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I am not completely vegan, but am avoiding meat and dairy and almost every dish people prepare at holiday feasts has some sort of meat, butter or milk in it. I don't want to miss out on those mashed potatoes and yams/sweet potatoes. Is it rude to bring my own vegan versions of mashed potatoes and gravy and sweet potato casserole just for my husband and I? Even if they are preparing their own with dairy/butter? What do some of you do in this situation?
Whether it is rude or not depends on how you present this to the hostess. If you are not rude about it, don't try and push your views down others throats etc go for it, but remember true vegan eating is something that is very hard for many to understand. You do say, you are not a true vegan, so I am not sure why eating the sweet potatoes and mashed pots just a few times a year should be an issue?.
Flexible? I could not stand meat in my mouth or the taste of death.
WAAAAAYYY better idea - get together with some compassionate people -related or not related and celebrate LIFE!
oh I don't think she meant when it comes to the meat. Read the OPs first post; she says she isn't truely a vegan and I too am wondering, if that is the case, be flexible; she is talking about the potatoes, not the meat. I don't think anyone is suggesting she eat meat..
I might add, many of us want to spend time with family and do not want to limit ourselves to those who eat just like we do, plus there are many compasionate people in the world that are not vegans or vegetarians.
I don't think everyone has read everything I wrote in this thread since the original post. Everything worked out FINE at Thanksgiving with me bringing the vegan mashed potatoes for us and my brother's family and my sister brought real mashed potatoes for everyone else. I also brought a sweet potato dish for EVERYONE to enjoy. And since then I have become very flexible and even had a little bit of turkey and some real ranch dressing the other day. I've learned once in a while isn't going to probably kill me and I even have chicken once every couple of weeks or so if it looks good to me.
And for the record I don't consider myself a vegan even though I addressed the thread to vegans - more that I'm on a 98% plant-based diet. I avoid dairy and meat as much as possible because I feel I don't need to have them on a regular basis, nor desire to eat them regularly. I do still eat free range eggs a couple times a week because I do love them. For Christmas I have 2 parties - at my brother's house and also one later at my stepson's. The first everyone brings their own dish this time and the second will most likely be a turkey dinner. I will have turkey and probably several dishes made with butter or dairy as I feel it is alot easier to give in once in a while than prepare my own.
I don't think everyone has read everything I wrote in this thread since the original post. Everything worked out FINE at Thanksgiving with me bringing the vegan mashed potatoes for us and my brother's family and my sister brought real mashed potatoes for everyone else. I also brought a sweet potato dish for EVERYONE to enjoy. And since then I have become very flexible and even had a little bit of turkey and some real ranch dressing the other day. I've learned once in a while isn't going to probably kill me and I even have chicken once every couple of weeks or so if it looks good to me.
And for the record I don't consider myself a vegan even though I addressed the thread to vegans - more that I'm on a 98% plant-based diet. I avoid dairy and meat as much as possible because I feel I don't need to have them on a regular basis, nor desire to eat them regularly. I do still eat free range eggs a couple times a week because I do love them. For Christmas I have 2 parties - at my brother's house and also one later at my stepson's. The first everyone brings their own dish this time and the second will most likely be a turkey dinner. I will have turkey and probably several dishes made with butter or dairy as I feel it is alot easier to give in once in a while than prepare my own.
I am glad it all worked out: no, you are right, I am sure we did not read every posting..Though a little different, you eat about like our one granddaughter..She does eat a lot of chicken, but that is almost the only meat she eats. I don't think she is as strict with her diet as you are, but she does really eat healthy and tries to teach her 2 girls to eat the same way (not her husband though) For her, tomorrow, while the rest of us eat Prime Rib i will grill a chicken breast for her and our 6 year old (almost) great granddaughter. I try to consider everyone's likes and dislikes when I fix holiday meals. Thank goodness, there seems to always be things everyone likes.
I'm not a vegetarian anymore, but I was for years, and as my husband has divorced parents, we had three Thanksgivings to go to each year. (I do not recommend this to anyone, for any reason, ever.)
At my parents' house, my mom made all of the sides vegetarian, plus a plant-based "turkey"/main dish for me, plus mushroom gravy.
We usually celebrated his Dad's side at his stepmom's sister's house, and she always had a wide array of food, with plenty of vegetarian salads, sides, etc.
At his Mom's house -- that one was usually our last in the day, so we were full to bursting by then -- but she always had a lot of appetizers. Dips, crudites, chips and salsa, stuff like that. By that point, I was primarily just picking at food anyway, so a small plate was more than fine with me.
For people who don't have these options, I'd really recommend just calling the host ahead of time and asking what they think is best to do, if it would be all right for you to bring a dish or two for everyone to share. Having hosted Thanksgiving a few times myself, I know I would be thrilled for someone else to bring a dish. You'd be amazed what people will do for you if you just politely let them know ahead of time -- my husband's meat-loving extended family invented all kinds of awesome dishes at their family cookouts!
I'm not a vegetarian anymore, but I was for years, and as my husband has divorced parents, we had three Thanksgivings to go to each year. (I do not recommend this to anyone, for any reason, ever.)
At my parents' house, my mom made all of the sides vegetarian, plus a plant-based "turkey"/main dish for me, plus mushroom gravy.
We usually celebrated his Dad's side at his stepmom's sister's house, and she always had a wide array of food, with plenty of vegetarian salads, sides, etc.
At his Mom's house -- that one was usually our last in the day, so we were full to bursting by then -- but she always had a lot of appetizers. Dips, crudites, chips and salsa, stuff like that. By that point, I was primarily just picking at food anyway, so a small plate was more than fine with me.
For people who don't have these options, I'd really recommend just calling the host ahead of time and asking what they think is best to do, if it would be all right for you to bring a dish or two for everyone to share. Having hosted Thanksgiving a few times myself, I know I would be thrilled for someone else to bring a dish. You'd be amazed what people will do for you if you just politely let them know ahead of time -- my husband's meat-loving extended family invented all kinds of awesome dishes at their family cookouts!
sounds like you handled it very well. I do think, there are lots of veggie dishes people can bring that might be really well accepted. yes, calling ahead is the best idea. I also think, if the hostess is aware of guests being vegetarians they can provide choices. I will be honest, I don't know if I would go so far as to have a meatless turkey for just one or two people, but I would certainly try and have enough choices that no one would go hungry.
I am now going vegan (as best as I can, about 95% there) and last year for Thanksgiving I was the one cooking. I had 1 family member who HAD to have all the traditional dishes, 1 that needed high protein, 2 that were lactose free, 1 normal diet and then me.
I did a Tofurkey Roast (had a coupon and paid $30 for the roast, gravy, stuffing and cake), a small traditional turkey, made mashed potatoes with cauliflower, rice milk and Earth Balance buttery stick and seasonings, did steamed fresh green beans with roasted almonds, baked sweet potatoes, roasted acorn squash, homemade dinner rolls with rice milk and then carrot cake. MIL wanted her sweet potato casserole and since I knew hubby would eat it when he wasn't really supposed to, I let her bring it and limited what hubby could have. All went well. MIL liked the Tofurkey and there were no leftover on anything except the regular turkey.
I am now going vegan (as best as I can, about 95% there) and last year for Thanksgiving I was the one cooking. I had 1 family member who HAD to have all the traditional dishes, 1 that needed high protein, 2 that were lactose free, 1 normal diet and then me.
I did a Tofurkey Roast (had a coupon and paid $30 for the roast, gravy, stuffing and cake), a small traditional turkey, made mashed potatoes with cauliflower, rice milk and Earth Balance buttery stick and seasonings, did steamed fresh green beans with roasted almonds, baked sweet potatoes, roasted acorn squash, homemade dinner rolls with rice milk and then carrot cake. MIL wanted her sweet potato casserole and since I knew hubby would eat it when he wasn't really supposed to, I let her bring it and limited what hubby could have. All went well. MIL liked the Tofurkey and there were no leftover on anything except the regular turkey.
It's funny! That's what always seems to happen. The people who eat an omnivorous diet, chow down on the vegan food. The meat gets left aside.
What goes into your MIL's sweet potato casserole? I've had 23 years of experience turning non vegan dishes vegan. If you want, I can give it a try.
I am now going vegan (as best as I can, about 95% there) and last year for Thanksgiving I was the one cooking. I had 1 family member who HAD to have all the traditional dishes, 1 that needed high protein, 2 that were lactose free, 1 normal diet and then me.
I did a Tofurkey Roast (had a coupon and paid $30 for the roast, gravy, stuffing and cake), a small traditional turkey, made mashed potatoes with cauliflower, rice milk and Earth Balance buttery stick and seasonings, did steamed fresh green beans with roasted almonds, baked sweet potatoes, roasted acorn squash, homemade dinner rolls with rice milk and then carrot cake. MIL wanted her sweet potato casserole and since I knew hubby would eat it when he wasn't really supposed to, I let her bring it and limited what hubby could have. All went well. MIL liked the Tofurkey and there were no leftover on anything except the regular turkey.
I'm curious -- as one who has had recidivist gravy problems at the holidays -- what kind of gravy did you use on the tofurkey and how did it taste?
It's funny! That's what always seems to happen. The people who eat an omnivorous diet, chow down on the vegan food. The meat gets left aside.
What goes into your MIL's sweet potato casserole? I've had 23 years of experience turning non vegan dishes vegan. If you want, I can give it a try.
Main thing in MIL's sweet potato casserole I can't deal with is the sweetened condensed milk. That and the 2 tons of brown sugar. Mainly, I can change it, except for the milk.
What can I do for both sweetened condensed and also evaporated milk?
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