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Inviting a vegan and vegetarian to Thanksgiving dinner
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Anonymous
Also get a box of better batter or some other gluten free flour mix, you can substitute it for flour in any recipe. I eat gluten free and will be making thanksgiving for 10 gluten free and no one will know the difference, hopefully 
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Anonymous
To respond to the PP - my aunt will be with us for several days so I need to buy a 7 days of meals/snacks for her that are all gluten free. Hence anticipating dropping a small fortune at TJ's. Thanks for the above tip about the gluten free flour mix. Good replies all, thanks. -The OP |
Anonymous
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I just saw that the NY times has a vegan thanksgiving article today
http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/11/04/a-vegan-chef-dishes-up-thanksgiving/ |
Anonymous
PP here, well, you are very nice. My son has Celiac and I can't imagine my family going out of their way to make special food for him for a whole day, much less a week. We end up bringing all GF food to relatives house for him because our family wouldn't bother tweaking any recipes so that he can actually eat them. I hope your aunt appreciates your effort. |
Anonymous
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Invite them, and see what they say. The vegetarian will have plenty of options, the vegan not so much. However, if the vegan has been vegan for any amount of time, she will understand how to navigate invitations.
The big dilemma, I think, would be butter for the vegan. I do like a sweet potato dish--very simple and vegan. Cube sweet potatoes into bite size pieces and layer onto a pyrex dish, add a few cloves of garlic, cover liberally with olive oil, sprinkle salt and black pepper. Add a few tablespoons of water. Cover with foil. Bake at 375 for 45 minutes or until tender. Great combo of savory and sweet. |
Anonymous
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some simple dishes that would be perfect for vegans, vegetarians AND those on a gluten free diet are:
- roasted root vegetables - baked winter squash with toasted walnuts - wild rice pilaf (with or without nuts) - cranberry - pear wild rice stuffing (OK you'll have to find gluten free bread for this one) - brussel sprouts - maple sweet potatoes - baked onions - various cranberry relishes - roasted corn kernels - mixed green salad with apples and beets some recipes here: http://vegkitchen.com/recipes/vegetarian-thanksgiving.htm#3 |
Anonymous
| I really like to make stuffed acorn squash in the fall-- there's lots of recipes online. If I'm making it for a crowd then I usually scoop out the squash and cook it casserole-style. |
Anonymous
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Wow - this is really fantastic. Great recipes and tips.
FWIW (update), our vegetarian neighbor is coming for dinner, but her husband has to work and won't be able to come until later so I told him to come by for dessert. Hopefully, this will all work out...
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Anonymous
| I am cooking for 15. One Vegetarian, one with lactose intolerance, one allergic to soy, and two that only eat Korean food. The soy allergy is going to be the most difficult. I can't use any store bought bread or croutons, chicken broth, cream of mushroom soup (for green bean casserole), soy sauce (for Korean food) or most other things that help make Thanksgiving easier. |
Anonymous
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NP here. Thanks to the PPs with the links to the great NYT articles!
I'm vegetarian and my attitude when invited over for any meal, including Thanksgiving, is to accept in what I hope is a gracious way. I don't hide or advertise that I'm veg so sometimes have to inform/remind that I'm veg and I usually say something like "FYI I do not eat meat, but please do not go to trouble to make special things as I am delighted to bring a veg dish". I figure the burden is on me as the one with less mainstream dietary requirements. On the other hand, I would feel excluded and annoyed if zero effort was put into making things veg-UNfriendly (like sprinkling bacon all over things that otherwise easily could have been vegetarian, like mashed potatoes or mac and cheese). Obviously vegan is harder to accomodate. My bottom line advice is to invite them. You do not have to provide an entire vegan meal. I'm sure the vegan is used to dealing with these issues and will offer to bring something. I think the kindest thing you could do is to invite them and make some small, easy concessions. For instance, when making mashed potatoes, either reserve a small amount of potatoes and make some vegan--or simply bake a few potatoes when you're cooking other things and offer those as an alternative. |
Anonymous
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I agree that you should just make your sides so that everyone can eat them. Just ask them to bring a "main course" and a dessert for themselves for Thanksgiving. You can also buy a prepared vegan gravy at Whole Foods if you can't handle that on your own.
As for the sides, use Earth Balance instead of butter, veggie broth instead of chicken (you can by "un"chicken broth at Whole Foods), and I make a very very good mashed potatoes with soy milk that NO ONE has EVER figured out is vegan. Ever. I think it's great that you're being inclusive and there are lots of options out there! |
Anonymous
| Any pre-prepared gravy is probably not gluten free. |
Anonymous
Since when is "I only eat Korean food" a legitimate dietary need that must be accommodated? Are they allergic or morally-opposed to all non-Korean food? I wouldn't make anything special for those two - let them bring their own. |
Anonymous
Since they are my inlaws and have always and will always only eat Korean food. I don't think their dietary tracts handle "Foreign" food all that well since they don't eat it that often. |
Anonymous
if you really want to try and accommodate people, i'd just make sure there are at least a few dishes that each person can eat. in other words, not every dish will be suitable for every person because that's going to be impossible. but honestly for the koreans, as a korean myself, just make sure there's kimchi and korean hot sauce on the table and they'll probably eat all the american stuff and still be happy. |