If you are giving a dinner party soon are you worried about cooking for a vegetarian that you know is coming? Of have you been reluctant to invite a friend or colleague to dinner because you do not know how to go about catering for them? This article is about how to cook for a vegetarian visiting you.
The first thing to do is to find out what type of vegetarian your friend is because there are a number of kinds. A strict vegan is a vegetarian that will not eat any animal produce whatsoever, not even honey. Some will not even eat yeast, however there are others less austere who will eat fish, dairy products or eggs.
So, hope that they are not strict vegan, because it will make your task much easier.
There are a number of questions you can pose to find out what the dinner guest will eat. You should get this stage sorted out long before the day comes to cook your meal as you may have to get in some alternatives.
Ask whether they will eat any sort of meat or fish at all. Numerous vegetarians will eat dairy products and eggs; a couple less will eat fish and a very small number will eat chicken or turkey. If there is something they will eat, you could either prepare that for everybody or only for your guest.
Enquire whether they object to eating with utensils and cutlery or from crockery that has ever been in contact with meat. Some do, most do not. Their reasons for not wanting to mix the two may be medical rather than philosophical, so it is worth finding out.
Enquire how strict they are about eating items that include milk and eggs, because as I am sure you are already know, cake and most sweets contain milk, cream or / and eggs. This is not difficult, you can serve fruit of some kind instead, yet again, it is worth knowing in case you have put your heart and soul into your piece de resistance only to find that they will not eat it.
It is also a useful idea to find out whether your guest will eat yeast and honey as this naturally has an effect on bread and some cakes, sweets and puddings as well. A superb alternative to yeast bread is Irish soda bread.
If you can not find enough common ground, you could request them to bring their own food or even to come around early to help you cook a vegetarian course that everybody can try. Lots of vegetarians will happily bring something with them or join in the cooking in order to share their taste for vegetarian food with their fellow diners.
One last thing, is that some vegetarians do not take salt or have special sauces in bottles that they like. Enquire whether this is expected to be a difficulty, and whether they want to bring any specialties along with them.
The first thing to do is to find out what type of vegetarian your friend is because there are a number of kinds. A strict vegan is a vegetarian that will not eat any animal produce whatsoever, not even honey. Some will not even eat yeast, however there are others less austere who will eat fish, dairy products or eggs.
So, hope that they are not strict vegan, because it will make your task much easier.
There are a number of questions you can pose to find out what the dinner guest will eat. You should get this stage sorted out long before the day comes to cook your meal as you may have to get in some alternatives.
Ask whether they will eat any sort of meat or fish at all. Numerous vegetarians will eat dairy products and eggs; a couple less will eat fish and a very small number will eat chicken or turkey. If there is something they will eat, you could either prepare that for everybody or only for your guest.
Enquire whether they object to eating with utensils and cutlery or from crockery that has ever been in contact with meat. Some do, most do not. Their reasons for not wanting to mix the two may be medical rather than philosophical, so it is worth finding out.
Enquire how strict they are about eating items that include milk and eggs, because as I am sure you are already know, cake and most sweets contain milk, cream or / and eggs. This is not difficult, you can serve fruit of some kind instead, yet again, it is worth knowing in case you have put your heart and soul into your piece de resistance only to find that they will not eat it.
It is also a useful idea to find out whether your guest will eat yeast and honey as this naturally has an effect on bread and some cakes, sweets and puddings as well. A superb alternative to yeast bread is Irish soda bread.
If you can not find enough common ground, you could request them to bring their own food or even to come around early to help you cook a vegetarian course that everybody can try. Lots of vegetarians will happily bring something with them or join in the cooking in order to share their taste for vegetarian food with their fellow diners.
One last thing, is that some vegetarians do not take salt or have special sauces in bottles that they like. Enquire whether this is expected to be a difficulty, and whether they want to bring any specialties along with them.
About the Author:
Owen Jones, the author of this piece writes on several topics, but is at present concerned with vegetarian recipes for kids. If you want to know more or check out some great offers, please go to our site at Vegetarian Sandwich Recipes.
