When Vegetarians Come to Dinner

Vegetarians are becoming more populous. One might be coming to your house for dinner. Are you ready?

Accommodating a vegetarian guest doesn’t have to be a major production. Depending on the type of vegetarian, it may simply mean removing the meat from a dish, making a bigger salad, or offering a meatless version of what you’re already making.

A vegetarian diet is becoming even common among young people, especially women and girls. According to the Vegetarian Resource Group, between 3 and 10 percent of all Americans call themselves vegetarians. Worldwide, the number of vegetarians are increasing for reasons ranging from animal rights, the global hunger problem, and health and nutrition.

There are a smattering of different types of vegetarians:

Vegans eat no animal products, no eggs, no dairy, no lard, no honey and nothing that is produced with the help of animals.
Flexitarians only occasionally eat meat or limit the types of meat they eat. For example, some flexitarians will eat free range chicken, but no red meat. Other flexitarians will eat meat only when dining at someone else’s house.
Pescitarians eat no meat, but will eat fish and seafood.
Ovo-lacto vegetarians don’t eat meat, but they’ll eat dairy and eggs.
Fruitarians eat only fruit and fruit-like vegetables.
Raw foodists or living foodists eat only raw food.

When entertaining, don’t assume that all of your guests eat meat and if you know that one or two are vegetarians, don’t make assumptions about what they’ll eat and what they won’t. Just because your brother-in-law is a vegetarian and eats fish doesn’t mean your dinner guests will eat the stuffed flounder you’ve prepared.

The best thing to do is ask! Your vegetarian guest will be happy to tell you what he eats and what he won’t. And he’ll be grateful to avoid the embarrassment of announcing that he can’t eat anything on his plate during dinner.

When eating out, the vegetarian has varying rules about what they’ll eat. Some of your vegetarian friends may be fairly flexible and will politely eat whatever is put before them. Others will stand by their dietary principles.

A good host offers an alternative to vegetarian guests and doesn’t expect guests to throw aside their lifestyle just to please a cook.

It’s a good idea to run the menu past your guests anytime you’re serving food, just in case your guests are vegetarians, have food allergies or just plain don’t like something.


What Do I Cook For Vegetarian Dinner Guests?

If you’re not comfortable cooking tofu or you’re not sure how to substitute Seitan or Tempeh for the meat in your favorite main dish, don’t do it. There are enough good, vegetarian recipes that are probably in your comfort zone. Think about what you love to make for company: What would it taste like without the meat? Could you make a small dish of a meatless variety for your guests?


Watch for Hidden Animal Products

When cooking for vegans, be aware that many foods have animals products verboten to vegans.

• Caesar salad dressing contains anchovies
• Gelatin, some yogurts, sour cream and some margarine contains gelatin, which is made with animal hoof products
• Soups – even plain vegetable soups – may contain beef broth or chicken broth.
• Pie crusts and other pastries may contain lard, which is animal fat.

How to Cook for Vegetarian Guests: Tips for Adapting Your Recipes

• At large dinners such as holiday feasts, there may be enough variety and number of dishes that the vegetarian can pick through and find enough to eat in meatless side dishes. Just be sure to leave the bacon bits out of the salad, and keep a few other side dishes meat-free so everyone can enjoy your dinner.
• Substitute the meat in any recipe with tofu, eggplant or mushrooms and it may be delicious enough for even non-vegetarians. Your grocer’s frozen food section has meat substitutes that easily replace meat in most recipes.
• Particularly in foods like casseroles, baked pasta dishes, stews and soups, the meat ingredient can be removed without drastically changing the taste of the dish. Chili has ground beef as just one of many ingredients; it’s simple to remove the beef and add a few more beans and you’ve got vegetarian chili.

To learn more about vegetarian cooking, lifestyle and recipes, go to ChooseVeg.com.

For some great vegan main dishes, all good enough for company, see VeganFamily.com.

Here’s a roasted vegetable lasagna recipe that’s great for ovo-lacto vegetarian guests.

Vegetarian Lasagna

• 12 lasagna noodles
• 1 pound tomatoes, cut into ¼-inch slices
• 1 pound zucchini, cut into ¼-inch rounds
• 1 pound yellow squash, cut into ¼-inch rounds
• 2 red bell peppers, cut into 1-inch strips
• 2 green bell peppers, cut into 1-inch strips
• ½ pound portabella mushroom caps, cut into ¼-inch slices
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• Cooking spray
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 30 ounces ricotta cheese
• 2 tablespoons pesto sauce
• 1/3 cup grated parmesan cheese
• 3 14½ -ounce cans diced tomatoes, lightly drained
• 2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

Prepare lasagna noodles according to package directions. Drain, rinse and set aside in cool water. Spray a cookie sheet or roasting pan with cooking spray. Brush tomatoes, zucchini, squash, peppers and mushrooms with olive oil and place on the sheet. Lightly sprinkle with salt. Roast vegetables at 475 degrees for 30 minutes. Remove tray and reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees. In a bowl, mix egg, pesto and parmesan cheese. Coat a 9x13-inch glass baking dish with cooking spray. Spread 1 can tomatoes on the bottom. Place 3 noodles on top, slightly overlapping. Spoon 1 ¼ cups ricotta mixture over noodles, then layer 3 cups vegetables, then ½ cup mozzarella. Repeat the layers (tomatoes, noodles, ricotta and vegetables). Add final can of tomatoes, three noodles, remaining ricotta mix, and remaining vegetables. Top lasagna with last 3 noodles and 1 cup mozzarella cheese. Cover with foil. Bake one hour. Remove foil and continue baking another 10 minutes, until brown and bubbly.


Recommended Reading
Vegetarian Cooking for Dummies by Susan Havala


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