Justifiable (gastronomic) Homicide

[shebit]

This weekend, as usual, I'll be preparing a Chinese feast to celebrate the new year. We keep attendance small, but tend to invite different guests every year so that everyone eventually gets to try my chinese food (of which I'm rather proud - it's my cuisine of choice

Comments

[kortirion]

Toss 'em an apple and say it's traditional, or ask them to bring their own!

Yeah, misanthropic, but I don't see why everything should revolve around them. When I invite friends who are veggie (along with ordinary eaters) I make about half the savory food on a buffet acceptable and point out to them which plates they shouldn't touch - the desserts they take pot-luck with. Why not the same? All veggie, with some wheat-free vegan dishes - you'll probably find the Vegan only eats two teaspoons of anything anyway!

Not being heartless but I think it's only fair to expect co-operation from your guests who are, after all, - your guests!

Daughter goes to New York in a couple of weeks with her uni. There are two vegans in the group and as she's already told them, they'll struggle to eat unless they find veggie restaurents - they shrug and agree it's plain boiled rice, bread, salad and fruit for 10 days!

[shebit]

I had actually planned a really good menu that was all vegan - the starters, instead of wontons and other eggy fried things, will be seaweed, bao and deep fried mushrooms (which I can do with the fake egg that the vegan brought me)

It's the sudden realisation that another guest is wheat intollerant that has suddenly made me pull my hair out. Soya sauce usually contains wheat, but you can get stuff that doesn't so we'll have to track some down (quite a lot of it, as pretty much every dish need it), but my main worry now is that my parve/vegetarian chicken stock is wheat based. I won't know until I get home and check the ingredients. It's the base for my soup and several of the main dishes. Without stock ow does one cook? I guess there's veggie stock, but it's not as good.

[tictactoepony]

Could you not just ask the wheat allergic /vegan types to bring along something they would like to eat?

You can still offer boiled rice / veggies / fruit to go with it, but it's reducing the hassle if you already have an awful lot of food prep to do..

[shebit]

That would kind of ruin the point. Chinese new year is my big dinner party of the year, when I pull out all the stops and make a massive feast of yummy things - the menu as it stands has 13 dishes, not including dessert, which I've delegated. Those 13 dishes will be cooked from scratch by me, and it usually takes me most of the day (or at least from lunchtime) to prepare and cook it all.

If people bring food it sort of ruins it.

[tictactoepony]

Ah right- that makes sense!
Still, I don't envy your task of catering for all these different requirements :S

[shebit]

I like a challenge.

[way_j]

Mmmm...stir-fried guests. :D

[shebit]

You'll be the one eating them, because you're one of the few who isn't testing my patience with dietary foibles.

I dare you to tell me something you don't eat. Go on. But bear in mind that I know where you live.

[way_j]

I only eat food prepared in moonlight by Hungarian virgins.

[shebit]

Then you too shall be eaten.

[ruthi]

Also? Rice dough.

[shebit]

I've got Dove's for batter.

The bao are a little temperamental, so I don't want to play about with fancy flours for those - the non-gluten guest will just have to avoid those.

[ribby]

Oy vey... you poor thing!

And does it count as vegetarian if it's made of vegetarian?

Only if it's made from *real* vegetarians, and not a "fake-vegetarian product". *grin* And now you make me think of the Girl Scouts joke... "Are the cookies made from real Girl Scouts?"

Next year, we are so only inviting people who eat everything that I eat.

Amen... or if they have wiggy food preferences, they can bloody well bring their own food.

*sigh* Fad diets are the bane of the cook. I say we should abolish them now!

~Kris

[shebit]

Did you just 'oy vey' at me? Oy! *g*

Well, to be fair, neither of the troublesome pair are faddy - one is a coeliac and the other a full-on hippy.

I've had to actually think about all my ingredients since I started cooking for the vegan fairly regularly; things that I'd ordinarily add to food without thinking about it I can't use - the nam pla is going to have to be locked away on saturday so that I don't accidentally use it.