<p>And to be fair, there are people with complicated dietary restrictions who, for simplicity’s sake say that they are vegetarian, but are more than happy to consume certain animal products, such as gelatin or chicken stock. (I have someone who meets that description on my guest list frequently.) I’m happy to use the (inferior to my palate) vegetable broth if I have a real vegetarian as a guest, but I’ll go for the superior product if no one really cares. </p>
<p>And yes, homemade vegetable broths can be wonderful, but the off the shelf stuff is pretty punk, while many of the off the shelf chicken broths can be perfectly acceptable from a taste point of view. For Thanksgiving especially, it’s one bridge too far to have to make two different homemade stocks: turkey for the gravy and veggie for the soup. I’m already going to be cooking for days!</p>
<p>If vegan D were coming home for Thanksgiving, we’d have Field Roast, which she discovered a couple of years ago. DH, vegetarian, also liked it and asked for more. Unfortunately, grad school is too far for D to be home, so H and I will both have side dishes, including the PF bagged stuffing, for Thanksgiving.</p>
<p>Answer for the original question: I typically make stuffed acorn squash (with a mushroom-walnut stuffing) as the vegetarian entree. Everyone else always wants some too, so an entree portion is 1/2 a squash, and side portions are 1/4 squash. Often I’ll try to find a smaller, round-ish winter squash to make the serving sizes better.</p>
<p>Saying that chicken stock “tastes gross” is like saying mushrooms “taste gross” because you chose not to eat them, for whatever reason. Most Michelin-starred chefs cook with chicken stock and believe it tastes just fine. The comment may have been a little childish, but no need to take offense.</p>
<p>I am more interested in HarvestMoon’s D’s experiences. Where I live it would be unusual to have a barbecue and not have some veggie burgers for the vegetarians and others who don’t eat red meat.</p>
<p>1more, it wouldn’t be common here either to have veggie burgers at BBQs. I wouldn’t bring my own just because, as I said earlier, I’m more than happy to fill up on side dishes :D</p>
<p>I haven’t read the who thread, but I wanted to share some thoughts. </p>
<p>I am a vegetarian. In my ideal world, I don’t want to eat just the sides. I also miss meat, I much prefer ‘fake’ meats to separate vegetarian entres. </p>
<p>So, for Thanksgiving, I always get Gardein Stuffed Turk’y Breast. I think it’s absolutely delicious and the best Thanksgiving entree I have been able to find.</p>
<p>As to the question about veggie burgers at a bbq…we have ZERO vegetarians in our rather large extended family. I do have a cousin that prefers leaner food…and she usually brings her own turkey sausage to throw on the grill. Some locations just have a smaller concentration of vegetarians.</p>
<p>I totally understand the difficulties of feeding people with different eating prohibitions, whether by “preference” or by necessity. When my mom, who has a severe Celiac condition, visits, I am careful to tell her what has any sort of gluten in it.</p>
<p>When any number of vegetarian or vegan acquaintances eat with us, I tell them what’s vegetarian and what’s not, just like Mom with the gluten.</p>
<p>So if I put chicken stock in something, because making so many different stocks or dishes does get complicated, this is what I do:</p>
<p>I tell them. Then they can make their own informed decision.</p>
<p>Even if I cared so little about someone as to think “what they know can’t hurt them” when I know that finding out afterward would dismay them, they are still guests at my table .</p>
<p>I talked to someone who was sure I was a vegetarian because I cook vegetarian for parties. (I guess she missed the filet mignon at the last one!) But I do have so many vegetarian friends, I nearly always bring vegetarian things to parties and always have lots of veggy choices at parties at home.</p>
<p>We are vegan so when we do Thanksgiving with friends we offer to bring the sides. Roasted new potatoes with rosemary or wild rice with mushrooms and shallots. Brussel sprouts, green beans, etc all of which they (no vegans) can bump with butter but we can eat with herbs, spices, soy sauce. Carrots in raw brown sugar. Wilted spinach with garlic and lemon.</p>
<p>I often eat before going to dinner parties so that I don’t have to impose on people - a habit that confuses my bf - but if a host tells me that something is vegetarian, I expect that it is vegetarian and not “I passive-aggressively put chicken stock in this because I don’t think that your diet is worthy of consideration.” </p>
<p>(Incidentally, before the food allergy awareness, some people thought that it was “all in their heads” or a mere preference, and would happily put nut, wheat, or milk products in their recipes.)</p>
<p>As a vegetarian, I am also quite appalled by some of the responses. I would never ask anyone to cook anything especially for me, but I DO expect correct information. Being so careless as to put chicken stock or any other meat ingredient in a food and then say it’s vegetarian, while not even being apologetic about it and saying it won’t hurt anyone is absurd. It’s careless and just plain wrong, not to mention incredibly disrespectful of other people’s choices and values. I would never do it to a guest, whatever their dietary preferences, and if I messed up, I would be mortified and very apologetic.</p>
<p>1moremom: I was referring to the fact that most vegetarians can readily taste meat stock and it tastes gross to us. </p>
<p>I thought that the “to us” was clearly implied. (The relevant statement was “yes, we can taste the chicken stock and yes, it tastes gross.”) The grown-up thing would be to extend the benefit of the doubt to an ambiguous interpretation of my words, not to call a grown, thirty-something woman “childish.” Not appropriate, 1moremom.</p>
<p>I have no problem respecting the dietary preferences of guests. One of my kids is a pescatarian (basically she’s a vegetarian who eats fish) and I know that if she eats a soup with chicken stock, she’ll get sick. I enjoy cooking and I’m good at it, so it’s a fun challenge for me to come up with interesting food for vegetarians. I also have learned to ask guests about their dietary preferences before I come up with a menu.</p>
<p>I would rather someone tell me that he/she is a vegetarian so I can prepare something appropriate rather than letting the vegetarian eat sides. I hosted a dinner party last night for a group of neighbors–we were having an early dinner and then watching the Red Sox game. One of my neighbors brought his new girlfriend (not sure of the appropriate way to refer to her because she’s not a girl–she’s probably 50 and just started dating my neighbor, who is 50 and recently divorced.) Anyway–I served mushroom soup (that I made with chicken broth), green salad, heirloom tomatoes (last crop from my garden) with balsamic vinegar, and a pork roast along with a really nice rustic bread. We had wine and cheese before dinner. </p>
<p>I felt like a bad hostess at dinner when the friend’s guest only ate the green salad and bread and refused the soup course and the pork roast. I would have gladly made something for her, if I had known. Obviously, my friend hadn’t informed me of his girlfriend’s preferences. He apologized later and said that he forgot to tell me that his friend was a vegetarian. I guess my point is that if someone has food preferences, then he/she should tell his/her host/hostess. If I invite someone to my house for a meal/food, then I want to have something he/she will enjoy and like. I think that’s especially important at Thanksgiving when the food is a huge part of the celebration.</p>
<p>As a casual observer who enjoys reading these threads, I am appalled at the downward tone this thread has taken. Any way to just stay focused and keep the thread on track to which it was first intended?</p>
<p>OP: It is gracious of you to want to make all of your guests happy. Perhaps asking them what they would prefer or want to bring to contribute to their own meal enjoyment may help. Again, last year with two Vegans at the table I went overboard to make sure to accommodate them but they clearly did not want the attention pointed toward them so I just quietly mentioned all the things they could eat it keeping with their Vegan palates. And yes, it helped that they, too, brought items that they knew they would be comfortable eating.</p>
<p>An onion tart or other ideas mentioned would not only be a welcomed dish for the vegetarians but also for anyone wanting to try a vegetable item. The squash, mushroom, pasta ideas all sound yummy. Just remember to use non-dairy butter…I use Earth Balance, nice taste. And yes, vegetarian stock.</p>
<p>Just speaking as a vegetarian who up until recently had a LOT of dietary restrictions: </p>
<p>I personally do not want my host to go out of his/her way to cater to me. I would feel absolutely horrible if they cooked something specific for me and I couldn’t eat it because I had forgotten about some restriction or another. I much, much prefer not to tell anyone and then eat what I can when I get there. It’s so much easier for me personally. Just a perspective :)</p>