food faddism

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I agree. I do eat quorn sometimes, but not a big fan. I prefer beans and pulses based diet and not fussed about meat substitutes really.

I don't know that many vegetarians who do a lot of meat substitutes. there are much nicer vegetarian foods out there.

 

[alien nation]

I don't like Quorn either, I'm not a fan of processed foods. But, I don't really know anyone who uses Quorn in vegetarian cooking

I find it's usually people who don't know what else to cook you. They are doing a meat dish, so make a veggie version using meat substitutes.

However, my husband is a fairly recent veggie and quite likes his meat substitutes. So as always it really is just a matter of taste and what you are used to.

 

[moose]

Or we can choose a "lowest common denominator" menu for everyone, which is fine except for those occasions where the majority expect and would prefer something meaty.

The only meal I sit down to where the majority expect meat is xmas dinner with my folks. I'd say 90% of people I cook for don't eat meat or fish. Depends on your social circle, I guess.

Call me faddy, but I don't eat Quorn, btw

 

[Xanadu]

The way my mum does dinner for guests is great. There's loads of everything - salads, beef, chicken, pork, fish, veggie options and vegan options. All served with two or three kinds of rice and chapatis.

We NEVER have formal dinner parties for family, with a set three courses.

But indian food is easy to do that with.

 

[Xanadu]

The main non-indian foods that my mum does are chicken goujons (in breadcrumbs), potato wedges/chips, pigs in blankets and plain salads.

 

[fortyplus]

you seem very fixated on this idea that it is necessary to eat quorn to be a vegetarian.

actually, the opposite is true. I can't understand why any vegetarian would eat the stuff when vegetables are so delicious.

 

[fortyplus]

I find it's usually people who don't know what else to cook you.

this is very sad.

It has usually been my vegetarian lodgers who would rather use it than wash the mud off the organic vegetables we provide.

 

[fortyplus]

The way my mum does dinner for guests is great. There's loads of everything - salads, beef, chicken, pork, fish, veggie options and vegan options. All served with two or three kinds of rice and chapatis.

But indian food is easy to do that with.

She still has loads of dishes to prepare though. (btw can I come for dinner with your mum? I eat everything, even fake meat if it's what I'm given).

 

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actually, the opposite is true. I can't understand why any vegetarian would eat the stuff when vegetables are so delicious.

most don't eat the damn stuff. i can't understand why you aren't getting that concept. I'ts not that hard.

 

[alien nation]

Just been looking at the foodie stuff you are prepared to 'splash out' on thread. This is the kind of food that gets my taste buds going:

dolmades, big fat butter beans in tomato sauce, hallomi cheese, humus, pita bread and lemon and herb flavoured cous cous. If you want to include meat too - no problem - just put all the things in to separate dishes and you have a lovely meze. People eat as much as they want of whatever they want

 

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i really fancy humus now, but i've only got dried chick peas dammit

 

[fortyplus]

most don't eat the damn stuff. i can't understand why you aren't getting that concept. I'ts not that hard.

I'm glad they don't.
Unfortunately it's not my experience of the vegetarians I've lived with - admittedly, often with much to learn, and the meat-eating ones are just as guilty of eating things like value chicken breasts...

however (and I don't expect you to agree with me) my point was that the line between honest/dishonest food is not the same as the line between meat/meatfree food.

 

[alien nation]

i really fancy humus now, but i've only got dried chick peas dammit

*send can of chick peas through broadband*

 

[alien nation]

Dp again

 

[alien nation]

Dp.

 

[fortyplus]

i really fancy humus now, but i've only got dried chick peas dammit

I've fancied making a big pot of it for a while now and I've got a big bag of dried chickpeas, a pot of tahini and plenty of my homegrown garlic - but the food processor is in storage while the kitchen is being redone...

 

[alien nation]

I think the can of chick peas cause a stuttering blockage

 

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probably.

 

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probably.

 

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erm, definately

 

[FabricLiveBaby!]

Ok but aside from vegetarianism, what about if you have a dinner party and say:

One of yout mates is on the GI diet

One of your mates is on the ATKins Diet

On of your mates is on the south beach diet.


It's just not going to happen is it?

 

[*Miss*Sparkle*]

I don't think that you can really call diabetes or a nut allergy a food fad. I think that a good host would create a meal that is suitable for all their guests, and it would not cause segregation at the dinner table, as the OP seems to think.

WRT veggies who eat quorn.... It doesn't really matter. If a veggie wants to eat quorn then that's their choice. Most of the time I will cook "proper" food from scratch, such as a big veg pie or curry or similar, but sometimes I don't have time to do that, so I'll have a quorn something-or-other, some veg and potatoes. It doesn't make me less of a veggie for eating quorn.

I also appreciate that if the menu at a dinner party is steak and chips and veg (for example), then it is easy for the host to replace the steak with a quorn substitute for the veggie, and it means that the host doesn't have to prepare a whole seperate meal for the veggie.

 

[Xanadu]

She still has loads of dishes to prepare though. (btw can I come for dinner with your mum? I eat everything, even fake meat if it's what I'm given).

there's a rather long list of people wanting to come to one of our family feasts!

the standards are:

chicken tikka or tandoori
chicken curry
beef curry/pork vindaloo
goa sausage
homemade pickles
chickpea xacuti
mixed veg curry
green beans with onion
dhal
renchard
shark/kingfish/tilapia/prawn coconut curry
spicy potatoes (not really bombay aloo, more lemony and dry)
various salads
yellow rice
plain rice
chapatis

random english foods too

Deep-fried snacks like samosas, bhajis and stuff served earlier too. At christmas, we get nurios (sp?), basically deep fried bits of shaped pastry, some covered in sugar, and little pasties filled with coconut and jaggery.

That's usually for a party of 15 or so. Loads of food left over too (it'll all get eaten though).

edit: yeah, it's a lot of different dishes, and my mum like to know if people are coming a couple of days in advance, so she can do the same range of foods. If it's a last minute thing, there'll be chicken curry, beef curry, goa sausage (if it's around), yellow rice and veg/dhal.

 

[Xanadu]

The one group that's screwed are the people that don't like indian food, cos choice is limited to salad and the little bits of english food, but that's more than enough anyways.

 

[fortyplus]

ok so having had a general derail about vegetarianism etc let me rephrase my original question:

"how important is it for the conviviality of the dinner table that everyone should be eating the same stuff?"

We are going out for dinner to StJohn next week. Because there will be ten of us, they have told us we can't go a la carte and have to choose a "feast" menu where everyone gets the same thing. We have chosen roast suckling pig, which I am very much looking forward to....

FWIW my answer to the question would be it depends how big a part the food itself plays in the gathering. I value the sharing part of eating together, and the fewer permitted foods the group has in common the less can be shared.

 

[Thora]

"how important is it for the conviviality of the dinner table that everyone should be eating the same stuff?"

Not very imo. The enjoyable bit is being together, chatting, and that everyone is happy - not what is eaten particularly.

 

[fortyplus]

Ok but aside from vegetarianism, what about if you have a dinner party and say:

One of yout mates is on the GI diet

One of your mates is on the ATKins Diet

On of your mates is on the south beach diet.


It's just not going to happen is it?

with that lot coming, sod the cooking, just chop out a few lines...

 

[gaijingirl]

this is very sad.

It has usually been my vegetarian lodgers who would rather use it than wash the mud off the organic vegetables we provide.

well you've had at least one vegetarian lodger who doesn't eat quorn and certainly does wash the mud off the organic vegetables.

 

[beeboo]

We are going out for dinner to StJohn next week. Because there will be ten of us, they have told us we can't go a la carte and have to choose a "feast" menu where everyone gets the same thing. We have chosen roast suckling pig, which I am very much looking forward to....

oh I'm jealous now, we were trying to do this but we couldn't find a date everyone could do.

I wanna suckling pig!

 

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FWIW my answer to the question would be it depends how big a part the food itself plays in the gathering. I value the sharing part of eating together, and the fewer permitted foods the group has in common the less can be shared.

i

Look, unless you have something like someone who eats nothing but rice and someone who won't eat anything but the stuff, there are always a lot of foods that people can share, you just have to think what you can do with them. i know that my next big meal will involve cooking for 2 people with allergies and one with a medical condition that requires him to eat as little salt as possible. However, they are my friends and i'm inviting them over because I enjoy their company, not because i want to show off any one particular meal that they can't all eat. I'll adapt my cooking to my guests, not demand that my guests adapt themselves to my cooking and call them awkward if they won't do so.