These days, people are far stricter with their diets; and more wary about what they consume. Labels are being checked more frequently, whether due food allergies or choice. It’s all led to a rise in veganism and there’re now more vegans than ever before, as people abstain from eating any kind of animal product from meat and dairy to honey and beeswax.
If you are hosting a dinner party and have some vegan guests coming then it might feel a overwhelming but there has never been an easier time to cater for vegans, thanks to the huge variety of products and information that is now available.
Even if you are completely clueless about veganism, you should still be able to serve a delicious three course meal to your guests, and why not just make the entire thing vegan?! Non-vegan guests might not even realise!
Here are a few tips on hosting a vegan dinner party..
Remember to check alcohol labels
Alcohol is a common addition to a dinner party, however some thought does need to be put into the choice of alcohol as animal products are quite frequently used in the filtering processes, including egg whites, fish bladders, honey and milk. A lot of supermarkets now have vegan signs up in alcohol aisles and some brands will also label as vegan on the bottle.
You could also look into liquors. For example, some whiskey miniatures could be a hit.
Keep the food familiar, with small changes
I think a common misconception with vegan cooking is that it’s a whole new things to learn, when in reality all you need to do is make a few simple switches.
If you usually make a chicken curry then just switch the chicken for lentils or chickpeas. If you use cream then just switch it for oat cream, or dairy yoghurt for coconut or soya yoghurt.
Thinking this way means you can still cook the meals you are used to, just with a couple of different ingredients.
Don’t forget dessert!
Quite often when eating out I find that restaurants offer a vegan main dish but not a dessert, I find this really disappointing as I love dessert.
There are options for all levels of cooking expertise too, if you love baking then there are lots of recipes onlines for desserts such as a sticky toffee pudding, they are just as simple as non-vegan recipes.
If you prefer something simple then why not just some vegan vanilla ice-cream and fruit? You can usually find at least one vegan ice-cream in supermarkets these days, usually a lot more!
Find a good cookbook
Using a vegan cookbook is a great way to make sure your recipe turns out well, there are so many to choose from now as well.
Throwing a vegan dinner party isn’t as difficult as you might thing. There’s actually a huge range of food, drink, and deserts to try out, and they’re all just as tasty as their original counterparts. You might even want to keep some of the changes up!
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