If a vegetarian or a vegan is throwing a dinner party would you expect them to serve a meat dish and why or why not?

No not at all. I love being invited to share a meal with Vegetarians/Vegans as they usually make some really interesting and tasty dishes. Yum!

No. Especially if they are vegetarians for animal protection reasons. I think people who do it for diet concerns solely, might be more likely to provide a meat dish.

Sometimes part of going to someone’s home for a dinner party, is to experience their food. If my friend is Indian, I would love to sample Indian food at their home, or if they are Mexican, Mexican, food, etc. Same applies for vegetarians. They might want to consider the typical flavors and dishes Americans (I am in America, but this applies to whatever country the party is taking place) are accustomed to, and make a dish or two that will be semi familiar to all guests. I can see doing that.

Nope. Meat eaters don’t have moral or health objections to eating something without meat.

No. Some vegetarians/vegans have issues with touching raw meat.

No.I don’t make demands on people who want to cook for me.Are you kidding?? XD

No. I wouldn’t expect any kind of meat dish if their total household was Vegetarians/Vegans. Most of the ones I know don’t like any type of meat products to touch or be cooked in their pots and pans.

You guys are too agreeable. From some of the responses to janbb’s question yesterday I would have expected a few people demanding a burger or something along those lines.

Nope. I have been to parties at the houses of vegetarians and they never served any meant, but the spread was delicious.

@Adirondackwannabe I would just be glad someone invited me over for a meal. It doesn’t happen often.

Yes. I’m a vegan, and I always serve meat at gatherings out of respect for my guests. I have considered throwing a “vegan party,” and inviting everyone to try different vegan foods, but haven’t moved on it yet.

@chyna I wear disposable vinyl gloves. :)

@Adirondackwannabe Are you satisfied, now?

@Adirondackwannabe that’s just what I expect when going to a vegan’s household. But when they come to my house, they expect to have some vegetarian dishes eat, which I gladly serve, on the same table with the meat dishes. Now why is that? :p

@Taciturnu You should throw a vegan party. Most carnivores are surprised what you can do without meat or animal products. And yes.
@chyna, you’re invited to my house anytime.
@AmWiser I’ll think on that a little.

I’d feel weird.

@Taciturnu Really? You feel like you wouldn’t respect people if you invited them over and served them a lovely dish, but without meat? Perhaps if someone, like a vegetarian, is convinced it is morally better to eat meat (“I don’t like meat either, but I eat it out of conviction!”), but most, if not all, meat eaters just eat meat because they don’t really care that much. I don’t think any of them would feel disrespected by a vegetarian dish :)

@Adirondackwannabe—I know people like vegan options. That’s usually what they rave about. (I would worry about my mother, however. She’s forever rambling about needing protein and supplementing that statement with many reasons why her protein can only come from meat. lol)

@Vincentt When people come to my house, I want them to feel totally and completely welcome, and leave feeling satisfied with… whatever the visit entailed. If it were a game night, I’d want many games to choose from. If it’s for a meal, I want people to feel like they had an array of options and something that feels normal to them, unless I’m intentionally asking them to step outside the box. Most of my guests are meat and potatoes type (or lobster, but who can afford to feed a load of people with lobster?). With that in mind, I try to balance out my creative cooking with something more akin to comfort food. I think it keeps everyone happy. That’s all. :)

@Taciturnu We may be related. My mother said the same thing. She told my niece“You really need some meat” as she was eating the tofu dish I made. I manage to not slap my forehead.

No, I wouldn’t. Eating a vegan or vegetarian meal wouldn’t hurt anyone.

Maybe, probably if he/she knew you were coming over…

As a vegetarian, I think my friends know what to expect when they come to dinner at my house: delicious plants (and lots of wine).

I would not expect a vegetarian to serve meat.
I base this on my own experience with a couple of (sort of) friends who are vegetarian.
They seem to not only limit their own diet (which is fine with me) but they also too often feel the need to preach their vegetarian gospel, which is not so fine.

@josie Food nazis from either side are not so fine.

Hmmmmm. I don’t kow if “expect” is the right word. I used to date a man who said “It won’t kill you to eat something one time that you don’t like.” As long as I do’t have to eat peas or beets, I think I could manage to survve a meal without meat. I assume that I would be going for the pleasure of my friend’ company. If I go away hungry, I can get something at home. At best I may come away liking somthing I didn’t know about.
If you are talking about “V” nazis, it would not come up. I don’t mix with self righteous idiots who think that everyone has to do things their way and feel justified in forcing it on others. This applies to religion and politics as well as food.

@Adirondackwannabe Nice to meet you, bro. I’m a little sad to hear Mom was living a double life, though. ;)

@josie Sorry about that. Is it possible they were met with a lot of resistance? I was a bit of a “food nazi” when I first transitioned (somewhere in the realm of 10 years ago) because I didn’t know how to counter everyone telling me meat (and later dairy and eggs) were an important part of a human’s diet. When I realized it really didn’t matter what they thought, I gave up the preaching. (And since found a vegan doctor, which made a few people question whether he was legitimate. lol)

We haven’t yet thrown a dinner party as vegans (we just don’t do that I guess, lol) but if we did, we wouldn’t cook anything with meat, probably. The thing is and people’s opinions may vary on this matter, I don’t think meat-eaters are unable to eat vegetables or rice or beans for whatever reason (unless they are specifically unable and then we’d accomodate) – it’s just that they also like meat. When I, as a vegan, go to a party of someone who’s not vegan, I just can’t eat meat, that’s all so if you want me to eat something, provide something that’s non-meat.

I pretty much always serve vegetarian meals (sometimes with some fish thrown in). No one has ever complained and none of the food has gone to waste. (This could also be because I live in a very veg-friendly area, though?)

My answer to this is the same as the other question. If you invite someone to be your guest and know they cannot eat certain things you should provide them a meal just like everyone else. I hate most veggies and the people close to me know this. My vegetarian friends always make something they know I will like (not meat) when they invite me over. Again, why would you invite someone to a meal and then not provide them with food to eat?

But no, I would never expect a vegetarian to cook meat.

No – if they don’t believe it is right to eat meat, why would they serve it in their house? I would not go to the house of someone who keeps kosher expecting bacon.

Now that I think about it, if you are invited to a diner party, do you not generally just show up and eat what’s served? If they are serving rack of lamb do you fuss and say “I wanted roast beef!”
A good host/hostess learns the preferences of her guests ahead of time and makes appropriate accommodations. This does not include forcing food that a person does not like and having no other choices.
I’ll just bet that this is addressed by Emily Post….

I haven’t read all the responses yet, but my answer to this question is no.

I look at vegetarianism/veganism in the same way that I look at dietary restrictions that are due to allergies, health conditions and religion. They don’t or can’t eat something, so why should they prepare it for you?

No, but I rarely have expectations of what I will eat when I go to someone else’s house unless they’ve already said what we will be having or they just happen to be “known” for a particular dish they make for every gathering. I would never complain at the food I’m offered and I would eat what I liked, try what I wasn’t sure about, and pass on the things I don’t like.

No. As others have said, the big difference is that many vegetarians have a moral or health-based reason for their stance.

In addition, even the most committed carnivore will usually be quite satisfied with many vegetarian dishes, like lasagne, or pasta primavera and garlic bread, etc.

Absolutely not. Meat-eaters are capable of eating vegetarian food without any health or ethical issues. I have yet to hear of any human being whose diet is comprised only of meat.

It’s a bit like saying shouldn’t there be affirmative action for whites, isn’t it?

I am a vegetarian. I never serve or prepare meat for anyone although I do sometimes have lunch meat or the like in the fridge for the boyfriend because he’s here a lot. However, if I want to have someone over for a meal, I let them know what I can offer them. If I don’t have much or they really would prefer to have something I don’t have in the apartment, we might go out to eat.

However, if I’m having a number of dinner guests over, I let people know that I’m a vegetarian though if I know them well enough to invite them into my home, they should know I don’t eat meat and I will prepare something that has some heft to it, like a vegetarian lasagna. I would expect no less when going to a friend’s home who eats meat. Admittedly, if someone knows I’m a vegetarian and has nothing for me to eat when they invite me over, I am a little puzzled, but I will make something for myself or eat beforehand.

@KatawaGrey I’ve read the eat before comment alot, and I think if I care enough about someone to invite them for a dinner party, I should accomodate their preferences. It’s a little unfair to force the vegetarians to accomodate me.

Of course not. I eat meat, but I can still eat vegetarian dishes. In fact, most of what I eat is vegetarian.

I’m not a damn cat; I’m not a carnivore. ;)

No, i would not. I don’t go to people’s houses expecting or demanding anything. If I had special dietary needs, like if i were on a specific diet, I would eat @ home first so that I met my needs and were not starving.

I used to go to Shabbos dinner at a Jewish co-op for a while when I was at uni. They were vegan, I’m omnivorous. I never expected them to change heir ways for me. It was their home.

I’m an omnivore so I wouldn’t expect my vegie hosts to come up with a flesh dish when there’s so much else I can eat.

Nope, no meat would be expected if you were going to a vegetarian or vegan household. And I would be surprised if a meat eater would expect meat at a vegetarian or vegan home at a dinner party. Rather, it would be fun to see what delicious foods they come up with—a bit like eating food from a different culture.

I wouldn’t expect this. They are the hosts. I am the guest. Or I can decide whether I want to be a guest or not.

Only if they invited me, knew I wasn’t a vegetarian and told me they would be serving some meat dishes. Other than that I would say no, I wouldn’t expect them to do this.

Definately not at all! I would not expect anything in particular in the first place and I certainly wouldn’t expect them to fix meat if they themselves don’t eat it!! I would think it would be easier as a meat eater to find something to eat at a party where the Host is Vegan, than the other way around….