How do you have friends over when one is allergic to everything, another's a vegan, someone else is on a diet and another eats fish but not meat. ed meat,?

meet at a restaurant?

I’d be tempted to just have a pot luck and have everyone bring a dish that they can eat along with a list of what’s in the dish for others. Otherwise I just wouldn’t have them all over at once.

I’d go for the potluck too – if their dietary restrictions are that severe, then they should bring something that they can eat.

Try doing a wine and cheese party or something like that where people can just pick and choose what they want to eat from a selection of some sort.

Wine and cheese seems unkind to the vegan. I’ll third the potluck, but also consider that these many restrictions might be easy to reconcile. If you have a vegan and someone who doesn’t eat meat, well, that’s easy. Vegan food also tends to be low calorie, so should be okay for your dieting friend. The only sticky issue, then, is the allergies. Are we talking about something difficult to navigate (e.g. wheat) or something easier to avoid (e.g. pine nuts)?

Determine which of your friends are worth keeping and then diversify.

How about some good old fashioned saltines & a glass of water?

Sheesh

Definitely potluck. I think it’s a little unfair and impolite for all of these people to expect you to prepare different dishes in regards to their particular needs. The idea of being a guest is that you make your presence easy on the host.. your situation seems a bit ridiculous! I think if you explained to them all the different needs/requests, hopefully they’d be understanding and be okay with the potluck.

If you don’t want to do a potluck, say you feel like cooking for them, have each of them pick one recipe, then do buffet-style.

You could try along with the potluck idea to do one dish that all could eat. It sounds from the above like you just have to resolve the allergy person. Otherwise, a veggie lasagna should work for all. Ask the dieter to bring a large green salad.

@Marina: Eeeek. Soy cheese lasagna? I’d do maybe a tofu + veggie stir fry instead. Easy and mostly allergen-free.

@niki Ooops, forgot the vegan. You are ever so right! OK, I give up. Potluck all the way! Your stir fry sounds good though.

I think we’re seeing your frustration just by trying to come up with ideas!

PnT I gave you lurve for saying “sheesh”

haha