Entertaining

Hi. Today I want to write about a situation that many women face. When you have turned vegan and have relatives or even friends who neither understand nor are vegan – worse, they are non-vegetarians. How does one handle it especially if you are expected to present non-vegetarian food - considered as a mark of respect! All the hard work that the woman has put in to present the vegetarian food goes down the drain if her guests are disappointed! Inviting non-vegetarian relatives and presenting them with vegetarian food, apart from disappointing, is many times even looked down upon. The typical middle class mind also sees it as a lack of respect given to them! (Here I must mention that middle class mentality is regardless of the size of bank balance. But that’s a topic for another place as I’d like to stick to discussing vegan issues here.) Inviting the wrath of raised eyebrows and bruised egos can actually give nightmares to a vegan woman who due to her finer principles does not want to cook the poor animals, but at the same time cannot strongly voice her concern simply because it will jeopardise the harmony in her home, many times will just do it to get it over with..Of course the scenario can change if the husband is a staunch supporter of his wife’s principles and can also publicly support her decision to serve vegetarian, then the situation is eased, but if he is a hypocritical supporter (one who supports her veganism as long as she limits it to herself but will expect her to cook non-vegetarian for those who are invited to their home) and will not stand up to the critics and actually holds her responsible for the “shortcoming” in catering to them then the situation can get volatile. And how many women want to create such a situation...well, many wouldn’t.
Well then how does one handle it?
One way is to inform the guest of your cooking preferences beforehand. But of course, this can happen only when you know that you are dealing with mature, understanding and open people. Age and maturity are not related. Here I speak of maturity in the true sense of the word. So with mature minds you can be forthright. They are such a pleasure.
Another way is to replace with mock meat. Mock meat, which is supposedly meat-like in its texture, taste and feel is completely vegetarian and should be able to do the trick. Since I haven’t tried it yet I am not in a position to comment on it for sure, but when I do I will definitely update you. In the meantime, I have put up a list of places where the mock meat is available in Delhi on my Shopping page for the benefit of those who’d like to go for it. Also those people who’d like to go vegan but are unable to wean themselves away can use this as a vegetarian alternative to meat. To know more about its ingredients, products and other details follow the link below.

http://www.facebook.com/FrysVegetarianIndia

I hope this helps. In case I have missed out on some aspect, please write in and share your thoughts.