The Etiquette of taking your VEG dinner to a friend/relative's get-together...

[mbellek]

You (and your Significant Other) are going to a holiday soiree at a relative's house where you're 99.999% sure to be the only vegs there. You plan to provide your own veg alternative (& you're thinking Quorn Turk'y or Tofurky) meal.... The question is, do you let your host know ahead of time?

My family typically will bring their own dishes along, some of these are announced & some are unannounced... its about 1/2 pot-luck, and 1/2 dinner party with between 20 and 30 people. What I'm saying is that I don't think bringing my own faux turkey is going to affect the quantity of the real turkey my host will prepare.

Also, how MUCH of your own food do you bring? We consider ourselves "flexible vegans"... we keep our own grocery purchases about 95% vegan (with the occasional Quorn or casein/non-dairy mozzerella cheese purchase being our exceptions). So, like, we'd eat mashed potatoes, but not gravy! I was thinking a Quorn & some vegan gravy would do it. We do want to make sure we have enough for others to try if they're curious.
90 minutes tops

[derwenna]

You (and your Significant Other) are going to a holiday soiree at a relative's house where you're 99.999% sure to be the only vegs there. You plan to provide your own veg alternative (& you're thinking Quorn Turk'y or Tofurky) meal.... The question is, do you let your host know ahead of time?

Normally yes (otherwise it might look rude), but in your case it sounds like it might be ok if other people bring their own food too without any advance warning.


Also, how MUCH of your own food do you bring?

Enough so that you won't go hungry if there's nothing else for you to eat, plus a bit extra for other people to try if they want (or more if the plan is for you to share your dish).


Also, suggestions for how to TRANSPORT my food, while keeping it warm are needed! I want to do minimal re-heating once I'm there because I know kitchen space will be at a premium. I want to be as un-annoying as possible.

Be careful about keeping food at warm(ish) temperatures for a long time because of food safety issues (unless you're only going to be transporting it a few minutes down the road and eating straight away).

[mbellek]

I thought most food-safety stuff had only to do with meat? I'm talking about 90 minutes at the most...

[Irizary]

90 minutes is not a problem.

I don't think there is any manners problem with taking the Tofurky there, as it's 50% potluck, so there's no reason to let the host know ahead of time :)

[LadyFaile]

it's pretty handy if you cook in a crockpot. you can transport it in the crockpot itself and then just plug it in when you get there and put on low to warm it up/keep it warm until dinner starts. it may be only 90 minutes to arrive there but you won't necessarily be sitting down to eat as soon as you walk in the door :p

but yeah it doesn't sound like it'd be a problem to bring something but i would let the host/hostess know just in case they were planning something for you. it would be bad if you showed up with a tofurkey and discovered that they were considerate and made one for you also.

being the only veg in my family i've gotten used to having to provide my own protein and bringing soymilk wherever i go for dinner unless i want horribly dry mashed potatoes. our family use real butter for everything so if they make mashed potatoes they will leave some aside for me before adding milk and butter but with no margarine or anything to add they are so incredibly dry and hard to choke down lol.
luckily my husband's uncle went on a strict diet to get his cholesterol and blood pressure down. he went vegan and has been slowly reintroducing some nonvegan foods but still tries to eat meatless for the most part and makes everything from scratch, he avoids anything processed, any preservatives, sugar, etc. so when we go there they usually make double of whatever he's having so i can have some :D it meant at thanksgiving i was served a tofu and soycheese version of a chicken parmesan type dish. it was really good but they most likely used a casein soy cheese. i was ok with it because they went to so much trouble and probably don't know the difference since he only went veg for health reasons. sometimes you have to make small exceptions for the sake of getting along with the family eh lol. anyway i normally have to bring my own protein so i was glad they let me know ahead of time that they were making me something or i might have insulted them by bringing my own food

[froggythefrog]

You always let your host know if you're bringing food to dinner ahead of time, veg or not. Usually if you're bringing food, you should plan on sharing it. Make the fact that it's vegetarian secondary. Instead, tell your host you're bringing something really yummy you'd like to share.

If your host is really friendly and open-minded and is not used to your being vegetarian (or they don't know), you can tell or remind them you're vegetarian. If your being vegetarian would be a shocker, just tell them you want to share part of your Thanksgiving with them. :)

ETA: Of course, this sounds like it's your family's place you're going to and you know the drill... You might remind your relatives of your veggieness if they aren't fully aware, but not even worry about it if you're sure they remember or if it's a sore spot for them.

[mbellek]

it may be only 90 minutes to arrive there but you won't necessarily be sitting down to eat as soon as you walk in the door :p


That's 20 minutes to get there... I added the rest of the time for that very reason! :)



but yeah it doesn't sound like it'd be a problem to bring something but i would let the host/hostess know just in case they were planning something for you. it would be bad if you showed up with a tofurkey and discovered that they were considerate and made one for you also.


LOL Believe me, they're NOT! My family are the kind that enjoy making the muffled screaming-gobble-noises as they chew up their turkey. I've always been impressed by their ability to think that *I'm* being too over-sensitive when that bothers me, yet *they* feel personally affronted by what I do or don't eat on the table!

This is also the first family get-together that I've attended in about 7 years (for other reasons).