How to Feed a Mixed Vegan and Omnivore Party

The cuisines that make this easy

Indian, Middle Eastern, and East Asian cuisines have large vegan traditions that were not invented as workarounds — they were the original food. Indian dal, Middle Eastern mezze, and Chinese Buddhist cuisine are centrepiece food, not afterthought food.

For a dinner party with mixed guests, I would choose one of these cuisines and build the entire menu from it, rather than making a French main with a vegan adaptation bolted on. The "one cuisine, fully vegan-compatible" approach gives every guest the same food, which is the only truly hospitable outcome.

The best dinner party I ever cooked for a mixed table was a Persian spread: ghormeh sabzi (easily made vegan by omitting the dried lamb and increasing the kidney beans), mujaddara, a walnut and pomegranate paste, flatbreads, and a saffron rice. The two vegans ate the same meal as the six omnivores. Nobody commented on who was eating what.

When you must run two centrepieces

Sometimes the occasion determines the menu (a Christmas dinner with roast beef, for instance) and the vegan option must be a separate centrepiece. In this case, the rule is: cook the vegan dish first, finish it first, and give it the same plating and presentation as the meat centrepiece.

The presentation failure is what makes guests feel like an afterthought. If the beef tenderloin arrives on a carved board with rosemary and a jus, the vegan mushroom Wellington should arrive on a similar board, similarly garnished. Not the same ingredient — the same care.

The cross-contamination problem

Strict vegans will not eat food that was cooked in the same oil as meat, or basted with the same brush. If this is a concern (ask your guest directly — most people will tell you), use separate cooking vessels for the vegan dish and work on a clean surface.

The easier solution is to cook all vegan components first, before any animal products have touched the kitchen equipment. This is also the food-safety order — vegan/vegetarian dishes should be cooked before raw meat is handled.