Guest's unfinished food-do you ask?

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Nobody ever invites us over for dinner because we are vegetarians. Whats up with that? :P

Half of our friends seem to be vegetarians, so at potlucks there are always many veggie/vegan dishes. (And usually way too much tofu for my taste. )

Maybe you should cultivate more vegetarian friends?

[Blueberry]

Nobody ever invites us over for dinner because we are vegetarians. Whats up with that? :P

Throw themed vegetarian potlucks? We have lots of veggie friends - but it's not that often that we visit someone's house or have someone visit ours. Just our lives/schedules...

[Tuckervill]

My friend got really mad at me for not eating the pot roast.

That is just sooo wrong. Asking why someone didn't eat what was served is wrong, too. Rude and nosy. Don't do it.

I can't tolerate onions anymore (they give me gas, raw or cooked), but I LOVE the flavor of onions in my food. So, I pick them out while savoring the flavor they may have left behind. If someone asked me why, I'd tell them they'd be happier being around me if I didn't eat them (same with bell peppers, but I LOVE them). If the person got mad, I'd have to tell them to shut the heck up. I mean, really! How rude!

Karen

[shootingstar]

Greenbeanw, are you sure it's because you're vegetarian for the non-invites? Of course, these maybe people who love their barbecued meats, etc.

Here in Vancouver at home, we barely have enough space to include 2 other people for dinner. OUr home space is small. So potluck here: no. But when I lived in Toronto and with several family members in rotation, there would be/still a potluck meal every few months. It's the only way to feed a very large family with young kids running around and without overstressing the hosts on food prep. It's also most fun since it allows people to break up casually in groups and move around to chat, since we cannot all sit down at 1 table. Too many of us.

If I included all cousins, spouses and their children in Metro Toronto..that is over 60 people.

So here I am in Vancouver...lone ranger. Sharing of food prepared by multiple parties and being pleasantly surprised most of the time by what other family members prepare (or buy ) because usually we don't know in much detail what the entire menu will be, is just normal for me in terms of big family meal celebrations. Usually the host gives vague instructions/gathers vague info. what people will bring...otherwise a person would go insane stuck in food minutaie pre-planning.

I genuinely do come from a family with fairly flexible palates...alot of it learned from each of our childhoods.

[Cataboo]

Unfortunately my house is rarely ever clean enough that I invite people over I tend to do it if my house is clean.

If vegetarians come over - they get pasta with veggies mixed into it and salads... portabella mushrooms, bell peppers, zuchinnis, what not. that's sort of the extent of my ability to cook with vegetables only.

[Skierchickie]

ha, my pickiness was related to meat. I've always had issues with meat, like fat or gristle, or anything that you bite in to and feel gross. I'd cut off all the fat, which my mother complained was half the meat, but it always grossed me out, and still does.

Me too! All my life. My DH loves steaks - we have steaks, and I have half a plate of fat and junk left, and his is practically clean (shudder shudder) I'm the one that gets a mouthful of gristle, or a fragment of bone, or hidden vein of fat, or some other horrible thing in every hamburger, pasty or piece of sausage (sausage - yuck - I don't eat much of that.).

There are stories about my great-grandmother hovering around during dinner, and then picking the fat scraps off people's plates and eating them - "Can't let that go to waste!". Eew.

[ny biker]

Me too! All my life. My DH loves steaks - we have steaks, and I have half a plate of fat and junk left, and his is practically clean (shudder shudder) I'm the one that gets a mouthful of gristle, or a fragment of bone, or hidden vein of fat, or some other horrible thing in every hamburger, pasty or piece of sausage (sausage - yuck - I don't eat much of that.).

There are stories about my great-grandmother hovering around during dinner, and then picking the fat scraps off people's plates and eating them - "Can't let that go to waste!". Eew.

Yuck. Just reading this makes me ill.

(I have the same issues as you and badger.)

[rubywagon]

Greenbeanw, are you sure it's because you're vegetarian for the non-invites?

Actually, can you believe it is our own PARENTS who won't have us over because we don't eat meat? The last time we ate dinner over at their house the conversation went something like this:

Them: So what are you going to eat if you don't eat the roast?
Us: The potatoes, green beans, rice, side dishes, etc. No worries!
Them: That isn't even a meal.


I need to move somewhere where there are lots of TE'ers apparently! Ya'll are downright hospitable.

[PamNY]

This thread is really making me appreciate my friends and family.

My parents were very respectful when I stopped eating meat. They cooked a wide variety of foods, so it wasn't really a problem.

They also had only one food rule when I was growing up: I didn't have to eat anything I didn't like, but I had to be polite about it. I wish everyone's parents had taught them that. Shutting up is a valuable and rare gift.

My friends are all accommodating about my non-meat needs, far more than I would ever expect or ask for. We do have a years-long history of entertaining at my house, so perhaps I'm reaping goodwill.

Regardless, I consider myself lucky to have a happy food past and present. Even luckier to have a bike so I can eat a lot.