How to Be a Good Vegetarian Holiday Dinner Guest

‘Tis the season for holiday dinners with family and friends! If you’re a vegetarian, though, your presence might cause your host some undue concern. Here’s how to be a good vegetarian dinner guest and cut down on others’ stress over how to accommodate your diet during the holidays.

Instructions

Difficulty: Easy

Things You’ll Need:

• A dish to pass
• A hostess gift

1. When you’re invited, let your host know ahead of time that you are a vegetarian, but would love to join them for a holiday dinner. Be reassuring that you’re not picky and you don’t need any special preparation, you just will have to decline the meat potions of the meal.
2. Bring a hostess gift. It’s old-fashioned, but it’s a great way to let your host know you’re grateful to be included in the celebration. The standard bottle of wine or some flowers will do nicely, or you can get creative if you know your host well.
3. Bring a dish to pass. If you bring along a vegetarian dish, you’re essentially reassuring your host that you will have something to eat besides the salad. And when you bring something, it gives your friends and family an opportunity to try some delicious vegetarian food they wouldn’t have had otherwise.
4. Don’t let your host apologize for anything! Your host may say, “Try the greens,” and then realize with a stricken look that the greens were made with ham. Politely insist that the holiday dinner was amazing and that you loved everything that you ate. Keep the focus on what you could eat instead of what you couldn’t.
5. This should go without saying, but thank your host for the awesome meal. Be reassuring that you got enough to eat and that you’re incredibly full. Many meat-eaters feel like they need meat to feel satisfied with a meal, and falsely assume that vegetarians go hungry.

Tips & Warnings

• When you bring a vegetarian dish to pass, don’t bring something that would overshadow the main dish of your host’s holiday dinner. For example, if you’re having a turkey dinner, bringing a Tofurky might be considered rude. Instead, bring something unique but appealing to most people, like hummus and pita bread, or vegetarian chili.
• Don’t be preachy at the dinner table! If asked, feel free to explain why you became a vegetarian and answer questions about what you eat instead of meat. However, do not bring politics into it or attack anyone else’s lifestyle choices. You’re all there to celebrate a holiday, not argue about food. You can have that discussion another time.