Subject: [Sca-cooks] And now for... UnTurkey

[Decker, Terry D.]

I had the curious experience of catering an Elizabethan wedding dinner
Saturday.  The groom is an ovo-lacterian, who doesn't object to the
carnivores getting their meat as long as there is plenty for him.  The menu
was rice pudding, spinach tart, artichoke pie, fine cakes, compound salad
(to act as a savory) and roast chicken for them what eat meat.  There was
also a non-Elizabethan fruit and nut mix and peach cobbler (at the groom's
request).

Some of the guests expressed surprise that "vegetarian food could taste so
good."  They failed to take into account that the "vegetarian dishes" are
common side dishes which weren't trying to be anything other than
vegetables.  I think the problem most people have with "vegetarian" dishes
is the belief that main dishes should taste like meat and the reality is
they don't.

I was reminded once again why I don't do catering (it's too much like work
and is painful to boot).  And I learned a new trick.  Put the drinks out
first.  It keeps people from crowding into the prep area to find the water.

Bear

> I'm no vegan, and i'm not even a vegetarian any more. But when i was
> a vegetarian i did NOT want my chief protein sources to be fake-meat
> substitutes. I hated the fake hot dogs i bought once because they
> tasted too much like actual hot dogs for me. When i made my own meals
> i didn't cook dishes that were like meat dishes - well, ok, so i made
> moussaka with ground soy stuff and made taco filling with it, but i
> didn't want it to taste like meat, and it didn't.
>
> Anahita