Post Punk Kitchen Forum

This if my first Vegan Thanksgiving, I have been vegetarian for 15+ years and very recently made the switch. I am enjoying the challenge and I feel great, my Omni hubby has also enjoyed the new food and doesn't seem to miss dairy and eggs. I still cook a small amount of non-vegan food for him, its not much and I don't make a fuss about it.

My big problem is I decided to host Thanksgiving for the in-laws, so I could get something to eat and not cause a big problem or offend. Last dinner at their home the homemade bread had BOTH eggs and milk...which I found after. :(

My concern is that my in-laws can't seem to not contaminate condiments, especially butter (earthbalance). If I set the table with a butter knife at each plate they will cut their meat with it and then use it in the butter (ICK). If I set out a steak knife that will use if for the butter. I have tried having a knife JUST for the butter but they get it confused with their own knife or just forget.

HOW can I have butter for the rolls and potatoes and such and keep their meaty knives out of everything????

Unfortunately there will be meat, since he got a bunch of stuffed chicken breasts free and I'd rather he not eat them all. That's the only non vegan thing, certainly a step in the right direction.

Please help and thank you in advance for any suggestions!

Scoop some EB into a couple of butter dishes. Put most of them near the in-laws and keep one really close to you away from gross meaty knives. Then at the end of the night you can toss any contaminated butter.

Also, +1 on ICK. I hate cross-contaminating foods like that (even bread crumbs in the butter bug me), and nasty meaty knives would probably put me over the edge.

Do you have/can you get some little tiny dishes you can fill with butter and set out, either one at each place setting or a tray of them on the buffet (I'm not sure how you plan on serving) so everyone gets their own butter to contaminate?

This or just pre slice a stick.

Oooh or get a little melon baller thingy and make those cute round scoops and put em on a plate.

You can get butter spreaders that look nothing like regular butter knives. Maybe that would help keep them from getting confused with their own dirty silverware?

These things are nice but I don't recommend them if you have any lefties in your family, my fiance has trouble with ours.

Weird - most of the ones I have seen do not have "handedness." What does yours look like?

My butter spreader definitely doesn't have "handedness." It's symmetrical. But it sounds like they would probably still stick a steak knife in it.

I say slice up a stick of EB and give everyone a their own pat on their bread plate.

I thought about little pats of butter, but then hubbie pointed out they would probably go after them with their dirty forks. Can anyone think of a good way to serve them?

Do you think it would work to soften EB and put it in a squeeze bottle?

They are also terrible about smooshing everything on the plate together while serving themselves, like touching the gravy spoon into the mashed potatoes and then putting it back into the gravy.

I don't even want to talk about the last time they had ham....shudder

Oh, I wasn't even thinking of the flat ones. Mine is kinda like this:

It has a curved handle (more than in this picture) and the left side is shaped differently than the right side. I didn't realize how much of a difference the shape makes until I heard my fiance muttering to himself when he tried to use it!

I think putting the EB in little dishes at either ends of the table sounds like it should work. And you could always prep your plates before anyone else starts digging in, if you can time it properly. Are you making food for everyone or just you and your husband? What else are you sharing with them other than the EB?

Bamboo stick. If they ever try reaching for the butter with their greasy knives give 'em a little thwack on the back on the hand.

Sometimes I wish I could smack them! I was thinking of having it buffet style in the kitchen, with the meat and rolls on the table. Sometimes this backfires and they put their meat on the plate first, and then contaminate everything else. But maybe I can get them started filling plates first, then only seconds will be gross.

It sounds like you're overthinking it. If it were me I'd probably just spoon some in a dish for everyone to use and just scoop mine for my bread/whatever directly from the container and stay away from the communal butter myself.

yeah, this sounds like the easiest. if you are the only vegan, just make sure you've got your own EB to use and everyone else can have a free for all! Then next year, switch to chickpea cutlets!

This wins. Thread over.

Yep, yep!

I was going to suggest stabbing them with their gross, chicken-coated knives, but this way will probably involve you in less jail time.

You could always make the EB really gross by adulterating it with semen and snot and then just not having any.

If each person has their own pat already on their personal bread plate when they sit down, why would it matter if they used a dirty fork?

I was thinking of butter for things other than bread, like potatoes and squash.

You guys are right I'm over thinking it. I'll just have small dishes near each plate, that way they won't know its just for them and they'll just think I'm being fancy (or just making extra dishes).

I wish I could have chickpea cutlets, or tofurkey... sigh. I should have just skipped Thanksgiving again this year.

Thank you all for the help!

Yes! And the beauty of this approach is that you generally only have to do it once! (So, do we have a publication date for your upcoming "Household Hints for the Hostile Herbivore" book yet? It's rocking the #1 spot on my Giftmas list!)Then again, you could just not invite savages to your house - were these people raised in a cave or what? I mean who does that?

Oh man, I wish I hadn't read this. We have Thanksgiving with a huge meat-eating family, and I bet you anything they've been doing crepe like this for years without me noticing. I won't be able to unsee it now!

When I eat at dinner where there is communal food, I always make sure to serve myself first, to avoid cross-contamination.

Otherwise, you get the meaty gravy covered spoon stuck in the (vegan) potatoes.

Keep some leftovers for yourself in the kitchen too, like in the pots they were cooked in, so you can enjoy them later. Your the hostess, this will be easy to do.