5 tips for having a happy vegetarian holiday season
Beginning vegetarians usually find that once they get the hang of it, their new eating habits are easy to stick to. Special occasions, however, can sometimes throw a wrench into the works. The holidays are full of social events, dinner feasts, and traditional foods which may no longer meet your needs. It can be hard to change your habits this time of year, but if you go into the season prepared, you might just come out of it feeling even jollier than before.
- Call ahead. If you’re going to a close friend or family member’s house for dinner or some other event at which you’d like to eat, don’t be afraid to pick up the phone in advance and talk to your host. Let her know about your (new) dietary requirements, and find out what’s on the menu. Offer to bring a veggie dish or arrive early to help ease the preparation burden. Ask Grandma if she’d be willing to help you make a veggie version of her award-winning stuffing. You might be surprised how accommodating people who love you can be.
- Bring your own. Know that egg nog and Christmas cookies will be featured at tonight’s party, but you’ve recently sworn off eggs and butter? Bring along some vegan eggnog and cookies, or other treats that will make you smile.
- Let them know. Heading to an office party? Call up the person organizing and let the know that a vegetarian (or more, if you’ve got some veggie coworkers) will be in attendance. It’s usually easy for caterers or restaurants to accommodate vegetarians if they know about it ahead of time.
- Don’t stuff yourself silly on the first vegetarian food that you encounter. At a party, take time to survey the food on offer and decide what you really want to eat, rather than mindlessly chopping away on the nearest bowl of chips and dip. Personally I hate it when I fill up on a bunch of empty calories that I don’t even get much pleasure out of. I feel much better about myself if I do my mindless noshing on carrot and celery sticks from the crudite platter, and then splurge on the items that I really, really love (like almond rocha or something really really chocolaty).
- Make sure you get plenty of treats. Don’t leave yourself feeling left out while everyone around you gorges themselves on holiday goodies. Are your old traditional favorites now off-limits? Start your own holiday traditions by ordering some heavenly vegan chocolates, trying a new restaurant, or whipping up a decadent new main dish that appeals to you.
What are your favorite vegetarian holiday treats?
The office thing just never works out. It’s always very veg-unfriendly, so I skip the requesting and just bring my own food to office parties – and enough to share!
My holiday favorites are the basics – turnips, mashed potatoes, cranberries, etc… I’ve never tried a tofurkey – why bother when there are so many other great choices on the buffet?
Great idea Stephen. What’s worse than office parties, I find, are meetings and conference outside of the office. I’m not vegetarian, but sometimes I request the vegetarian meal options because I don’t eat chicken and somehow I think the veggie choice will be healthier – fat chance. Seems like we are always stuck with a bland plate of pasta or some other starchy concoction. Jul, what do you do in those situations? Have you EVER had a decent vegetarian meal at a seminar, meeting or conference? Great list, BTW.
Good question, Gabrielle. I’ve actually had some fabulous vegetarian food at conferences, but those were all when I was working in finance/banking. Industry events were often over-the-top extravagant, and even the veg options were pretty yummy most of the time.
But I’ve had plenty of bad food at conferences and the like, too. One that stands out served boxed lunches which consisted of a couple veggies (or meat) on a gigantic white roll, potato salad, potato chips, an apple, and a huge cookie. Talk about starch overload… it’s hard not to feel sluggish after a meal like that, especially when you’re jet-lagged and sitting through 8 hours of seminars in one day.
So what can we do in those situations? I try to make the best of it, and challenge myself to put together the best meal possible given what’s there. I go right for the healthiest items available (in the situation above, eating the veggies out of the sandwich and the apple), and then only eat as much of the other items as it takes to satisfy my hunger. I have to constantly remind myself that I don’t have to eat food just because it’s free.