Michael Rosenblatt wrote:
>
> We had a retired couple over--friends of ours. Her husband had
> a coronary bypass 4 years ago. We made tofu kabobs (barbecued)
> with fresh veggies. His wife ate the tofu. I made some lean
> chicken pieces to put on with it--you should have seen me
> in the kitchen--I washed the cutting board off 5 times with
> bleach!! In the mean time, he did not touch ONE piece of tofu.
> As far as he was concerned, it was poison.
>
> We are now offering guests SAD meals when we have guests over,
> along with the food Yvonne and I eat. We have tried the route
> of "teaching" other people to eat our foods. Now, nobody calls
> us to go out with them, we have not been invited to friends'
> homes, and our telephone is silent.
Maybe our friends are just more tolerant, but we haven't had any
problems serving our guests VLF vegetarian meals. We don't try
to teach anyone anything, just to serve tasty meals that meet my
dietary standards. I am careful not to serve anything too odd,
so my guests usually get pasta, polenta (baked with a sauce or
with chili and salsa), or vegetable curries. I always serve dessert
to guests. I do offer parmesan cheese with pasta, butter with bread,
and 2% milk with coffee; I just don't use them myself.
I have more problems when visiting others. A couple of weeks ago
we had dinner with a couple where the woman is an old friend of mine
who knows my dietary choices and actually introduced me to the
McDougall plan years ago. The main course was a delicious vegetable
dish from an Ornish book, the salad had nonfat dressing, and the
dessert was strawberries served in heavy cream. I didn't say anything
(and, I must admit, I did eat the strawberries), but it would have
been so easy for her to serve the cream on the side. And yes, there
are some dinner parties we don't get invited to because while the
cook is willing to make a vegetarian dinner for us and her own family,
she's not willing to subject her other guests to it.
Jane Colman jane@xxxxxxxxxx
------------------------------