Well, I tell you... My grandma is very old, ok? And I've got a cousin, who's my age, and who's vegetarian. And the problem is that in special ocasions, when my grandma doesn't know what to cook for him. I said many things to tell him not to eat as much as the others, and not to eat things like meat or fish. But, there'll be a time he'll eat nothing. Now, there is an internal "battle" in my family of what to do. What would you do in these circumstances? Thanks. Freeko.
yeah, the "problem" relies on that in our culture (we a very strong catholic family), the dishes are more based on meat, and my grandma is very very old to think in cooking vegetables just for one person among twenty people.
Your cousin should bring a vegetarian dish with him to share. If there are cultural mores that would be violated if he were to do that, then he should eat before arriving.
BYO is always the best and most convenient way around it. It can put alot of pressure on someone, especially if they are from your Gran's era, to whip up a dish that comes up to scratch in the eyes of a vegetarian. I had an aunty that insisted on cooking me chicken casseroles as i 'didn't eat meat'. Try and get around that one! Anyway, it would take a lot of time to educate everyone and not everyone is all that interested in our food habits and beliefs. I say, if he takes his own food and maybe something to share all will be well
lol..seems like such an obvious answer. Your cousin is 23..there's not reason he should sit at the dinner table and not eat anything. That sounds downright rude to me! He should either offer to help your grandmother prepare a couple of vegetarian dishes for the family, or else bring his own dishes for himself and the rest of the family.