This year I hosted an almost vegan Thanksgiving dinner with friends from work. The idea came from a casual conversation I had with one of them that was trying vegan food after watching the Game Changer. He was complaining that being vegan is so hard in the Philippines and vegan food tastes like cardboard. So I said, ok, I’ll make a vegan dinner so you can try real vegan food. I love hosting my friends at work but haven’t done one since June. It takes quite of planning and preparation, yet I truly enjoy it. And this time because I am introducing vegan food for non-vegans, I was extra excited. We were 10 in total, and I made the following dishes
snack board (non-vegan)
vegan stuffing
roasted vegetables
meatloaf made with lentils, walnuts and vegetables
vegan potato scallop that tastes like real butter
vegan cornbread
fresh baked whole wheat bread with nuts and dry fruits
Un-pictured dishes include: wild rice salad with greens, mango, cranberries, cashews and a citrus dressing; tofu fingers with a sweet sour sauce; african peanut chickpea stew; and a pumpkin pie
It sounds a lot but actually I only started cooking after lunch and everything was ready at 5pm. My helper did most of the chopping and I cooked.
The end products were good but not as good as I hoped because by the time they arrived, some of the dishes were not hot. Overall it was a good experience for them as they got exposed to vegan food that they wouldn’t otherwise know existed. Obviously, the best of all was the conversation. I am so thankful for having good friends here. Some of them feel like family and I love being around them everyday. 🙂
Our New Journey 