Just saw a thing on Instagram that seemed a bit weird to me. A vegan couple got married and apparently didn’t tell the guests ahead of time that they’d only be serving vegan food at the reception. The bride’s brother and some cousins ended up buying pizzas and bringing them back to the reception. Bride was upset.
Where I’m baffled is the comments (probably my mistake for reading them). I was amazed at how many people thought it was outrageous that they might not get meat at a meal. Lots of comments from people saying they don’t eat “animal food” or “rabbit food” or “grass and berries”. Is it really that common for people to not eat fruits and vegetables?
I guess I’m just thrown at the strong opposition to this where I’m getting older and I’m meeting more people going vegan/vegetarian/low meat because of heart or cholesterol issues and am working towards it myself. Yet the hatred seems very political. It’s apparently liberal/leftie thing to eat vegetables.
I definitely grew up with the sense that it’s not a meal unless there’s some kind of meat involved, with the exception perhaps of cereal for breakfast.
That said, I think it depends what kind of vegan food was served and what kind of wedding it was, so it depends.
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Probably wrong to have not told anyone. I usually see menus on the invites that get sent out. But vegan food at a wedding should be fine in the sense that I wouldn’t expect beef to be served at a Hindu wedding or pork to be served at a Muslim or Jewish one.
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I had a college friend who briefly dated a girl who was big into vegan cooking and I was onboard.
My MIL got my kids these pretzels for St Patricks day. There was plenty of extra so I’d be lying if I said I didn’t completely spoil my appetite Monday just eating pretzels.
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Is it wrong to only serve vegan food at a wedding? No.
It might be a little inconsiderate to not warn people in advance, but only a little.
Is it rude to bring in outside food to a wedding reception? Yes, somewhat.
Is it wrong for a bride to be upset rudeness? I think it’d be understandable to be irritated at the prior point of rudeness, but…
Should the vegan nature of the wedding / reception have been mentioned in invitation? If it was that big a deal for the bride, then that detail definitely should have been raised. It would perhaps have been nice to give guests a heads-up about the nature of the reception menu, but I don’t see that as strictly necessary.
Has social media caused people to become excessively worked up about trivial matters in others’ lives? Absolutely.
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I guess where I’m a bit lost is that in my experience vegan food is basically normal food, except oil instead of butter and weird “cheese”.
I’d personally go with vegetarian over vegan as I find vegan a bit too restrictive. On the other hand, my co-worker, who used to say his favourite vegetable was ketchup, did make the hard jump to vegan, with no oils after having a coronary blockage has since broadened his diet a bit, so it’s an option.
I’m a bit lost on the need for a warning. What do people need to prepare for? I guess I assumed everyone ate fruits and vegetables…
I’m stuck on the didn’t tell them in advance. I can’t think of a wedding or party I have been invited that did not include something about the meal provided. Not stating it is a vegan only meal is on the host. That said, bringing pizza was an asshole move. I would’ve made them eat it in the parking lot.
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My brother had normal food for the guests for the sit down meal, but then served vegan food during the evening for the dance/bar etc. Was actually pretty good.
He is a vegan (as is his wife) so thats how they balanced it out.
So they got a free meal and were upset that it wasn’t something they would have picked themselves? They should have just waited until after the wedding to go out to eat. They had to have known that bringing pizzas into the wedding was going to upset someone.
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The Economist just had a short article about why butter is bad for you. Thinking I’m gonna try olive oil bagel.
Its customary to ask the people coming if they have any food intolerances or if they prefer meat vs vegan food (or similar)
I had to spend weeks going over menus for this sort of thing.
If you’re going to be at the festivities for several hours and are a carnivore, it’d be nice to know in advance.
It wouldn’t be a problem for me, but my wife is extremely picky when it comes to food (e.g. she has a thing against cooked vegetables, a number of allergies, etc.) so when going someplace where we don’t know about the menu, we have to plan accordingly.
(Really, she should be the one who plans accordingly, but she has informed me that it’s my problem too.)
In my experience, the consultation is generally, do you want the chicken, fish or beef. There is no consultation on the veggies you’re being served
If there’s no chicken, fish, or beef, then I’m not sure what to ask.
I made rice last night for some leftover chicken tikka masala that the MIL made. I used olive oil instead of butter. It was perfectly fine. 
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Would the vegan couple be upset if they attended a wedding reception and there was no vegan option, other than a side salad or veggies (possibly not prepared strictly vegan)?
My impression is the vast majority of humans are omnivores or some variant of vegetarian. True carnivores among humans are rare.
From speaking to my vegetarian friends, that’s pretty much the norm.
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I had an Iranian housemate for a few years and she made heavy use of olive oil when cooking rice. It was needed to properly brown it.
