vegan wedding meal ideas?

Question

kay, so my wedding reception is going to have all vegan food, but heres the thing...
i have people coming that are pretty high-class(nowhere near QE2, but docs & lawyers & such), and also from the other side of the family are people who are pretty much "down home, kick off yer shoes" kind of folks. I only want one menu, not something like "burgers & caviar"(if I ate that stuff anyway), so what I need to find are things that fit well together in two or three dinner options(or possibly a buffet style that looks like it all goes together), would suit either type of guest, and is all vegan. I need ideas for the whole thing but especially for main dishes.
Any ideas? and please dont tell me "grill veggie burgers, theyll never know"......that, to me, is NOT wedding fare.
Thanks so much. (=

Answer 1

ham wrapped in bacon with pickled pigs feet or pork chops, that sounds good, i might have that for dinner

Answer 2

Try picking a food theme first like asian, Italian, Indian ect.
This will help you search out your menu with more options than a veggie burger. It also allows you to have some elegant food and some more hearty down home dishes so that everyone will feel at home. Another benefit is that people will be noticing the theme of the menu and not so much that it is vegan and once they realized they had a great vegan meal it could open their eyes to that lifestyle.

Try using high end vegatables like portabello mushrooms made up in an Italian red sauce with some vegan cheese,or asparagus wraped in a vegan style crepe and some yummy pasta.

A nice filling rice or couscous with saffron, flat bread, and a tofu curry dish would make a lot of people happy. You could also look up a lot of hindu indian dishes that are vegitarian. A lot of people will think that they are just eating Indian food and not vegan at all!

You can even go asian and have vegi sushi, sweet hot mushroom soup, and an elegant stir fry with exotic veggies.

Also try some really yummy things that people dont get to eat everyday like a appetizer with kumquats on toast.

Answer 3

I just wrote this menu for a catering job at work!
-For appetizers we are offering bruschetta, and fresh vegan bread with herbed olive oil and garlic dipping sauce.
-Salad with mixed greens, tomatoes, red onion, cucumber, croutons. I put all dressings on the side. I sent our homemade vinigarette dressing and ranch (because the rednecks can't eat a salad without ranch.)
-Minestrone soup (which is usually vegan, but so perfect in its own right that omnis can't tell the difference.)
-Angel hair with artichokes- angel hair pasta with artichokes, black olives, capers, tomatoes, mushrooms, basil, and fresh garlic sauteed in white wine and olive oil.
-Spaghetti with marinara. (We even made "wheat balls" from TVP, bread crumbs, parsley, garlic, and onions. They were awesome. I took some home.)
-Portobello stuffed ravioli with balsamic reduction or marinara.
--The ravioli will keep the kids happy and they won't miss the meat. The spaghetti and wheatballs will give the down home folks something familiar and the angel hair with artichokes is bourgouis enough for the doctors and lawyers. We are going to put the appetizers on the table and serve everything else buffet style. I think that it is a cohesive vegan menu that will appeal to a broad spectrum. Any caterer or non-chain Italian restaurant should be able to execute this menu with very few hang-ups. You might have to pay a little extra for things that they don't order all of the time (like the TVP or portabella ravioli) but with enough notice it's not really a big deal. For dessert I'm assuming you will have a grand vegan wedding cake but I've also heard rumors of vegan tiramisu. I just haven't been able to figure it our yet.

Answer 4

Indian curry dishes are wonderful, you find them everywhere in the book stores, or internet. We always serve both kinds of foods at any event we have at our home. A favorite is a tomatoe scooped out and then filled with couscous flavored with any kind of spice you like (I find that trader joes has wonderful sauces) I then add some mushroom, and peas to the mix, it just takes a tablespoon or so to fill a tomatoe half, and is great for an appetizer. I also take cucumbers and half them. (if you use cream cheese) Try some curry power with some cream cheese or even sour cream and some crushed pinapple, fill the halfed cucumber and cut in slices, really tastes good. make a wonderful fruit salad, or cabobs. Have a chocolate fountain with fresh fruits, pineapple is wonderful, apples too, but put apple slices in a little lemon juice so they don't brown. Humus is very easy to make, and goes over well, use a beautiful assortment of flat breads with it. Portabella mushrooms filled with rice mixure or couscous as a main meal, then take red potatoes slice them in half, sprinkle them with your favorite spice, lay them flat down on large cookie sheets, serve them face up with the mushroom and veggies skews, would be wonderful. Offer a flavored fried tofu for those that are allergic to mushrooms. Pasta salads are the best, I do one where I take cilantro, olive oil, sea salt, and lemon juice (lots of cilantro) and put it all in a food procceser, makes the best dressing, then I sprinkle with fresh grated parm cheese, but you can leave the cheese out. In the pasta salad I put frozen peas, or soy beans, (which are great to have around anyway) Engilish cucumbers diced, celery, onion, black olilves, large grated carrots, and anything else I think might taste good in it. I suppose I never make it the same way more than once. One more.. Cabbage, slice it up fine, roast some sliced almonds, do this after you mixed every thing together, take 1 head of cabbage to 2 packages of oriental top roman noodles, take the flavor packs out and sprinkle in the cabbage, crush one bag of uncooked top roman noodles, add a handful of sugar, and sprinkle with rice viniger to taste, add the almonds while they are hot and mix fast, the smell is great, and taste even better. Both pasta and cabbage dish can be made the day before. Remember when making pasta salads to undercook the pasta just a touch, cause the liquid will absorb into the pasta from the dressing. Have fun experiment, make some mini dinners before you decide, and have fun.

Answer 5

Who is cooking? We self-catered my daughters wedding last year and it was not easy. I wouldn't suggest for you (the bride?) to take that on yourself.
I do like the idea of a theme, Italian is usually a sure thing with most people.
You can do some nice pasta dishes, the stuffed mushrooms sound good etc. Unless you expect a lot of people that are used to vegan food I would stay away from things like tofu and "fake" meat and stick to ingredients that meat eaters usually eat too, like veggies, breads, grains, pastas etc.

Answer 6

Choose some of people's favourite NON-VEGAN meal and turn them into a vegan dish. - Choose Fancy Dishes that can be VEGANIZED (Like a vegan cheesecake for desert!) I can't think of anything for main menu, be creative!

Answer 7

I think I would go with an Asian fare, spring rolls with a wasabi soy, szechuan veggies, moo shu veggies with the the little pancakes and plum sauce, vegetable fried rice and vegetable lo mein. Congrats on the upcoming nuptuals!! Best of luck to you.

Answer 8

Appitizers- sauteed mushrooms, cucumber sandwiches, and cherry tomatos stuffed with spinach and vegan cream cheese.

Salad- romaine lettuce with chopped vine ripe tomatos, black olives, cucumbers, and a vegan ranch or italian dressing.

Entree- vegtable stir fry, vegtable yakisoba, spiced vegtables over acorn squash, or steamed portobello mushrooms over linguine pasta.

Dessert- tofu chocolate mousse with strawberries, fruit salad with vegan whipped cream, sherbert with a side of fruit, cheesecake made with vegn cream cheese.

Answer 9

That's a hard one...

http://allrecipes.com/Recipes/Everyday-Cooking/Vegetarian/Vegan/ViewAll.aspx?SortBy=Rating&Direction=Descending

http://allrecipes.com/Recipes/Everyday-Cooking/Vegetarian/Vegan/Dessert/ViewAll.aspx?SortBy=Rating&Direction=Descending

http://allrecipes.com/Recipes/Everyday-Cooking/Vegetarian/Vegan/Side-Dish/ViewAll.aspx?SortBy=Rating&Direction=Descending

Ok those are the links for the top-rated vegan recipes on allrecipes.com.

i would recommend browsing through them and looking for your favorites. i don't know anything about vegan food, but i'm just going to kinda guess, and name the dishes that sound most appealing to me.

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Smashed-Sweet-Potatoes-2/Detail.aspx I love sweet potatoes, and they're really versatile so it can be a good side dish or dessert.

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Chocolate-Strawberries/Detail.aspx chocolate strawberries are a wedding classic, and you could get a chocolate fondue fountain and use a bunch of other fruits or vegan snacks.

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Spicy-Couscous-with-Dates/Detail.aspx couscous is really good and might appear kind of gourmet.

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Vegan-Black-Bean-Soup/Detail.aspx soup can look really nice if you put it a cool serving bowl, like something that resembles a cauldron.

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Tofu-and-Veggies-in-Peanut-Sauce/Detail.aspx this is a really good thai dish that i absolutely love! i think this would be a good main dish, especially to thoes who like ethnic food.

Also any salads, curries, and things like stuffed eggplant and such are really nice. if you are going to get a cater (which i'm guessing your not considering your asking for recipes) then they might be able to provide you with some options.

congrats and good luck with your wedding!

Answer 10

Ask your cater or are you cooking this yourself? Indian cusine has many dished that can be made with meat or soy beans (Paneer?)

Answer 11

I love the asian themed idea. Now i'm hungry!