Veganism at the holidays can be extremely stressful, especially if you’re invited to a dinner and the host has no intentions of taking your diet into consideration.

Luckily, my family is made up of planners. We talk about a get together well in advance and everyone is responsible for providing some type of dish for our Holiday meals. Another plus for me is my aunt and uncle are veteran vegans, so my aunt and I split up the vegan dishes and there’s never a shortage of vegan fare.

Now, I know not everyone can be so fortunate. So, here are a few tips for the non vegan, hosting a vegan for a meal (holiday or otherwise):

• Substitute your butter. Trust me, no one will be able to tell you substituted butter for a non dairy version in your mashed potatoes. Offer traditional butter for your guest to add to their plates but make recipes calling for butter with a substitute. This is a very easy swap.
• Use vegetable broth in place of beef or chicken brother in your vegetables/casseroles. This is also helpful for any vegetarians you may be hosting.
• Look for vegetable recipes that contain things like nuts and berries. These recipes can be filling for the vegan who may not have a lot of other options at mealtime. My favorite holiday vegetable dish is roasted brussel sprouts, covered in a balsamic glaze with dried cranberries and walnuts or almonds. So delicious.
• Appetizers are easily vegan friendly. Think guacamole and chips, hummus and pita chips, fresh veggies, nuts, fruits, bruschetta.
• Desserts can be tricky and expensive to make for one or two vegan guest. Choose a fruit salad if you don’t want to make an entire dessert for that one vegan friend or family member.

The one thing I would like you to remember is, communication is your friend when you want to include anyone to dinner who may have dietary restrictions. We don’t expect you to plan your entire meal around our diet but we do appreciate being invited and don’t expect to have to cook an entire meal for ourselves to bring to your house when we are your guest.

If you are inviting a friend to a meal who has a dietary restriction, talk to them about the types of things they eat and do a little research about ways to alter your favorite meals to suit their needs. It’s probably a lot easier than you think.