It’s becoming increasingly common for brides and grooms to cater a vegetarian wedding for many reasons, including:
1. The bride and/or groom are themselves vegetarian and want to maintain their beliefs and values on their wedding day
2. Key guests are vegetarian or have religious or cultural dietary codes that make vegetarian wedding food the simplest option
3. It’s healthier (and rather delicious)
4. It’s environmentally friendly (meat production can demand more planetary resources than vegetarian food).
So if a vegetarian wedding appeals to you, here are our top tips for a delicious meat-free wedding celebration.
Pick starters for colour
We like our wedding couples to start their wedding reception with something that makes people go ooh! and aah! Our top picks for vegetarian starters that set the standard of taste plus stunning good looks are:
• Shot glasses of hot tomato soup served with a basil oil swirl, or glass coupes of chilled gazpacho soup with a tiny radish rose.
• Orange and watercress soup with marigold petal garnish
• Tomato and vegan cheese salad with basil and olives
• Herb risotto balls with grilled baby sweetcorn and a red pepper and aubergine relish.
Meatless but meaty main courses
If you’re serving a sit-down meal, give people something to get their teeth into!
• Mushroom stroganoff is substantial and full of rich flavours – this is an ideal autumn and winter dish, as it can be built around fresh, locally available mushrooms.
• Vegetable lasagne delights meat-eaters – if you’ve never tried aubergine instead of pasta for the ‘layers’, you’ll find this an amazingly tasty dish which even the heartiest eater will find rewarding
• Vegetarian paella – if you want to surprise your guests, a vegetarian paella is delicious – using a blend of fresh vegetables and carefully chosen herbs, spices and dried foodstuffs such as mushrooms and pine nuts, this main course is a speciality of ours and is certain to win you compliments
• Salad tiede is a perfect way to thrill the tastebuds – we recommend a warm potato salad with fresh mushrooms and butternut squash, served with a zesty rocket and walnut pesto.
Dramatic desserts
Now you can really go to town!
• Baked apples with brandy sauce – tipple and pudding in one!
• Fruit kebabs – our catering team make up the perfect blend of tropical fruits which are seared for flavour and served with a dipping sauce of vegetarian chocolate
• Soya, coconut and almond based ice creams with a range of toppings mean that a vegetarian wedding can have a fun ‘food station’ too.
Watch out for wine
Virtually all wines use some animal products such as isinglass (fish bladders), gelatin or albumen to refine their wines – this makes them unacceptable to all vegans and many vegetarians. As wedding caterers we’re happy to advise on wines we know are vegetarian (look out for bentonite as an ingredient, it’s made from clay!)
We can also recommend ciders that are vegetarian, as you’d expect from a catering company based in Devon, and mulled cider is a great addition to a vegetarian wedding menu!
Contact Devon Catering
Website: www.devoncatering.com
Email: enquiry@devoncatering.com
Phone: 01271 858505
