Vegan Wedding Food and a Letter

So we've been really lucky this summer with weddings in a couple regards.

Firstly, we've only had to go to three weddings. Did I say had? I meant got -- we only got to go to three weddings. Yeah...

Secondly, we have been lucky enough to have vegan meals and all three weddings!

The first was our friends Tony and Erin's wedding and Erin's vegan so the whole reception was vegan and de-fracking-licious!

The second was my friend since grade school Katie and her inexplicably nice and down-to-earth husband Scott's (I can make that joke because I don't think she reads this blog ... at any rate, she has a good sense of humor) wedding in my hometown, population 280 ... people. Not 280 thousand. 280, period. Katie was nice enough to ask her caterer to leave butter off of some vegetables and they somehow got a hold of a Celebration Roast from Field Roast Grain Meat Co. So that was cool.

The third was my cousin Scott and his wife Alicia's wedding. This was just last weekend, so the hummus, cucumber salad, amazing marinated and grilled portabella mushrooms, eggplant lasagna with herbed tofu and vegan brownies and chocolate date oatmeal cookies are ....

Sorry ... let me compose myself here ... ahem ... my mouth is watering ....

OK. So the food from that wedding is fresh in my mind and it was fracking awesome.

So in October we're going to a wedding in Moorhead, MN and I guess I'm spoiled because now I expect there to be vegan options at receptions. I sent the following email to the place where the reception is being held:

Greetings Moorhead Chef,

My wife, two year old daughter and I are attending the [NAME] reception on [DATE]. We thought that instead of bothering the bride and groom-to-be we'd direct our dietary questions toward the person preparing the food.

My family is vegan. This means that we don't eat meat, dairy, eggs, honey or any other food that comes from animals. Will the menu for that evening have any vegan options?

If not, or if there is only one option (like un-buttered baby carrots or something like that), then would you be able to whip up three vegan main courses for us?

I don't assume people are well versed in vegan cooking and I know that it can be a daunting endeavor if you're not used to it. But after the initial shock of being unable to use animal ingredients wears off, it’s actually really easy. Here are a few websites that give a wide array of vegan recipes and meal ideas.

http://www.chooseveg.com/vegan-recipes.asp

http://vegweb.com/index.php?action=recipecategories

http://www.applebride.com/pages/Vegetarian_Reception#Vegan_Appetizers

We would prefer to have something similar to the non-vegan meal (for example, if everyone is having mashed potatoes with milk and butter, mashed potatoes with soy milk and vegan margarine would work for us; if they're having steak, maybe we could have grilled portabella mushrooms).

Just a heads up, a lot of soy cheese and margarine have casein in them, which is a milk ingredient. I know that Cash Wise in Fargo has casein-free margarine and soy cheese and I think some of the Hornbachers may as well.

I realize that if you do make vegan meals for us it would be above and beyond your normal operating procedure and it may add to the cost of preparing the meal. We'd be willing to pay a little bit for our meal if you'd like. At the very least you’d automatically get compliments to the chef.

Please let me know if you can do this for us and if you have any questions. The Avalon in Fargo has prepared vegan meals for us in the past. I'm not sure if you know the chef over there, but maybe he or she could give some pointers if they're needed?

Thank you for your time.

I'll let you know how it goes. Oh, and feel free to steal this letter and send it to the person who's catering the next wedding you're attending. Some day we'll get to a point where we'll no longer have to stop at Subway for a veggie sub between weddings and receptions. I'd like to think I'm doing my small part in getting there.