Guest Post by Mianna Korben
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So, you’ve decided to throw a dinner party. You’ve probably got all of the ideas for tasty meals in your head, but you might not yet realize that your responsibilities don’t stop there. Some of your guests might not be able to eat certain meals, for personal or health reasons. This means you have to adapt to these diets and somehow come up with a satisfying result in the form of your main meals.
1. Go crazy with the cocktails
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Cocktails are a quintessential part of the dinner party experience. You need to have something that people can wash down the delicious food with. When it comes to deciding between hard liquors and cocktails, you should always go with cocktails. Some people might not be able to drink alcohol, and serving them sparkling water alone won’t cut it.
This is where cocktails come in. The best part about these tasty drinks is that you don't even have to make them with alcohol. They can be just as tasty and interesting to look at while being free of any booze.
2. Ask for help
Just because you’re hosting a dinner party, doesn’t mean that you’re familiar with all kinds of different diets. After all, you don’t have to be a nutritionist to make food for your friends and acquaintances. So how do you go about making food when you don’t know what people can and can’t eat?
Well, you could always ask for some external help. If you don’t have the time to double and triple check the guest list and ask individuals what they can and can’t eat, your best bet would be to consult those who might. Check the internet for some tips on how to host your own dinner party when there are different eaters involved.
3. Make a list and check it twice
When you get down to cooking, you will have to look at all the ingredients you need to buy. There will probably be lots of different dishes involved, which means you have to keep track of all the foodstuffs you need to acquire beforehand. While you’re busy with shopping, why not ask your guests for any requests in advance? If someone has a specific dietary requirement, you can take care of it right at the start by getting the right ingredients. Take your guest list and use it to contact people to make your own list of specific ingredients.
Add some new ones and remove the ones that wouldn’t sit well with a large number of guests. This way, you don’t have to worry about any surprises at the dinner party itself.
4. Consider restrictive diets
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Some diets aren’t really optional. People can have issues with their digestive tracks which disallow them from eating certain kinds of food. It might negatively affect their body or they might be allergic to the foodstuffs that are featured in the meals.
This is especially common when it comes to cakes and pastries. Gluten and lactose intolerance are pretty common issues among the people of Sydney, and cakes have both milk and gluten within their ingredients. They’re part of the regular Australian kitchen, so it’s no surprise that you’ll find recipes that use them. Other people might not be able to eat a lot of processed sugars, which would further restrict your dessert choices.
However, that would only pose a problem if there were a limited number of cake recipes that you could choose from for your party. Even if you only find out about the guest's dietary restrictions a day before the party, you won't be out of luck. Luckily, there are lots of gluten-free cake deliveries in Sydney available, which means your party won’t go without desserts for those that can’t tolerate gluten. On the other hand, there are also places that sell cakes with minimal amounts of milk, which use more tolerable ingredients.
5. Serve a buffet
People have very diverse diets. Picking the right kind of dish that caters to all of the guests seems pretty much impossible. Sure, you could pull it off with some maneuvering and chef skills, but why bother complicating things? If you really want everyone to be satisfied with their dish, you should let them pick out the things they want to eat.
Buffets let you get creative with the food without having to pick and choose what has to go on the plate. It’s the perfect compromise that lets your guests do all of the work. You don’t have to worry about sides and mains clashing or somebody leaving their table unsatisfied because the food doesn’t suit them.
You can be sure that the food will not go uneaten in a buffet. People will pick portions that they feel will suit them, which will lead to a lot less food wastage than a regular dinner party.
Conclusion
Dinner parties are a whole bunch of fun, but they also come with their own set of responsibilities. You want everyone to have fun and enjoy their meal, which means switching up a few ingredients in the cooking department and adapting to different diets. It might seem like a hassle, but it’s a lot easier than you might think. Follow some of these tips and you’ll have a blast at your dinner and your guests are guaranteed to leave satisfied.