Family gatherings are supposed to be joyful, right? But we all know they can actually be a source of considerable stress for the hosts and even for the guests!

One answer could be to avoid them altogether but that’s a bit extreme.

Instead, we’ve got some great ideas to smooth one particular area that might ignite stress at family gatherings: the need to cater for a range of dietary requirements.

If you’re hosting plant-based whanau:

1. If you’re not absolutely sure what guests do and don’t eat, check with them well ahead of time so you can plan.

2. Be honest with yourself about your capacity. Catering for even a small gathering can gobble up a lot of time and it can be expensive. That’s especially true if you’re catering for people with different diets – the recipes will often involve ingredients you don’t already have on hand or which you’re not familiar with. If you love cooking and exploring new recipes and ingredients, great! If cooking is a chore then look for ways to make it easier on yourself.

3. Aim to have most of the dishes suit most of the guests – e.g. if you’ve got a couple of gluten-free people and a couple of vegans and a vegetarian, making most of the dishes gluten-free and vegan will reduce your workload!

4. Consider loosening your grip on some traditions. For many of us growing up, it just wouldn’t have seemed like Christmas without a roast turkey at the centre of the table. Times have changed and that roast bird may be downright distressing to vegan guests. No, you don’t have to change everything to accommodate vegan guests – but in some situations it’s worth weighing up whether the event is about the people or the traditions.

If you’re plant-based and being hosted:

1. Be gracious. If Great Aunt Matilda messes up and gives you chocolates with milk in them, just quietly let her know you’ll be regifting them to someone else.

2. Be helpful. Offer to bring snacks or dessert for everybody to minimise your host’s duties – and make sure you look after other dietary requirements such as gluten-free.

3. Be prepared. Even if your host declines your generous offer of providing one of the courses, if you suspect there might not be much for you to eat then bring along something ‘normal-looking’ to share – depending on your family, this probably isn’t the time to be getting Uncle Joe to have his first taste of tofu or jackfruit. But everybody loves garlic bread (many of the supermarket brands of garlic bread are accidentally vegan, just check the ingredients list to be sure it doesn’t contain dairy) or a colourful fruit platter.

Did you know these treats are vegan?
Some supermarket items to keep on hand to delight plant-based guests

• Biscoff biscuits and spread

• Speculaas biscuits (de Ruyter brand)

• Most Whittakers’ dark chocolate (a few varieties contain milk or honey)

• Crumpets

• Garlic bread (not all brands - check the ingredients list doesn’t contain milk)

• Skittles sweets

• Oreos (not all varieties, but definitely the original ones)

• Kea cookies

• Sorbet (not all brands – check the label)