Doppelgänger Dinner for Vegetarians and Omnivores

Which is which? IMAGE: The twin tartares: for vegetarians, a spherified yellow pepper puree on a tomato, with a smudge of basil puree; for omnivores, smoked egg with beef and parsley. Photo: Steph Goralnick

Hold the tofurky! Mike Lee of Studiofeast created a sumptuous feast for 20 vegetarians and 20 omnivores featuring a twin set of dishes that looked (and I'm sure also tasted) awesome.

I had a thought once about couples where one person was a vegetarian and the other was a meat eater. It seemed like they could really never share a meal and have the same experience without one person–usually the omnivore–compromising to suit the mutually agreeable meal. To a normal, well adjusted human being, this is a totally banal observation that wouldn’t warrant losing sleep over.
But to us at Studiofeast, we thought it’d be cool to do a meal where an omnivore and a vegetarian could both share the same meal without the former forgoing meat or the latter having to try flesh. That was the seed of an idea that grew into our most recent dinner: a 7 course meal with an omnivore and vegetarian option where each corresponding course looked identical across the meat/vegetable line. And on July 17th, we seated 40 guests–20 omnivores on one side of the table, 20 vegetarians sitting opposite them–and served them our Doppelganger Dinner.

Link - via Nag on the Lake

An omnivore is only compromising by eating a vegetarian meal if they are one of those people who feel that every meal has to contain meat. I'm not a vegetarian, but about half the meals I cook are meat-free, not because I have any aversion to meat but because I really like vegetables, and whether the meal has meat or not isn't terribly important to me. I make spinach and fetta pie, roast pumpkin soup, pesto risotto, spinach and ricotta cannelloni, tofu stir fries, various Mexican dishes with beans, pizzas, and salads that both omnivores and vegos seem to enjoy without anyone ever asking "where's the meat?"

By the way, a vego could have eaten the egg. This looks like a vegan alternative, or a vego who personally chooses not to eat egg.

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I don't know. I'm vegetarian, my partner isn't. We eat together easily. I make pasta, salad, soup, or quesadillas and the meat only goes in his. It's simple. I make healthily meals for both of us, if he wants meat, he puts meat in his. I'm not sure why most people think it's so complicated. That, and, most of the time, he can't taste the difference between soy meats and real meats in things like soups.

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The dishes pictured above both look equally un-appealing.

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I eat all veg meals quite often, but I will not dress up vegetables to look like or taste like meat. That is stupid. When camping one time, someone made vegetarian chili, with soy meat in it. It would have been great, but the phony meat ruined it. Vegetables are just fine on their own.

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