Yeah, just leave the tomatoes out of the salad. I mean totally leave them out, or have them on the side for people who want to add some to their salad.
It is VERY frustrating to go somewhere that I’m assured will accommodate my “no tomato” requirement and find cherry tomatoes on top. All it takes is one leaking just a little bit to render the entire salad hazardous to me. That’s one of the frustrating things about allergies, for some of us it only takes microscopic amounts to set us off.
Only if you’re aware of a species of egg-laying cow.
Seafood and fish stew flavored with a little bacon.
Honestly that set of restrictions shouldn’t be too difficult.
For protein you can use pork, shellfish, fish, … what about poultry other than chicken? Then there’s tofu or Hearty beans as an option.
So tomatoes are out—you’ve got plenty of options for flavoring—garlic, onion, chives, shallots, carrots, celery, parsley, thyme—and then you can mix it up with a variety of vegetables.
In addition to the Red Bean & Rice and Gumbo suggestions, a Dirty Rice with a medium-hot ground sausage cooked in has always gone over well when I made it; add in some onion, red & green pepper, serve up with biscuits (my preference) or cornbread on the side.
But none of my game groups were picky eaters/had food allergens.
Rather than try to come up with one dish that meets the requirement, why not serve a buffet/smorgasbord of four or five heavy snacks/appetizers, with enough mass to constitute a meal. Trader Joe’s has an excellent frozen selection. Prep time is next to nothing–start heating an hour before guests arrive and serve warm or at room temp.
Mini quiches, stuffed mushrooms, meatballs in some kind of sauce, shrimp (thawed from frozen–these will be cold, of course) with cocktail, tartar, and remoulade sauce, salami slices on crackers (those who want to can add cheese), etc. Add in mixed nuts, trail mix, some fruit salad. People can pick and choose to their heart’s content. I do this for my 11-member book club.
There are practically infinite variations on the bean/lentil concept. I often do a big 6 qt. Crockpot full of Slow-Cooked Chickpeas with Orange for big gatherings. (I don’t have food restrictions, but have friends who are vegetarian/vegan, gluten-free and nut-free.) Pretty much everyone will eat it. If you wanted, you could even cook up some chicken or pork separately, or have a plate of feta on the side, for those who eat them. Serve with crusty bread or a big bowl of rice.
(There are a bunch of recipes on that site that fit your restrictions. Eastern Orthodox fasting simply means “no animal products,” so there are tons of bean and vegetable dishes cooked in olive oil.)
If you want to add some greens, you could just do a side salad or some kind of cold vegetable dish that you can make ahead of time.
How about a frittata, served at room temperature? You can put just about any vegetable in them.
I know it’s not a major meat in the US, but what about a slow-cooked lamb shoulder. A bone-in lamb shoulder is traditionally a cheaper cut, takes about 3 hours set and forget in the oven. With about an hour to go chuck in some potatoes/sweet potatoes/carrots/etc for some tasty sides.
I keep harping on this, but it really is a must dealing with people who need to avoid certain foods for medical reasons: if you do this you MUST read the labels on those foods every time, because the one time you don’t the recipe is going to change and someone might get seriously ill.
Otherwise - yes, the smorgasbord is a great idea, as are taco bars or any other assemble-your-own type things where people can pick and choose their ingredients.
Also, some of the comments here made me think, and I just sort of gave up on trying to please everyone. I told the group that I’d cook something, whatever was easiest that week, and if they didn’t/couldn’t eat it they could make alternative arrangements. But I promised to give them advance notice of what I’m cooking so they had time to prepare. I will rotate pork dishes so nobody ever gets completely left out.
I cooked a massive pot of white chicken chili last night and I think only four or five people ate any. That’s okay because we had a lot left over to freeze. But I’ve had too many times of preparing a big meal and then nobody eats or a bunch of people cancel at the last minute, and I am done planning my life around that.
It depends on where you live. I can find plenty of lamb shoulder in Middle Eastern and Indian markets around here, and even my more generic (though leaning Mexican and Polish) grocery stores will occasionally have it (and also some of the more upscale meat suppliers). It’s certainly not a ubiquitous item, but if you live some diverse enough, it shouldn’t be difficult to find. Last I remember looking for it, it was somewhere around $3-$4/lb.
Allergy to Mammalian meat usually includes all of them - even whale. The most common irritant is alpha-gal, a carbohydrate in mammal meat. Interestingly, the majority of these allergies can be traced to a bite from a lone star tick.
So if the no-beef person eats pork, it’s probably a religious or moral preference of some sort. Or they just knew a cow once, they can be lovely creatures.
