Meat off the menu as Windsor Castle goes vegan

Meat off the menu as Windsor Castle goes vegan
Royal banquets, surely, are all about meat. From those four and twenty blackbirds baked in a pie to a portly King Henry tearing at whole chickens via roast swan and apple-stuffed suckling pigs, our Hollywood-fuelled vision of princely dining is of a flesh fest.
By Xanthe Clay
LINK TO FULL ARTICLE BELOW02 Nov 2009


Sharpen your pencils, Royal historians, because that may be about to change. Tomorrow, Windsor Castle goes vegan for the day, with a banquet for 200 bigwigs, including UN General Secretary Ban Ki-moon, the Grand Mufti of Egypt and Archbishop Valentine Mokiwa, President of the All Africa Conference of Churches.

The most surprising part? Heading up the table will be the Duke of Edinburgh, founder of the secular Alliance of Religions and Conservation (ARC) which, with the UN Development Programme, has organised the lunch as part of “the Celebration of Faiths and the Environment”.

It’s hard to imagine the Duke tucking in to a nut roast, which is why, when I was asked to advise on a menu that could be eaten by leaders from nine different faiths with all manner of dietary requirements, I knew that the meatless, dairy-free feast I came up with must be anything but dry and worthy.

Catering for nine different faith groups puts the usual dinner-party dilemma of what to give the vegetarian into perspective. The Muslims need Halal meat while the Jewish contingent have to keep kosher. The Daoists avoid red meat, while Buddhists and Sikhs are generally vegetarian. Hindus don’t eat beef or onions. Sadly the Jains couldn’t come, but at least root vegetables can stay on the menu.

To read the full article:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/foodanddrink/6488123/Meat-off-the-menu-as-Windsor-Castle-goes-vegan.html