You’re inviting guests to an upcoming dinner party and are being polite by asking people if there is any food they don’t like or can’t tolerate. A person contacts you and tells you that they are completely vegetarian. Lucky you asked, don’t you think?

Many meat eaters I have met find vegetarian food bland and boring, but this is far from the truth. You can create a wonderful menu and carnivores won’t even realize that they have eaten completely vegetarian food.

However, you have a couple of options. First of all, if you are really interested in a particular dish, you can create a vegetarian option. For example, if you are cooking a meat lasagna, you can also make a smaller vegetarian lasagna plate and your guests will not even realize that they are eating different dishes.

In this case, it is a good idea to assure your vegetarian guest that you are doing so so that they know that you have met their needs so that they can fully relax and enjoy their food without fear.

An important point to remember when having a vegetarian dinner guest is that you should not cook vegetarian food in the same oil that you just cooked a meat dish in first, do the opposite.

The other option, of course, is to cook a completely vegetarian meal and my suggestion is to combine a theme with this idea. In this case I will use an Italian theme as an example.

When your guest arrives, you can serve up some devouring hors d’oeuvres, like crackers and aubergine sauce or tomato slices topped with mozzarella and basil.

As a starter, you can serve a plate of eggplant and parmigiana antipasto, followed by a vegetarian lasagna or a pasta with pesto or Neapolitan sauce. The best thing about aubergines (the French name is aubergine) is that they are known to be a satisfying meat substitute with their beautiful thick texture. For dessert, you can serve a tiramusu, which is the most recognized Italian pastry, or something as simple as a pre-bought ice cream.