“There are virtually no desserts in the cookbook, because few people put animal in their sweets …”

What about eggs from battery caged, debeaked, and forced molted hens? And with egg (and dairy) being among the most common allergens, there is certainly a demand for egg-free baked goods — and challah too. I go over someone’s home and have to either make motzi over eggless bread or matzah, or skip lechem mishneh, as it would be a mitzvah ha-ba’ah ba-aveirah (a mitzvah done through a forbidden act).

Sorry, but I don’t hold by the French. One would think that a sensitive host tries to reasonably accommodate the dietary needs of guests. In the case of someone with an allergy, it would be tantamount to disablilty discrimination not to. If someone is highly allergic to peanuts to the point of not being able to be in the same room, one simply cannot extend an invitation while also serving peanuts to everyone else. Even in the less extreme example discussed here, most hosts would want to make sure that no guest felt deprived at their table because of their dietary preferences.

One of the worst cooks I ever met (he’s mostly vegan), when I decided to become vegetarian, said to me that now I was going to have to learn to cook vegetarian food. Huh?? Veg food has been the bulk of what I eat at home for years anyway, and certainly what I serve to others (save for the occasional fish dinner); it’s not as though I eat nothing but hamburgers.

One of my favorite shabbat dinners is make-your-own tacos and burritos - you just serve a whole bunch of bowls of condiments, beans, cheese, and other veggies in the middle of the table and heat up a mess of tortillas.