Feeding Everyone - Vegetarians, Vegans and Dietary Needs at a Live-Fire Feast

We are a wild game and live fire company. Meat is what we are known for. So you might be surprised to hear me say this: the vegetarian and vegan food we serve is some of the cooking I am proudest of.

Here is the thing. At almost every wedding there are guests who do not eat meat, and for years the catering industry has treated them as an afterthought - a sad risotto, a stuffed pepper, a plate that clearly came last. I think that is lazy, and I think fire is the answer.

Fire Was Never Just About Meat

Long before we put a deer on the cross, fire was cooking vegetables. A whole celeriac buried in embers for two hours comes out sweet, smoky and silky. Hispi cabbage charred hard and dressed with chimichurri is a thing of beauty. Leeks cooked black on the outside and steamed soft within, beetroots roasted slow in the coals, squash blistered over flame - this is real cooking, not a compromise.

When you give vegetables the same fire, the same care and the same theatre as the meat, something brilliant happens. The meat eaters start asking for the vegetable dishes too.

A vegetarian guest should never feel like they drew the short straw. If the veggie plate is not as exciting as the meat, I have not done my job.
- Cai

Vegan, Coeliac and Everything Else

Vegan catering over fire is genuinely exciting - smoked mushrooms, ember-roasted roots, flatbreads cooked on the plancha, sharing bowls of grains and charred greens. And because so much of what we do starts with whole vegetables and good fire rather than processed ingredients, a lot of our food is naturally gluten-free without having to strip the flavour out of it.

Coeliac guests, nut allergies, dairy-free, pescatarian - none of it fazes us. What matters is knowing in advance so we can plan properly and, just as importantly, prevent cross-contamination on site.

How We Plan For It

When we build your menu, we ask for the full picture of dietary requirements up front. We do not bolt the vegetarian option on at the end - we design it alongside the main menu so it feels like part of the same feast, plated and served with the same pride. You can see how we approach the whole thing in our guide to planning an outdoor wedding menu.

On the day, dietary plates are prepped separately, with clean boards and clean sections of the fire, so a coeliac guest can relax and actually enjoy their meal rather than interrogating the staff.

Just Tell Us

The single most useful thing you can do is be honest and early about your guests' needs. There is no requirement that is too awkward and no number too small to matter - one coeliac guest deserves the same effort as a hundred meat eaters.

We are a fire and game company, and we always will be. But great catering means everyone leaves having eaten brilliantly. That includes the guest who does not touch the venison - and honestly, by the end of the night, they are often the ones raving the loudest.

- Cai