Sample menus for EA gatherings

This post focuses specifically on food ideas. For more on how to host an effective altruism meetup, see here or here.

After four years of hosting effective altruism dinners, I keep learning things.

• At least where I live, EA gatherings tend to attract a lot of vegetarians and vegans. I've basically stopped serving meat at these dinners because so few people ate it.
• People, particularly students, appreciate a home-cooked meal even if it's not fancy.
• Store-bought bread and some kind of stew is an easy way to go. You either need bowls or plates with a rim that will keep the stew in place. If you don't have enough or don't want to do that many dishes, you could use disposable dishes. I host dinners often enough that I bought a lot of Pyrex custard cups to use as soup or desssert bowls for the masses (they don't take up the whole plate, so there's room for your bread or salad as well).
• Test-driving the main dish is a good idea so you know about how many people it serves, etc.
• Make more than you think you need, at least of a few central dishes.
• Newer hosts often forget things (are there cups and something to drink? Utensils? Napkins or something to clean up the inevitable spill? Is there enough toilet paper in the bathroom?)

Summer menu

• Fresh spring rolls
• Peanut dipping sauce
• Red curry coconut soup with mushrooms and tofu
• Key lime pie
• Coconut-lime popsicles

Cost when I made it: $5/person.

Everything is vegan and gluten-free except the key lime pie, but I think it comes off as light and summery rather than restricted.

The food is served cold and can be prepped in advance except the soup, which could still be done in advance and just heated and garnished at the last minute. If you’re still working on the spring rolls when guests arrive, people like helping assemble them. This took longer than I thought, about 90 seconds per roll, including waiting for the wrappers to soak and finding room for trays as we filled them. Do the math and leave yourself enough time.

Fall menu

• West African Peanut Stew
• Rice
• Store-bought bread
• Apple crisp (vegan or not vegan)

Cost when I made it: $3.80/person.

The problem with having the protein and vegetables all in one stew is that if someone can’t eat peanuts or one of the vegetables, they can’t eat the main dish.

Winter menu

• Polenta
• Braised beef with tomatoes
• White bean stew
• Braised kale
• Vanilla ice cream with cherry-wine sauce (just heat up some frozen cherries in red wine with a little sugar)

Gleaned from this menu. You might make the polenta an hour in advance, so you have time to re-make it if it burns (which I often seem to do). Then keep it warm in a slow-cooker or something.

Curry menu

• Jasmine rice
• Chicken coconut curry
• Chickpea coconut curry
• Indian spiced spinach (palak paneer without the paneer. I took some out before adding the dairy so there was a vegan version.)
• Store-bought naan
• Plain yogurt
• Lassi
• Key lime pie
• Gingerbread

Cost when I made it: $3.25/person.

The nice thing is that you can make the curries in advance and heat them up before dinner. If you make the pies in advance or use a store-bought dessert, you could serve this on a weeknight – it might take 40 minutes to heat up the curries and make the rice.

Chili menu

• Vegetarian chili
• Toppings (shredded cheese, sour cream, salsa, diced avocado)
• Cornbread
• Salad
• Orange segments dipped in chocolate
Not one I've made yet, but one I enjoyed at someone else's party recently.

Mexican menu

• Nachos
• Tortilla soup
• Soup toppings (tortilla strips, shredded cheese, sour cream, diced avocado)
• Oven quesadillas (vegan and non-vegan) with caramelized onion and roasted red pepper
• Palomas (grapefruit cocktail)
• Ice cream with thawed frozen mangos

The vegan nachos and quesadillas are done with refried beans, salsa, and vegan "cheese" shreds (Daiya brand is the best we've found).

Ice cream and thawed fruit works well because it takes no prep other than thawing a bowl of the fruit, and vegans can eat the fruit even if you can't find vegan ice cream. Berries become a mess when thawed, but ones like cherries and mango stay pretty intact.

Middle Eastern menu

• Appetizer: pear slices and pistachios
• Falafel
• Pita bread (store-bought)
• Tahini sauce and/or cucumber-yogurt sauce
• Tabbouleh
• Shakshuka (eggs poached in spicy tomato sauce)
• Chocolate lava cakes
• Orange segments dipped in chocolate

If you're serving pears, buy them enough in advance that they have time to get ripe.

Everything is vegan except the shakshuka and lava cakes. You can do tabbouleh with quinoa if you need it to be gluten-free.

I do the lava cakes in muffin tins, which is way easier than ramekins. You can make them in advance (basically 10 minutes of melting and stirring), refrigerate them, and bake them during the party (they only bake for 12 minutes).