I have this problem sometimes as a strict vegetarian, I like to invite but I know there are people who just won't eat a meatless meal.

So I throw a lot of tea parties with lots of cute finger foods and cakes and cookies and such.

But if someone else is inviting me, I don't expect them to forgo whatever it is they want to eat in their home.

I think the breakfast idea was a good one, too bad the Iranians said no.

Do the French include bacon at breakfast? :)

They should just Skype

Some years ago, we had to go to France to visit a vendor. After an executive led us on a tour of the vendor's factory, we set down to lunch at a cafeteria that served that factory, plus a few others in the vicinity. It was there that the executive got into an argument with the cafeteria manager over the choice of wines!

Only in France! Back here, lunch would have been ordered in from Subway or something.

I'm not all head-over-heels in love with the French like some people, but they do know how to eat. Good for them for refusing to alter their cultural expectations for the middle easterners.

The current French are almost religious fanatics about secularism.

I wonder what will happen when France has a majority Muslim population.

Yeah, let's give THOSE guys nuclear technology.

They seem so level-headed and rational.

"I wonder what will happen when France has a majority Muslim population."

Never happen. The French are not much better than other Europeans when it comes to eliminating unwanted Semites. They have a history.

Ha ha, Jim. You make Semites sound like termites.

Good on Pres. Hollande and his staff. But I think you see the true nature of the Middle Eastern cultures here. They are guests in a foreign country, yet arrogantly demand that everything must be done their way. And if you give in to that, there will only be another bigger, more dramatic demand to follow. I'm afraid for the West, no one is willing to say "No." to these bastards.

What the hell is wrong with wine is being served but you don't have to drink it? Unless someone is holding your nose and pouring it into your mouth, to hell with you. You don't get to demand that others follow your practices.

If they were having breakfast with me on a Sunday morning I guess my Bloody Mary pick-me-up wouldn't be acceptable either. Place round the corner from me has three versions - traditional Bloody Mary (vodka), a Bloody Maria (tequila), and the alcohol free version - the Bloody Shame.

bkmale, I wonder how it would go if a Western delegation to Iran refused to turn up to a dinner because it was alcohol free? And that everyone there had to drink because otherwise it was an insult?

Funny, I had a few drinks at the pub with some Russian expats and at some point, for some reason, we were toasting something. I'd had a few already, so I raised my glass and clinked it but didn't drink. Oops. Killing stares. One of them explained that refusing to drink for a toast was in their culture akin to shitting in their food. Touching the glass to your lips and tilting it enough for a tiny sip was enough to show that you cared.

I wonder how Iranian delegations to Russia handle it? I'll bet they break their rules just enough to not jeopardize their weapons contracts.

I have this problem sometimes as a strict vegetarian, I like to invite but I know there are people who just won't eat a meatless meal.

So? make some meat.

My Aunt is a vegetarian, when I have her over I make a vegetarian main dish for her, unless she says she is bringing something.

When I am invited over there she makes a dish with some meat in it.

I dont understand why so many vegetarians/vegans are such whiny little cunts about cooking food.

I could care less if you dont want to eat it, but why all the fucking complaints?

News flash,

NOT eating meat means you are not a consumer in a position to demand better treatment of farm animals.

NOT eating meat, for most people, is not a sound heath decision

NOT eating meat requires eating more plants most of which do not grow naturally anywhere near you meaning it is WORSE for the environment

Also growing more plants requires the destruction of entire habitats and millions of animals

If you harbor a desire to visit Paris, do it soon, before it becomes a war zone.

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/paris-rocked-by-shootings-explosions-dozens-reported-dead-2015-11-13?dist=afterbell&link=sfmw_fb

So much for having wine with dinner.