Leichenschmaus: a vegan funeral meal for 30

... thirty adults and about three children, that is.

All the food and drink was vegan (of course).

Most of the guests were omnivores - everyone except around three or four.

In Germany (and many other places), it is a tradition to invite guests, particularly family members, to a meal after the funeral service. This might be savoury food but can also be traditional German afternoon coffee & cake, or a mix.

I think if you want to ensure that everything is vegan, and your "audience" is largely staunch omnivores, it is easier to go with the coffee & cake approach. I didn't really consciously think about this, but this is what ended up happening: mostly coffee and cake but also some savoury snacks.

Unbelievably, but not surprisingly, there was some resistance among the "crowd" to accept and respect the non cow's milk for coffee rule - which is a natural consequence of the "only vegan food and drink" rule. One might naively think that would be obvious.

In any case, the only way to break resistance is to say no ... and again NO, and once again NO. Or to use Schreifels language: hold your ground.

I was lucky to have quite a few relatives contribute food too.

I made the tiramisu (with rum), Malakoff cake (an Austrian cake - with lots of rum; my first attempt ever), a golden lemon cake, an Italian olive oil cake, and a French chocolate cake (all three from the fantastic baking book by Karolina Tegelaar).

Tiramisu (I usually make it with brandy but made it with rum this time) [left]

A popular cake in Germany is Maulwurfkuchen (mole cake - as it looks like a molehill). This was a chocolate mole cake with banana, made by my cousin's wife [right]

Plum streusel cake and apple streusel cake, made by my brother's "in-laws" [left]

Focaccia with tomato, made by my brother [right]

Malakoff cake (a kind of Viennese idea of tiramisu, if you will) [left]

Raspberry cheesecake, made by my aunt, with some woodland strawberries from her own garden [right]

Golden lemon cake (from the Vegan Baking Bible) [left]

Carrot cake, made by my cousin [right]

Italian olive oil cake [left]

French chocolate cake, kind of like a chocolate mousse cake [right]

A earlier morning peak at the Malakoff cake

I made chopped white chocolate bits, but I think no one understood what they were. No one ate them, and then my nephew ate them all.

I also made sausage rolls, using store-bought puff pastry and vegan mince. The mince alone was a bit bland, so I brushed the top with margarine with lots of garlic.

I should add that another aunt also made savoury puff pastry snacks. But I was too slow to take a photo of these.

Irrelevant side note: The ancient Romans might have formalized the concept of such a funeral meal (epulum funebre). But the concept may be as old as humanity, or older.