Create your own traditions!

- a few famous veggies tell us what they’ll be having.

“I'm a bit of a traditionalist at Christmas I'm afraid so I have the traditional Christmas dinner. Roast and mash potatoes, carrots, parsnips, sprouts (I love sprouts), veggie sausages with a roll of veggie bacon round them and a veggie turkey roast with heaps of sage and onion stuffing, cranberry sauce and veggie gravy.

I suppose the only odd thing about the way we enjoy it is that we have a "Safari" Christmas Dinner where together with a group of friends we set off from the pub (naturally) and go to one couples house for canapes (get me!) , then another’s for the starter, then another for the main course (we take veggie alternatives as none of our friends are vegetarian), then another for the dessert, another for coffee and cheese and if we happen to pass the pub on the way, ….. well. Our friends are very good and always provide veggie canapes and starters - although I have to say we can't have the main course at our house because we won't allow meat through the door ! They seem to understand. Well most of them do!

Dave Spikey, writer and comedian, currently on tour.

My husband Gary does the best roast potatoes in the world and that is his specific job come Christmas day - it seems to have become a tradition! With the aid of olive oil and the oven at the right temperature he gets them crispy on the outside and fluffy on the inside and even though he does a mountain of them we always fight over the last one! Last Christmas we devoured about 30 between us and had to go on an immediate diet. (On Christmas day they do go best with Redwoods Lincolnshire style sausages, gravy, stuffing and mint sauce.)

I went out once for a Christmas day lunch and the best the restaurant could offer me was a bowl of rice - literally! So boring and so disappointing. Suffice to say we never went back for fear of a similar 'chef's surprise'!

Wendy Turner Webster, Patron

I like a traditional Christmas dinner really… gravy, roast potatoes, carrots, Yorkshire Puds and then a Quorn fillet to replace the meat. It’d be nice to get some of those veggie sausages wrapped in bacon veggie style too! I spent last Christmas in New York, and the Christmas before in Tokyo so this year I’m looking forward to my first proper dinner for ages.

Russell Lissack, guitarist with Bloc Party

“I’ve only ever known big Christmases. When I was growing up we always spent Christmas with my grandmother and there were usually 16 or more sitting round the table. I remember one year when my grandmother’s non-vegetarian relatives came and liked our nut roast so much that they wouldn’t touch the chicken she had prepared for them… luckily there was plenty. These days all my family usually come to me and it’s only ever vegetarian food on the menu, but that’s OK because almost everyone is vegetarian. Last year we were 14 and it was one of the happiest Christmases I can remember. I think I enjoyed it specially because I’d done some careful planning and cooking beforehand so I really could relax and have fun. And that’s my top tip: make a plan and do bits and pieces of cooking throughout Advent -- have some carols on as you work and really get into the mood – then have a ball when Christmas arrives.”

Rose Elliot, Patron

Fiona Phillips, GMTV presenter

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