Vegaterian Dinner Party Part 1 What is a dinner party?

For the first time last week I threw a vegetarian dinner party. I must say that I love a dinner party and it is something that people seem to do very little in Cape Town, perhaps because doing it properly is something of a logistical challenge. I read a lot about dinner parties in the UK Gaurdian; the English seem to be obsessed about their possible demise in society, what constitutes one and whether the said gathering, that constituted both guests and dinner was, in fact, a dinner party. Just the other day I read how week Jay Rayner of the Gaurdian was moved enraged by Alan de Botton's comments in The Times on dinner parties.

Well, I had to concur with Jay, that a dinner party is more than just serving out microwave dinners and asking intimate questions. The dinner is an intimate affair, yes, but the resulting conversation is only intimate if it is unforced and usually the feeling is enhanced by wine, selected especially to compliment the meal.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2010/may/28/alain-de-botton-dinner-party
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/food_and_drink/real_food/article7137210.ece

But a dinner party doesn’t have to be excessively formal because the cook has gone to the trouble of exciting their guests’ tastebuds with delicious and thoughtfully prepared food that has been paired with wine. Ok, wine pairing is not always strictly necessary since I usually ask my guests to bring some to supplement what I have got, but I do feel that there should be a moment in each of my guest’s evening when, as they are eating and drinking in a wash of entertaining chatter, that they stop to think, hmm, this tastes delicious, and thus that they are really enjoying themselves. Putting the right people together is also essential, but on the off chance that as the host, you’ve misjudged your guests, then they should at least be happy that they came for the food and wine!