To believe that people should stop expecting special treatment for “food preferences” (not allergies) at events?

I’m fine with actual food. But increasingly I’m getting the shits from catered food. If I stick to basic stuff I’m ok - so jacket spuds, salads without dressing, pieces of actual chicken (not nuggets or sausages). I can’t work out what it is so I just avoid anything suspect. I eat plenty of vegan foods at home - we eat loads of beans and pulses and very little meat. But anything labelled “vegan” out and about is going to end messily. I bring my own food to anything that looks like having a lot of “vegan” catering. Is it greenwashing, or just hugely cheaper? Definitely on the increase.

Being vegan is healthy. I don’t understand why people get so worked up over others choices to cause less animal suffering, it’s really weird

It really depends a lot on the situation and how choice/preference is being defined.

A large gathering like a work conference where people not are really known to the organiser, it's nice to have an idea of food in advanced, but many of us with different food needs plan around it.

If it's something personal like a wedding involving kids on each side and one of the kids has food aversion and eating issues, refusing to consider it in planning the menu is a pretty shit move. I wasn't surprised that marriage didn't last.

Completely agree. The problem is, caterers seem to assume vegan = fake meat. Vegan can be delicious so long as it's real food.

I have a work event coming up soon. We have ordered 50% veggie, 25% vegan and 25% meat, with no fake meat. So the vegan will be things like felafal wraps etc.

We ordered a majority vegetarian as the omnivores tend to eat lots of the veggie stuff (we have an excellent caterer).

People need to realise that they won’t die or be sick if their preferences, beliefs etc are contravened with the food.

Thats a ludicrous statement. People can gag and vomit at food, they don’t like! DH can’t abide mayonnaise. It’s beyond me, how he can detect it in sandwiches, where it’s used instead of butter - but I have seen him gagging, if he forces himself to eat it. It’s amazing how much mayonnaise there can be in buffet type foods - the sandwiches, a salad, coleslaw, potato salad…

I won’t eat fish or chicken on the bone in public, because one bone in my mouth and it’s 🤮

@TheCoralReader you're really not answering the questions though and it's terribly frustrating to read. Do you mean preferences like "I don't like peas" or "I'm vegetarian"?

YANBU. I am incredibly fussy and have an eating disorder. I go to great lengths to avoid food centred events (impossible to do so entirely as our society seems to revolve around food!) and would never ever expect people to cater for me. I have a few family and friends that I am comfortable enough with to eat at their houses but even with them I work with what they're doing and am happy that they will turn a blind eye to my weirdness. It's awful but nobody else's problem!

But it's not unreasonable to want to be able to eat something you can stomach.

Can you elaborate on this and give an example?

I reckon just big bowls of entire food items would make life easier:

jacket spuds
bananas
avocados
boiled eggs
olives

then just loads of breads

and spreads on the side for variety: butter, olive oil spread, cheese, pickles, hummus, jam, etc etc etc

Surely people can amalgamate a meal for themselves. If not - tough.
Bloody fussy buggers.

I organised a workshop for 40 people recently and had the most ridiculous dietary requests - nothing too saucy, no fish, not too spicy, not too rich, steak haha were some of the comments when the form I sent out said allergies or dietary requirements. Obviously there were the expected vegan, halal, dairy free etc which is fine but I’ve never had the other requests when I’ve organised events previously so wondered if it’s a recent thing

Same here. I’d rather just have the vegetables and non meat trimmings than fake meat. Though some vegan sausages are rather good, for one meal a pile of vegetables will do me fine.

I think a big part of the problem is what people get offered. So much catered 'free from' options are just horrible tasting UPFs and that is that people object to.

I have family members who have coeliac disease, it's easy to cater without gluten by using potatoes and rice and beans and nuts. When I do that the non-coeliacs don't even notice whereas the fake gluten options are terrible.

Same with vegan and vegetarian food. Proper meals made with identifiable vegetables fantastic, fake meat no thanks. I know there are some fussy eaters who just want a sausage but I think most people won't object to proper vegetarian food.

I think this is fair enough. I always think a good range of vegan and meat choices go down well. Those who can't eat meat or certain meats due to their beliefs can have the vegan options.

I think it's definitely becoming more of a thing in the UK, to expect your every preference to be catered to.

We have to provide meals for groups of people as part of my husband's job, and the groups are, broadly speaking, very different demographics. We have each of the groups around approximately once a month. The group which consists of over 65s, British people have zero dietary requests ever. I've never had anyone fill in that box at all when we send out the monthly invite to their group. The group of 20s-30s internationals (mixture of mainly Asian and Mainland European, plus a few Africans), have a few vegetarians each month, and an occasional dairy free. The group of 20s-30s British people put SO many things in the dietary requirements box that it is a real challenge cooking for them. No gluten, no dairy, no nuts, vegetarian, vegan, no mushrooms, no bananas, no rice, no spice, low carb, no dried fruits (!!), not keen on green veg... these are a few of the recent ones written on the invite forms. I have absolutely no problems catering for allergies and ethical/religious diets, but it's a bit of a nuisance trying to plan a meal around 15 people's personal likes and dislikes. They don't pay for the meal, and they aren't required to be at it, it's just a bonus if they want to join for it before a meeting.

It is interesting to me that this one group feel free to state their preferences when the other groups presumably also have likes/dislikes, but don't mention their preferences, only their requirements.

People need to realise that they won’t die or be sick if their preferences, beliefs etc are contravened with the food. But someone with allergy will suffer that.

I find it very difficult as I have quite a lot of allergies but also things I don’t tolerate that well due to my IBD, I’m not a huge fan of vegan veggie substitutes as they are often highly processed or contain things that will upset me
I’m ok with plain meat, poultry, fish, eggs etc and some veg
Usually I don’t say anything and just eat what I can - recently went to a work related event which had tried to cater for everyone by making it all vegan, however due to all the ingredients I can’t tolerate, all I had was boiled rice and rocket! Next time will take my own

Oh good, we haven't had a vegan hating thread for about seven minutes

Just cook.plant based ? Make your life simple. And cater for allergies if needed.

@TheCoralReader you haven't said what type of event you mean.
A work event for a couple of hundred employees that you are organising is different to a dozen friends round at yours for a meal?

I agree with you op. I’m organising an event and it’s getting ridiculous. I don’t actually care what you don’t like, I just want to know if you’re vegetarian, vegan, have any dietary requirements, have any religious requirements.
So far I’ve had a list of foods that people don’t like. We’ll, don’t eat them then, simple.