Have you ever just had the equivalent of a 'fruit salad' as a meal because the caterers forgot to ask about dietery requirements?

[chomalungma]

Watching the Apprentice last night.

Ooops.

A fruit salad - on the bright side, she got a bottle of wine.
Has that happened to you?

OhWhat - A hospital! That is unbelievable - even 20+ years ago. I'm outraged on your behalf.

1992. Big teaching hospital.

I'm 19, pregnant and, having had HG for the first 22 weeks and had a HB of 4.2, my unscheduled 7 day stay for bleeding/bed rest and monitoring in a ward full of women whose babies were being taken into care at birth for MH or addictions meant I was exhausted. I was also vegetarian. I hadn't had anything but two gingernut biscuits and a quarter of a cup of tea a day for over four months which I generally saw again shortly afterwards and the shedload of antiemetics they finally got to stay in me meant that by the third day, I was hungry and felt able to try something.

The NHS vegetarian meal for was battered fish and chips, followed by jelly and custard.

What made it worse was that an Indian lady had been in, ordered the 'Indian Vegetarian Meal' and then been discharged as it was delivered, so she offered it to me when she overheard me getting a little teary about it. It was actually vegan and looked light, fresh and fucking delicious, just like the meals I made myself before pregnancy (not much Vegetarian/Vegan fare around at the time).

Those bastards swept in and snatched it away from me, barking at me that, as I was white, I couldn't eat 'food for Indians' and chucked it in the bin.

Those bastards swept in and snatched it away from me, barking at me that, as I was white, I couldn't eat 'food for Indians' and chucked it in the bin
What?! I hope you had an absolute tantrum and then made a complaint about racism. That is disgusting.

Hospitals are the worst. I was told you have to order meals the day before so you order on Monday for Tuesday’s dinner, etc. I asked if you haven’t yet been admitted on Monday, how can you order a meal for Tuesday? They said you have to eat what the previous occupant of the bed ordered on Monday. So if the previous occupant had no food allergies and you do, you’re out of luck because you won’t be able to eat the meal that’s been ordered for your bed.

'Baklava ' with potatoes 🤢🤢🤢

The best group catered party I went to, the hosts loudly announced if you haven't made a specific food request beforehand, don't be a cunt and eat someone else's food. You will be shamed in front of everyone.

Also seen a lot of caterers now asking the person are you sure that you ordered the Gluten-free meal and someone else isn't going to starve. Also seen them with a list of names and who has special orders.

I've had it happen loads of times over the years with dairy and eggs. Including breakfasts where the choice is either cereal or pastries 🤣

This is true @TiceCream so DS who has had a few admissions always ate a lot of toast...

I'm veggie and in Austria once, everyone else had pancakes with jam for dessert.
I got a double helping for a combined dinner and dessert.
(But at least I did not go hungry)

My mums coeliac. She had gall stones and was admitted to hospital a few times before they found out it was gall stones. Every time, her breakfast and lunch was yogurt and fruit. Dinner was always some variation of potato. You'd think a hospital of all places would understand the importance of catering for allergies.

I've been coeliac for 21 years now, and for the last nearly 20 have travelled all over the world for work. I spend a lot of time eating cereal bars out of my handbag! This week at a conference, the breakfast gf option was fruit. Lunch it was salad leaves and cheese. Canapes at the evening reception was cheese. Dinner the main buffet was ok as it was meat/veg/potato and labelled. But no pudding - there hardly ever is and is 99% fruit salad.
I was once in hospital for a week and got one gf meal in the whole time as I was moved between wards and the meals (which had to be ordered 24 hours in advance) didn't follow you around. When I came around from anaesthetic number 3 and there was absolutely nothing to eat, the ward had a whip round of fruit, dried fruit etc that everyone had.
2005, dh and I stayed at a vvv posh and beautiful 5* hotel for christmas - I was 16 weeks pg with ds - and on christmas eve I'd had a spa make over and we'd booked the restaurant well in advance, told them I was gf 'no problem at all, chef will do something special'. I can't remember the rest of the meal, but when my much anticipated special pudding came out it was a Tescos GF cake bar with a raspberry on it. I cried.
A recent highlight was though a local cafe who made me the most beautiful afternoon tea with cheese scone, fruit scone, 3 types of cake, sandwiches and so on - all gf and beautiful because they wanted me to have a proper birthday tea.
I could go on and on about this!

Intercontinental flight. They had forgotten our meals. I got an apple and my travel companion was handed an orange. That's it.

We don't eat cheese. We have been to loads of things where the only option is pizza or something made with cheese. Everyone seems to find it unbelievable that some people don't like it. The majority of menus have most things including cheese.

Yes, frequently as a coeliac I've had starters and desserts that were both fruit. Planes have been pretty awful too, they like to combine some of the free from options so my meals were dairy free as well. Infuriating when everyone around you is eating a dessert pot labelled gluten free.

Current bugbear is work Christmas events saying they will cater for allergies but not disclose what you'll be eating. Everyone else gets a choice, but it's a mystery if you're gluten free

Another coeliac here, lots of resonance with tales on this thread. Airline meals have felt more reliable in the last 10 years or so to me; prior to that our family experience was that you felt lucky if one leg of a flight (we mainly do UK/Australia via various routes) had your special meals on board.

The annoying thing about special meals now though is that you can't request according to your allergies, you have to choose one of a fairly limited set of descriptors. I've previously been told by more than one airline that the gluten-free options are also dairy free. Great for us (parents, sister and I all need both, though nowadays I can get away with some dairy my sister and mother can't, especially when travelling). Except that it doesn't always appear that way in practice - meals out of London and out of Sydney are gluten and dairy free, intermediate airports, take your chances! But you can only request gluten free, OR dairy free, not both.

Yes, poor dairy-allergic DS has had to go forlornly hungry, such as the long haul flight when he was 3 when the only dairy free possibility was ready-salted crisps. He ate about 5 packets on the 9-hour flight. I wasn’t best pleased at the salt intake on top of everything else. Also had a hotel label things incorrectly so that the poor boy was sick for two weeks.

We’ve also had things the other way round. I’ve lost count of the number of times people have insisted that he can’t have eggs and refused to serve us egg because he is dairy-free. And no matter how many times I explain that cows don’t lay eggs so it really is fine, they refuse to believe that eggs are not dairy.

Went to a French taster meal at a posh venue once. The person booking it was told I was veggie but forgot to pass it on. I got an omelette that the chef whipped up. He likely spat in it as well as he probably thought I had turned up without letting him know in advance (I was under the impression it had been sorted). I like omelettes but not when everyone else is getting 5 courses of delicious food.

It also annoys me that restaurants/events only offer a veggie option that is also vegan, again to cover all bases. I like my cheese! 🤬

@CMOTDibbler I am honestly terrified of needing a hospital stay for this reason. How can you ever get better if you are either glutened or constantly hungry?

Allergic to eggs, so can't eat mayonnaise.

Virtually all pre-made sandwiches and salads have mayonnaise in.

Peanut allergic coeliac... Was given 2 bananas and an apple at a conference once because the sandwiches weren't gluten free😂

I’m severely intolerant to garlic and onions.

The last time I had to eat a (literal) bowl of fruit salad while everyone else around me ate a full meal was just 3 weeks ago. 👌 It’s not even a surprise anymore.

Another hospital one - I had gestational diabetes and was induced. The diabetic food option delivered for lunch was a jam sandwich and chocolate mousse I sent DH to the salad bar downstairs, during which time the midwife entered, saw what I'd been given and yelled, "Do NOT eat that!"

It's not a dietary requirement but I loathe mayonnaise and it's one of those things that appears on almost everything despite almost never being listed on the ingredients. It does often make me think about people with genuine allergies and intolerances that have to deal with this all the time and face very real consequences if the menu descriptions aren't up to scratch. It's really NOT THAT HARD is it.

The vegetarian options for dinner on a work weekend: cheese tart starter, pasta in cheese sauce main. Cheesecake for dessert. This was a heart health charity!
And decades before that, at a work dinner at a famous London restaurant, my vegetarian meal was a plate of overcooked vegetables.

All the time. I was dairy-Free as a child and was given liver sausage (which I would not touch) salad at school for lunch everyday for a year. I got very thin!

Now as a vegetarian I regularly have to have just salad or an omelette (even these days) as the veggie option has run our.

I do agree that all the fads and fake allergies don't help. When someone claims they are allergic and catering staff sees them tucking into the same thing 5 minutes later, of course some might assume allergies are not so serious, and someone who needs a clean plate is just making a fuss. So do people a favour - don't use the 'allergic' line just because you don't fancy parsley.

I've been presented with a plate of veg stalks with a block of cheese barely melted over it when I was veggie

I'm now gluten intolerant and eat meat I honestly get fed less I had my son in hospital got breakfast got given no other food the rule was you ordered it the night before but then obviously there was a shift change so i would go out for breakfast find out it was weetabix complain get told there was nothing else begrudgingly given a code to get lunch from the expensive cafe for free then dinner would arrive soup and sandwiches both full of wheat and the cafe was closed they would tell me off and say you need to tell us the night before I will put your name down and the next day the same thing again! The last couple of days we were moved to a different ward they said grab some of your bread we will toast it in the staff toaster so I could finally EAT!