To think it's selfish to eat from special dietary requirements when you have none?

[IndividualMini]

At a work conference, where a catered lunch is being offered. There are specific sections for dietary requirements with limited supplies eg vegan, gluten free, nut free, along with a larger section for ordinary non-vegetarian sandwiches with ordinary bread. The guy ahead of me takes something from every single section including the ordinary non-vegetarian section, so clearly is not a vegan with gluten allergies! Why do people do this? As someone with specific dietary requirements I've been left many times with very little to eat because others have eaten food without thinking about whether others might actually need it.

Yes then they threw it all away as it doesn't cook the same and doesn't taste the same.
They bought all the GF flour too and that was wasted by most of them.
Very rude to take all the dirty requirement foods before people who can't eat anything else had anything at all.

It was along those lines … but she just went mmmm and kept taking it! I wanted to track her down and see if she left it but my husband said your not the gf police 🤣

This. I eat meat, but not a lot. I wouldn't ever want a buffet lunch of sausages/sausage rolls and chicken nuggets. Egg and cheese sandwiches are more my thing.

I would say in addition to veggie and vegan diets, around 50% of the carnivores options should be meat too.

And tuna should never ever be served as part of a buffet. Gavel.

I kind of agree but at a recent family funeral there were vegan brownies and carrot cake which I had some of each. There was only one vegan present and she wasn’t going to eat a tray of brownies.

@Ididntknowuntiliknew I am not vegetarian/ vegan, but I eat vegetarian food more often than not. As do most people that I know.
We wouldn't tick the 'vegetarian' box, because it wouldn't be true.

You do know they're not asking you how you identify, but just want to know what food you are most likely to eat? If there's 10 of you not ticking the vegetarian box, but each eating 75% veggie food at a buffet then that means there is probably some vegetarian going hungry while a bunch of ham sandwiches will be chucked out.

Luckily all catering at my place of work is now vegan, unless individuals request otherwise so no more omnivores eating the last falafel wrap. That doesn't help those with lactose/gluten intolerance, but we're a decent enough bunch of people who understand that gluten free food has been ordered for a particular individual and leave it alone.

@Alaimo - the only time I have encountered a box ticking exercise, it was listed as 'dietary requirements'.
I don't need to be specifically catered for.
I have no need to list any specific requirements.
Does that mean I'm not entitled to eat anything?

That's all very well but if you have a serious illness why on earth would you run the risk of not having safe available food? Me eating a vegan sandwich is just me eating a sandwich it's not putting your life in danger.

Totally depends. Caterers should ring-fence some things, to make sure everyone gets food they can eat. But only the 'special' stuff. Lots of food just happens to be suitable for a dietary restriction. I'm not about to avoid the cheese sandwiches just because I'm not veggie. Similar carrot sticks are free from, but again I'll obviously eat them. If I cater a curry night I'd cater on the basis that most people will try the meat and the veggie curry.

But it's the caterers' job to direct certain ringfenced food at the right people. It's also a bit sad when a large plate of special food is barely touched because everyone was being considerate of one gf person.

Exactly. If there was a box that said 'I'm an omnivore so eat all different types of food so if you're the type of person who think that people like to eat processed pork five ways and beige and chips, this is just to let you know that I prefer something more interesting, varied and balanced thanks' we'd tick that, but there isn't so we don't.

Buffets should be mostly veggie now anyway. Meat and fish is £££. Caterers should provide plenty of salads so no one goes hungry.

does anyone really want a little plate just for someone with requirements ? Sounds like poor catering to me

Make the buffet entirely vegan.
Means it's suitable for almost everyone (automatically halal/kosher too!).
Allergens like celery, mustard etc should be labelled anyway.

Keep covered dishes of gluten-free stuff completely separate for coeliacs who have requested it in advance. Same for any other specific allergies (eg I know someone who's allergic to apples and various other fruits). Have catering staff on duty by the buffet table to hand out these specials to named individuals when they arrive.

If staff complain, tell them the company is trying to be more ethical/ sustainable/ cut its carbon emissions. Nobody needs to eat meat (or eggs) at every single meal. The money saved could even be diverted into supporting organic agriculture/ fair-trade chocolate, teas and coffee etc.

Find this approach too hardcore? Well then make a separate table with clearly labelled items (sausage rolls, pork pies, tuna sandwiches, cheap ham etc) for those whingey people to fill up at, after they've visited the general table.

ps: vegan food is already suitable for anyone who's lactose-intolerant, @Alaimo so don't worry about them!

I find this so annoying as a Coeliac I have had this happen too me several times. Now I eat either before or duck out early to eat.

The couple of coeliacs I know never eat from open buffets due to the high risk of cross-contamination. Both at the buffet table, and in the kitchen if they don't know and trust the caterers to have prepared everything completely separately.

It was taken from the buffet three years running.

If you have dietary requirements state them to the group and ask for first pick. But then they should be for everyone. I would think particualarly veggies and vegans would be pleased to see people engagaing in the non-meat options and maybe discovering something new and cutting meat intake. But also you dont need to be coeliac to find to much bread uncomfortable so maybe want a gluten free choice.

I'd tick vegetarian if I knew that it was going to be a buffet selection but I'm fairly fussy about sandwiches as I despise egg sandwiches and cheese/mayo savoury mix is usually minging.

I like cheese salad with sliced cheese, or plain cheese so long as the butter isn't too thick otherwise I'd flip to something like ham and tomato or ham salad.

Difficult to know what to tick as it's all preference rather than allergy. On the meat side I'm ok with ham but despise tinned tuna, and prefer not to eat chicken that's not known to be free range. I like prawns but not on premade sandwiches (trust issues).

In general we should be catering primarily vegetarian with a few meat options as well or just pure vegetarian/vegan but take into account trends towards people being lower carb, reducing stodge on non-medically diagnosed comfort grounds.

Some people also need to limit dairy for comfort - my DS is fine with cheese, needs not more than 1 portion of yoghurt/ice cream a day and definitely struggles with cows milk. He's either a bit lactose intolerant or low level cmpi and as it's easy enough to manage (after seeing a paediatrician when he was 5 months old due to poor weight gain) we've just done the milk ladder. I've declared the intolerance to school but wouldn't in a restaurant/catering situation as it's easy enough to work around with sensible choices.

I'm gluten and lactose intolerant and spend a lot of time in Airport lounges I stand there watching selfish people 'double dip' serving utensils into the things I can eat with the things I can't. Last thing you want before a 10hr flight is a flare up!!! Which basically means if it's buffet I have to assume it's all contaminated unless it's in a separate clearly marked section. That's one thing miss about COVID travel, all buffets were removed in place of table service or staff members doing the serving. I take dietary enzymes as well as Pepto before and meal out which make symptoms slightly manageable in case of cross contamination.

I'm coeliac and am just goggling at the idea that someone would pick a gf sandwich when they could have the real thing.

I would assume that poor labelling is the problem.

Why would anyone would choose to eat gluten-free, lactose-free or vegan food unless they had absolutely no choice?

I (accidentally) picked up a GF sandwich once. I couldn't understand why it was so horrible until someone pointed out my mistake. Coeliacs have my utmost sympathy.

Madness. I'd never choose gluten free if I didn't have coeliacs, it's bloody minging.
I tried to bake a GF loaf last night, I used to love baking bread OMG it was a brick, Dh offered to try a bit. 😂He only took one bite and went back to his lovely fresh French stick.

It’s also a bit frustrating when the GF (for example) offering is better than the non GF offering, so if the pudding is a chocolate tart or there is say a GF fruit/yogurt pot. I’d have the fruit and yogurt because I don’t generally do chocolate pudding as a T1 diabetic, I count carbs so don’t have specific dietary requirements to note on a form, and could perfectly well eat a conference sized chocolate slice if it was the only option or a strong favourite, it’s just not worth the management vs reward of dull pudding against the better option of some strawberries and yogurt. Especially when there looks to be plenty of them eg a tray-ful in a conference of 100 because it’s unlikely it’s one per person who reported they were GF so it comes across more as ‘this option also happens to be GF, rather than ‘this is reserved for GF guest’. If they did just chocolate tart of GF chocolate tart then people would mostly have the ‘standard’ one unless they needed GF because there’s no major flavour combo/makeup differences, probably just a base made with GF flour.

I’m not a strict vegetarian as I will eat meat

Does that mean you're a non strict vegetarian 😂

Why would anyone would choose to eat gluten-free, lactose-free or vegan food unless they had absolutely no choice?

You do know vegetables, fruit and water are all vegan right

It means they're not any kind of vegetarian.

By the way, for all the gluten free people on this thread, the Mary Berry chocolate roulade is lovely and could easily be converted into a Colin the Caterpillar type cake.

I only realised as I was making it that it contains no flour at all.