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

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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.

I wouldn't want vegan food, or gluten free, or no fat etc.

Of course I do, but these are foods that most people eat and wouldn't be provided exclusively for vegans. Do you realise that as soon as you add meat, cheese or eggs to those foods, you no longer have a meal suitable for vegans?

I certainly don't want to eat the minging meat and dairy substitutes that are used to complete meals suitable for vegans.

Went to a conference recently and the sandwich was a vegan cheese sandwich. It should be against the law to call it cheese. I don't want to eat that, but we all had to have the vegan cheese because of the ONE vegan in the room.

@HangingOver · Today 16:50

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

😂

You're not a vegetarian at all! 😆

Our work sends out a Google form and we choose gluten free, vegetarian or vegan. They then check the list before see you. It means you can’t just take something you like the look of and leave the gf people without food.

This happens at every event I’ve been to. Doesn’t matter if it’s labelled and put on a separate platter, or worse on a separate table, it’s a pain 🫤

No they are not being selfish. The organisers, on the other hand, are being incompetent in not anticipating this and providing sufficient.

So because there was ONE vegan, everyone had to eat that rubber slop called 'vegan cheese?' I would have complained. Seriously. That is shit. Vegan 'cheese' is foul. 😫

My very selfish, tight ex husband used to do this, if I catered for extended family I’d do a couple of things the two vegans could eat and he’d make sure he was first in the queue with his plate piled high with everything leaving hardly any for them.
he always used to say he ‘didn’t realise/think’ or whatever but it was just part of his mean ness.
his current GF was moaning to my teenagers recently that on a trip to Barcelona he always made sure she was in front of him for food/attractions whatever so she had to pay.
some people are just arseholes.

@BarbaraofSeville , if you look at threads where someone's having friends round for a meal, there are usually several references to 'vegetarian food'. Suggestions tend to be the usual things a vegetarian might find on a restaurant menu - mushroom/butternut squash risotto, mushroom/veg in pastry ... etc

The threads tend not to suggest food that just happens to not have animal products.

I don't think the people are idiots, they just seem to not think outside what they've been conditioned to think.

It can be awkward if you go to someone's house and they've gone to the trouble of buying a vegetarian meal for you (usually mushroom risotto), when there are enough naturally vegetarian food on the table anyway and a boiled egg or some beans would be far preferrable to an expensive ready-made main course.

@LiquoriceAllsorts2 , I think we are on the same page. I've been resenting the "vegetarian food" label for years because it seems to limit options. "Vegan food" is probably worse.

I can understand with vegan or gluten free but not vegetarian. I am a meat eater but love quiche, cheese sandwiches etc.

The is a big difference between dietary requirements by choice (vegan, veggie and dare I say kosher, halal and meat on Friday) and requirements due to allergies and intolerance.
I am non strict veggie/vegan by choice but at a buffet/work lunch will have the meat or fish as there is a possibility of it otherwise being wasted which for me is wrong

It works well where vegetarians, vegans and those with gf or dairy free go up first to select what they want then others go up after and can finish off what's left so those with special diets get fed but less food wastage overall. At a conference my dh went to last Tuesday they only had egg/cress with mayonnaise or vegan cheese with pickle. He said lots of people were complaining as they would have eaten the cheese but didn't like pickle and egg/cress and mayonnaise were all eaten first and they would have preferred meat sandwiches'. He said they got a bag of crisps and a bottle of water. I would have just eaten the crisps if I'd gone. He said there was a lot of wasted food because not many like it. I suppose that's what happens when you try to force people to be vegetarian or vegan and put nasty pickle in the sandwich.

I can confirm this is true. I have also made in the past with "vegan" cream for a lactose intolerant guest (she can eat eggs).

Depends on what others' eating preferences are though - eg a pescatarian may take a tuna sandwich (general pile), cheese sandwich (veggie) and a hummus sandwich (vegan). If that person doesn't eat chicken/ham or eggs is that not a reasonable thing to do ?

Veganism is not a dietary requirement. FYI. It's a choice.
But yeh. Taking food for those with actual allergies/intolerances is bad form.

I think organisers should put names on the gluten free/vegan/dairy free plates so named people get their food. Or they could ask those with intolerances to come up first to the buffet but it annoys me as I’m vegetarian so if the meat eaters take all the cheese sandwiches then there isn’t anything left for me.

And pulses.

So this nasty gluten-free, lactose-free or vegan food that no-one would eat unless they had no other choice could include hummus, falafels, roast chick peas and salads.

Or it could be patatas bravas, spinach and chick peas, pimentos de padre, olives, grilled aubergine.

Or chick pea curry, bombay potatoes, onion bhajis, pilau rice.

Or if common middle eastern, Spanish or Indian food is too unpalatable and weird, what about Moroccan, Mexican, Thai and probably lots of other choices too.

All gluten free, all lactose free, all vegan, all recognisable food enjoyed by most people.

@BarbaraofSeville i guess most people are thinking of a typical British buffet. So sandwiches, sausage rolls, crisps etc. Vegan and gluten free sandwiches are not palatable.

That sounds nasty. I like vegan food when it's food that just happens to be vegan. Veganised versions of foods that were created otherwise are almost always foul. What was wrong with hummus and roasted veg, or some samosas?!

It's because they can't think beyond what they think is "vegan food" and "buffet food". It'll be fake sausage rolls and fake cheese sarnies

The foods you listed are enjoyed by most people. They have not been specifically created for vegans or people with food tolerances and it's perfectly reasonable that everyone should be allowed to select these items from a buffet.

Foods that are created to "mimic" normal food (vegan "meat" or "cheese" or GF "bread" for example) are not recognised food eaten by most people, they are specifically for people who don't have a choice. They are expensive and taste disgusting and most people, who are in a position to choose, would give them a wide berth.

I suggest that anyone who helps themselves to special diet specific items from a buffet, is either ignorant of what they are picking up (probably because it's not properly labelled); or a selfish arseholes (and probably wasteful when it ends up in the bin after one bite).

I had the same situation at work once, only for vegan/vegetarian/meat esters. Allergies etc are obviously different.

All that was left for omnivores was the cheap meat sandwiches and the beigest of buffet food.

They ended up having to allow those that were up last to expense their lunch, as they bought elsewhere. There was loads of waste too. It ended up costing a ton.

They haven't done it since. It's a nice idea but doesn't work in practice.

Other than making the majority of buffets vegan and vegetarian, I don't know what the answer is.

Where is the line though? Are meat eaters allowed to eat the vegetarian or vegan food?
when we have buffet or jacob’s join at work my manager always tells people to leave the veggie food until the veggies have had first dibs. Someone moaned once and was told they they will have the pick of the table but the veggie can only have a limited selection.

I hate this trend towards the vegetarian options now always being fake chicken etc and also be vegan so have fake cheese.