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.

I have a severe tomato allergy. For me it's the ones who cross-contaminate everything by using the same tongs/ladles etc, or the places that like to put a cut tomato in random places to look pretty. Unless people have an allergy/intolerance they just don't get it.

A buffet is a free-for-all

Dietary requirements for allergies should be kept separate.

Vegetarian food is for everyone. Vegetarians don’t get to gatekeep this. You can’t stop meat-eaters having a cheese sandwich because you’ve chosen not to eat meat. Same principle applies to vegans.

I agree. Especially with something like tapas. I like meat, I like fish but i am not going to eat a massive amount of either. I also like vegetables and would definitely expect to be able to eat some.

So no-one should touch the hummus or falafel? They are both very popular.

Yes @Lollingabout hits the nail on the head. (along with @Snugglemonkey and @ElevenSeven and I am sure others too)

The onus is on the caterers to provide sufficient choice and variety for all. It's stupid to provide only enough felafel for the vegans, even stupider to not label them "for vegans only" if that's what you've done, but given that labels are often too small to easily read and get knocked aside anyway, putting the insufficient felafel on a separate vegans-only table would be the appropriate mitigator for such silly decisions. But all the caterer's responsibility.

A buffet is a buffet. "Take what you want if you like the look of it" is the operating principle. Not "my ration is 3 sections of sandwich and I mustn't take from those plates if I didn't request to in advance "

A healthy-eating omnivore who is trying to get their five-a-day/30-a-week/whatever range of plenty of plant matter in their diet and doesn't want too much starchy bread is obviously not going to just eat ham sandwiches/chicken-mayo sandwiches from the meat section and leave all the vegetable-based and non-bready (and therefore possibly gluten-free) options untouched.

As a coeliac I probably would be frustrated in all honesty but would be more concerned about cross contamination with having people's hands all over the gluteny food and then gluten free (so it then is not gluten free in fact 🙄) with no thought for this and would expect them to have some separate arrangements / bring out seperately specific to the person individually with any allergies / coeliac etc.

No it's not, nothing to be ashamed of if you have a dietary requirement. Problem is if they go at the end there maybe nothing left for them to have if it is all laid out together.

Can you mention this to the organisers and perhaps they can put the food for those with dietary requirements separately? Or perhaps have a member of catering staff watching it and only let those who need it eat it? Or let those who dietary requirements go first? Or a notice to be considerate of those with dietary requirements who can only eat from that section?

DD2’s school was entirely vegetarian. Food was delicious and it solved a lot of problems.

Absolutely this.

" why not wait until the people with special dietary requirements have eaten..."
Because people, in the main, are greedy, thoughtless, grabbing, gluttony. Look around & see the state of the streets. Not everyone, of course, but the malaise is now so widespread that it's easy to see it happening constantly & consistently.
Materialistic, me me me attitudes wielding a victim mentality or shrugging it off as 'it is what it is'.
Mercilessly remind organisers, or sharpen your elbows. There isn't going to be a 180° return to polite society. Idiocracy or Rumbling 😆 our future.

Possibly… or sometimes people just fancy a cheese sandwich

I get what you mean. We have to pay for the glorious privilege of being forced to socialise. Normally, this involves a curry. I'm not a big eater plus vegetarian I usually order a couple of sides plus a Naan. These are considered fair game to others and scooped out before I get a chance to try. I then have to reorder and no doubt someone will comment but I now shut people down.

I've had that too, @IhateHPSDeaneCnt . They have rice + a main, but your naan and side dish makes them think it's for sharing, and they get snippy if you say it's actually your meal.

It's on an open buffet it's there for everyone. The people organising it should plate the intolerance or picky eaters food up separately

Im vegan but i dont expect meat eaters to only ever eat meat. Maybe they wanted to have the vegan option because they liked it. You cant force them to choose meat if they dont want to eat it on that occasion

People take a bit of each without thinking about it.
I fed this back to my company. They now make more vegetarian and vegan so there is enough for everyone to sample. And they have the fish separately from the meat also to cater better for allergies.

So there is vegan; vegetarian, fish, meat.

And the Gf sandwiches are set aside with people’s names.

Exactly. Just because I'm not a vegetarian or vegan does not mean I want to have ONLY meat/dairy options. I don't have meat and or dairy at every meal at home either.

I'd expect gf food to be on seperate table to avoid people inadvertently cross contaminating the gf food

In which case order the vegetarian/vegan option. What if you were tucking into your ham sandwich and hummus sandwiches and there was nothing left for a vegan to eat? If you fancy the vegan/veggie option it’s only common courtesy to ensure those who can only eat this option have their fill then eat any left.

@Maatandosiris but I think most are saying this is up to the organiser. They can ask those with dietary restrictions to come up first. If you are told the buffet is open to you of course you are allowed to take a cheese sandwich without worry8ng about how many are left for the veggies.

At my annual work conference I have my own named bag. Keeps it simple and I don't keel over.

i can relate to the anger. This happened at my parents's silver wedding. My mum created a levelled vegetarian section. Women used the pate knife on the vegetarian loaf leaving a lump of meat on it. Made me
cross.

Up to the organisers.
If you had a buffet and there was a tray of mince pies for everyone and a small plate of macarons or meringues for the GF people, do you really think most would think they were for GF only?

The fact the food is in such close proximity to the 'normal' food, would mean my daughter wouldn't be able to eat it. And it's meant to be kept separate so that people can't cross contaminate it by touching the dietary required food after touching none dietary food.

I was at a work event the other day where the whole buffet was vegetarian, about a third of the sandwiches were vegan and all of the salads were vegan and gluten free. It's the first time I've seen no meat and so much vegan food, but guess what, nobody complained that they didn't get meat or had no pasta in their salad because it was all nice food.

I think the answer is not to ban meat eaters from taking the veg options, but to realise that meat eaters usually eat veg too, same as vegetarians eat vegan food too, so just provide more things that everyone is able to eat.