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.

At my last place of work there would be a tray labelled Dairy, Meat, Fish and nut free meal. Would you really see that and think it was for you?

But if the organisers asked people to indicate if they have dietary needs (including vegetarian, vegan, gluten free etc) and only a handful did, why would they over cater those items? If you're not vegetarian and you wanted to eat vegetarian stuff that's fine, as long as you let the organisers know so they can cater accordingly.

I have no special dietary needs or wants. I like all types of food. I'd be happy with a purely vegan buffet. So why not do that for everyone with separate food for special needs diets?

Gluten free and vegan/vegetarian are completely separate issues, which is another bug bear because many caterers try and kill all the 'special diet' birds with one stone.

The worst example I saw was a deconstructed caesar salad where you could choose which elements you wanted/could eat. So if you were unfortunate enough to be a gluten free vegan, then your lunch was some lettuce.

Obviously, gluten free food should be served separately, and kept for people who need it.

But for vegan/vegetarian food, it's just food that everyone eats, so should be catered accordingly. Buffets are often very processed pork/pastry heavy, so most people will want an alternative to ham sandwiches, sausage rolls, pork pies and scotch eggs, so might pick up a cheese or egg sandwich, an onion bhaji, or some crisps. So the caterers should limit the meat options and cater the non meat options on the basis that they will be eaten by most people.

And everything should be clearly labelled. Our current caterer we use at work arranges the sandwiches in a way that means you can't see what's in it until you've picked it up. By which time it's wasted if it's unsuitable for the person who's chosen it.

But that’s different, tnags a meal. No one would take that. We are discussing a buffet.

Also seen this happen with halal meals - people thought the halal curry looked good and ate from it leaving none for people who exclusively eat halal!

In my workplace catered food always pizza, sharwarma, pastry, bread based stuff with nuts, meat and cheese in and on.
Vegetarians/vegan/ gluten free /dairy intolerant employees get a banana or dates if they are lucky.

Gluten free / Nut free, a proportion should be set aside per person who NEEDS it. Rest on general buffet because it's perfectly acceptable to have dishes which just happen to be nut free / gluten free.

Vegan, rule when I'm serving is it's for seconds. Vegans get a hefty portion. When it's seconds, it's self service and I no longer care. On a buffet, od expect some common sense and respect for others so if the vegan pile is small, leave it alone Carnivore

Vegetarian is harder. If I did a buffet for 100 carnivores, it would still contain vegetarian dishes because they're actually omnivores. So you just have to make sure there's plenty

But everything is always halal.

It's a conference so they will have made enough to cater for requirements. Therefore I wouldn't unless it was left over.

So say I want 50% meat and 50% vegetarian??
I guess the meat eaters shouldn’t take any chips/potatoes then

And really shouldn't a nut allergy mean the whole thing is nut free? We had hot and cold buffet for 150 last week, Mediterranean vibe, amazing food. Totally nut and shellfish free because of allergies. Tons of GF because it's cooked from scratch. Anyone on Oxford, I'd highly recommend them!

It can easily be down to bad management. An event I was at recently had all the food laid out but the vegan/GF food first. So it was the first thing everyone saw, took a bit and there was nothing left for the vegans/GFs. Who were understandably pissed off (and hungry).

Conversely, events I’ve run have had the vegan/GF food set slightly aside with a sign saying “Please leave this food for the people who need it”. Never had a problem.

But another issue is that, as a PP said, it’s assumed that all meat eaters only want to eat meat. So if they fancy vegetarian food, they take sandwiches from the vegetarian plate and the organiser is thinking “Why didn’t they SAY they were vegetarian?” But they’re not, so they wouldn’t. There just needs to be more vegetarian food provided as standard.

Drives me up the wall. Isn’t as bad now vegetarianism is more mainstream, but I’ve had it in the past where folk will order a load of pepperoni pizzas, plus a token margarita… and inevitably the meat eaters are licking their chops the second they lay eyes on the margarita, meaning I get much less than everyone else

It’s really up to the host I think. I’m vegan.. I have a massive family and my Nana hosts a buffet every Boxing Day and puts it in the dining room. The main vegan options are always wrapped in foil on a plate in the oven and everyone knows not to touch these. My veggie auntie often has a few too which is fine. The things which there is excess of which happen to be accidentally vegan such as cous, hummus, salad, biscuits, crisps (she buys accidentally vegan crisps and biscuits not expensive ones), all go on the main table for everyone to eat.

Why on earth didn't you keep it back then? If you are organising it, you can only eat that thing and there's only enough for one person why the flip did you put it on the buffet table?

I 100% agree with this post.

Are you seriously saying that people need to tell caterers putting on a tapas spread that they might want to eat patatas bravas, tortilla, pan con tomate etc as well as meatballs and prawns?

Or that someone who eats a pork pie might also choose a cheese sandwich and falafel?

If caterers are unaware of such normal eating habits, perhaps they shouldn't be in the business of preparing food?

I don't see this as selfish. Are you saying you made (say) a meat chilli and a vegetarian chilli, your omnivorous visitor decided she preferred the look of the veggie one, and you only just had enough left for your vegetarian visitors? I could easily have done that inadvertently, as it would never have occurred to me that you would make three portions of the vegetarian dish and eight portions of the meat dish and require your omnivorous guests to eat the meat one. In your circumstances I'd have made roughly equal amounts, or, actually, only gone for the vegetarian dish to make things simpler.

Yeah, I agree he shouldn’t be taking food from the free from section and denying those who have genuine allergies, but vegan is a choice, not an allergy, so it’s fair game as far as I’m concerned.

Exactly what I was thinking!

I think either caterers need to make more of the ‘special’ food, or keep it totally separate.
This.
A lot of the special dietary needs food tends to be less filling/nutritious than the
omnivore food. One vegeburger is not equal to 1 beefburger

I’m vegan because I have lots of severe allergies and it was easier to go vegan. I know another vegan who is the same. It isn’t always a choice.

YANBU in general, especially when it comes to things marked gluten or dairy free.

I will say though that quite often people who organise buffets assume that meat eaters will be happy to chow through a plate of breaded and fried bits of animal, leaving the lovely green salads, vegetable tartlets and so on for vegetarians. But most meat eaters do also want a bit of variety on their plate.

The answer to this is to have a bigger ratio of vegetarian items to meat items in the first place, and when food is served invite anyone with dietary requirements to go up first so they can be sure they get some of what has been provided for them.

Unless it is clearly marked for vegetarian diners only, then it is a buffet for all with the veggie food labelled for the convenience of those who only eat veggie.

For example, if there is veggie pakora out in a buffet I am having a bit along with my chicken satay skewers!

your problem is with the caterers in either their layout, clearer labelling or quantities not those that eat the food that have been put out for them.