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.

If I was catering for vegetarians and non-vegetarians, I would make extra vegetarian food because plenty of people who eat meat also like veggie food and don’t necessarily want to eat meat at every meal.

I sometimes organise events for work and I ALWAYS tell a venue to make sure that the special dietary requirements are plated up seperately and handed to whoever needs them as yes it’s very selfish to do this.

'Vegetarian' food is still just food, so everyone should be able to choose to eat it at a buffet.

I remember organising a buffet at work and emailing asking for dietary requirements .... some plum replied "white bread, no butter, thinly sliced ham with cucumber and a thin spread of mayonnaise".

It's not "entitled" to want a mix of meat and vegetables on your plate though

We’re not talking about vegetables, we’re talking about vegetarian food.

The GF meal thief actually ate a couple of forkfuls and then decided she didn’t like it. She went back for a ‘normal’ meal. The GF person went hungry.

I think there’s a difference between vegan/vegetarian (ie people’s preferences) and gluten/dairy free etc (people’s requirements).

I sometimes prefer the vegetarian or vegan choices available, so choose to eat them. I don’t think this is selfish. But I wouldn’t take someone else’s gluten-free option.

Weird. I would never touch stuff marked for celiacs, or gluten freen or set apart for the lactose intolerants, but i woud eat vegetarian as I eat meat, fish and veg. Being omnivorous is the standard. I dont see it as thoughtless or selfish. Obviously the catererers are not putting forward enough veggie options to go round for vegetarians and non vegetarians.

I eat some meat but I certainly don’t exclusively eat things with meat in! I much prefer cheese or egg sandwiches to chicken or ham sandwiches so I would take the former at a buffet. Why would eat something I don’t really like? I might take a sausage roll or a tuna sandwich too. It’s up to the organisers to a) provide enough food and b) make it clear if certain food is only for certain people.

I’d probably just make everything gf and vegan. 😁. Guess the meat eaters might complain about no sausage rolls but they can eat the vegetable ones. 🤷‍♀️

So you are a person who has allergies but who has chosen to go vegan. The veganism is still a choice. It’s not everybodys elses’ responsibility to magically know that you have allergies. Vegan food is just food for anyone and anyone should be able to eat it if they want to. If you want special allergy food then ask for it.

Vegetarian food is any food not containing meat.

Why did no one take the plate off her and say, "no you can't have it" though?

Mind boggling.

Food for people with allergies should be completely separate to avoid cross-contamination.

But people who eat meat shouldn't be restricted to only items which contain meat. In fact I think it is pretty weird that you'd expect people to not eat food which looks good and is within their own dietary requirements. A huge number of meat eaters don't have or want meat at every meal and plenty of vegetarians will choose a vegan option too. If there isn't enough food suitable for vegetarians and vegans then that is on the catering company imo.

I eat meat and have the vegetarian option sometimes, I haven't nicked it. For instance, one earlier this year had duck as the meat main, I don't like duck but wouldn't put it as a dietary requirement (I also wouldn't put I really don't like mushrooms). I had the vegetarian option of spinach and ricotta cannelloni. It's up to the organisers to make sure they're catering appropriately. Duck isn't the safest of choices!

Whenever I cater a buffet, I do 75% vegetarian, with around 25% of that being vegan. I'm not including crisps, chips, salad etc in that. Gluten free,allergies are separate on top of that. Only a complete idiot would expect meat eaters to only eat meat.

As with my duck example above, just because you eat meat doesn't mean you eat all meat. I don't like roast pork but I'll eat a sausage roll. I don't like smoked salmon but do like baked salmon, etc.

Allergies, gluten free etc should be separately plated. We tend to specify half veggies/Vegan and half non-veg at our buffets. We rarely run out of veggies that way.

I think that part of the problem is that people think of 'vegetarian food'. 'Vegetarian food' being things like mushroom/butternut risotto, beetroot and goats cheese tart, squash risotto, nut cutlets etc.

If there were plates of sandwiches they won't know that the cheese or sandwiches are for the vegetarians and the ham/fish sandwiches are for onmivores, so will take one of each.

The food without meat won't fit into their 'vegetarian food' definition.

As for events, it can be difficult to pre-order special dietary requirement food. In my previous job, work events were booked through my manager, who NEVER remembered, despite me reminding her each time. It can be quite difficult to retrospectively book special food - basically extra admin time for those of us unfortunate enough to need it. I’m quite sure she would have been the same with vegetarians/vegans, which is maybe why there were so few of them at our workplace!

Vegetarian food isn't special though is it ?

It's what an awful lot of omnivores eat most of the time - but sone people still don't realise that most people don't like huge amounts of meat or meat with every meal

Thanks for that.

If someone asks for your dietary preferences in advance, including vegan/vegetarian on their list of options, they’re asking what you want to eat for that meal. They’re basing the catering on those numbers.

The easiest thing is to let vegetarians and vegans go to the buffet first because it’s the only way you can guarantee there will be enough food for them.

Wanting a variety, ie not only meat/fish based is not a requirement though, is it? Vegetarian food is part of an omnivorous diet.

No, the easiest thing is for them not to deliberately limit their options and then whinge about it.

In the conferences I've been to, the people who have special dietary requirements have their own sealed trays marked with their names. That works really well. It probably evolved from special diet people being left with nothing.

DH says they do that at some of his conferences if a certain person is going - as they've ended up in hospital a few times because someone used the spoon from one dish to take from his and he's so allergic - the trace amounts on spoon from other dishes - often butter - was enough to cause a reaction and ambulance and hospital stay.

No the vegan mains should be put separately in a free from section as not to be contaminated. I am allergic to shellfish, dairy, pork and have MCAS. It might be a choice but it is the difference between me having something contaminated and ending up in hospital. I ALWAYS put VEGAN- ALLERGY on everything. This is met with eye rolls from everyone. If there is a small free from section as OP has mentioned above then I would expect people not to take from it. You don’t know who has allergies and who has a dietary choice. I would still expect people to eat chip and the other vegan sides, but not the specific vegan made food. That is incredibly entitled.

I would expect a decent caterer to basically make a mix of meat and none meat dishes and adjust the balance based on the proportion of people wanting only vegetarian

Another reason I hate buffets! Especially the work based ones- unwashed hands grabbing at food and then putting it down, all the decent stuff being devoured in seconds. Just no!