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.

anyone with an allergy should get special treatment as they have a condition that requires it.

choosing to be vegan or vegetarian should give special treatment such as first access to the buffet (I am vegetarian) as that’s just not fair.

Maybe buffets should just be 100% vegetarian. Then all the omnivores won’t feel they’re being unnecessarily restricted and the veggies will all get fed.

Not if the caterers have done a decent job allowing for the fact that a certain proportion of the omnivore population will always fancy a cheese sandwich. At my work they always slightly over-cater on the vegetarian side and the leftover sandwiches are 80% vegetarian/vegan.

If I see a buffet with a bowl of pasta salad, a bowl of coleslaw with mayo and a bowl of delicious-looking green salad, I'm not going to force myself to eat pasta salad, which I hate, or coleslaw which would break my diet just because I'm not Coeliac or vegan.

But if a small amount of gluten free food is plated up separately (and fully covered, as it really ought to be) then obviously only a twat would take it.

Coeliac/"free from X allergen" food shouldn't be in the buffet set up at all, but instead be plated, clingfilmed and labelled "Susie, gluten free" to avoid contamination.

Vege/vegan should be either treated the same, OR over catered, as a) some of it has always been part of an omnivorous diet and b) as veganism/vegetarianism and "still omnivorous but reducing meat consumption" has become more popular, there are a lot of omnivores who like deliberately vegetarian/vegan dishes too!

Would be easier wouldn't it !

But there will be someone who finds that intolerable

I am vegan and the type of work I do usually comes with food provided and you specify dietary requirements beforehand

Without supervisions when lunch break is announced etc it is a free for all and unless you are able to get to the food area quickly as a vegan I have gone hungry before now and lesson learned I do take my own food just in case

Occasionally you will get someone who understands that the veggie/allergy options go quickly and are eaten by anyone who fancies them, so they will call those who specified dietary requirements first and then the rest can join the queue after them

I think that is the fairest otherwise you get a group of people who are well fed and a group who are starving hungry.

I've done this because I didn't used to like cheese or egg, and you'll be surprised how much 'normal' food has these! From the 'no dietary restrictions section' the sandwiches might be smoked salmon and cream cheese, cucumber and cream cheese, ham & cheese, cheese, egg mayo etc. I might grab a tuna & cucumber from that section and a falafel and hummus from the vegan one so that I'm sufficiently fed too.

It's the opposite at my work, put a vegan label on it and nobody will touch that vegan muck 😂

I don't know, maybe they are trying the food to see if they like it?
I'm vegetarian but I eat vegan food if it's on offer to 'support it' (as I'd like to be vegan if it was easier) and I'd have gluten free aswell to compare it. Is that selfish?

Obviously it's different if you take all the vegan/gluten free food leaving people who have those dietary requirements with nothing, that's not on.

Ha! It's years since I heard anyone described as a 'gannet'. Dunno why, it's a great expression! 😀

@Queucumber I'm organising a meeting with food next week and we're making the entire thing vegetarian, as we've had 3 responses with either veggie or pescatarian dietary needs, and 1 vegan.

We made the whole thing vegan last year but it wasn't nice and we had lots of complaints, so now we have one plate for the vegan which will be kept back in the kitchen with clingfilm on it to avoid anyone else eating it by accident and then complaining again.

It was likely pure greed. Some people see a buffet and grab loads of food regardless of others. I bet he didn't even spot the notices saying gluten free etc.

Actual intollerance stuff like sandwiches on gluten free bread, dairy free etc should be kept separate from the "main" buffet to avoid cross contamination, or ideally a plate made up, and wrapped/named.

Don't agree about vegetarian/vegan options though. That is really more a preference than a "need" as such, you choose not to eat meat/animal procucts rather than physically can't (in most cases) so it's really unfair to gatekeep anything that happens to be veggie/vegan from those who do eat meat/dairy.

I'm not vegetarian, but i am incredibly meat and fish fussy, with a majority meat free diet but lots of dairy. I won't eat tuna, and i don't eat any kind of cold cut meat, don't like egg mayo, so the majority of buffet type sandwiches are out. The only sandwich option i would eat is cheese, or the other veggie/vegan options. I don't eat sausage rolls, pork pie, cocktail sausages etc that are the other "typical" buffet foods, so really, the veggie/vegan stuff, is the only stuff i would eat.

Maybe the non veggie/vegan colleagues of yours are also fussy eaters and just don't like some of the sandwich fillings, so take the cheese/veggie options as thats something they do like? They don't write they have dietary requirements as technically they don't, but that doesn't mean they will like the meat options offered.

Honestly, do you think it is any more fair for someone who eats meat to be forced to eat the meat options they don't like, or not eat at all because the veggie/vegan food is reserved for those who ticked a veggie/vegan dietary requirement, and nobody else?

Ideally the caterers would just let everyone specify what they want, and everyone would take what they specifically asked for, or you could ask them to provide all meat free/lower portion meat bigger portion meat free. Either way, it's not the "meat eaters" fault if theres not enough none meat food provided to go around everyone who wants it.

@Takethehintandfuckoff that’s the thing, everyone I know does state allergies. The food is still usually placed in a small section alongside the GF offerings with “vegan”. I wouldn’t expect people to not touch naturally vegan things such as chips but if there is one little main under the vegan sign I would expect only vegans allergies or not to be the ones eating it. If there is a whole buffet on then to go for the one or two things labelled vegan is seriously selfish. You don’t know who has an allergy or who has made a choice. FWIW eating meat could kill me.

@Xiaoxiong, Good call on the vegan plate.

Ha! It's years since I heard anyone described as a 'gannet'. Dunno why, it's a great expression!

Agree. My nan used to use it. Always with bloody before it ‘bloody gannet’ as she was commentating on others at buffets or her own husband getting another snack from the fridge. 🤣

Most "meat eaters" are omnivores and it's a catering planning error to provide a lack of vegetarian/ vegan foods, particularly foods that are naturally meat-free and part of a normal diet. I would put salad on a plate and assume that it is accessible to all. A GF, vegan sausage roll not so much if there's also a platter of standard ones.

On lots of threads about vegan food, it's pointed out that many foods are naturally vegan anyway. "Meat eaters" very rarely swerve all food that happens to be vegan. That range needs to be catered for, plus extra (double each) for the people that declare a dietry need.

There will always be a glutton who feels it's their personal mission to ensure no food is left behind, but most people just want a distribution of the selection of food put out on their plate. It's unreasonable to police who has access to the carrot sticks or vegetable samosas. Just provide more to meet demand.

For gluten-free (and other allergies/ intolerances), cross contamination is often a major problem and there should be a decent private portion of food provided directly. All it takes is jumbling tongs to make someone ill.

We were at a wedding when DS had multiple allergies and were lulled into a false sense of security about their assurances of their provision of DS's food. He had his potatoes already on his plate with the meat rather than the communal bowls. They didn't warn us that the communal vegetables had butter on them and it wasn't obvious until the bowls were nearly empty and DS was ready for seconds. At 3am, he had half the venue awake as he was taken screaming in pain to the shower to be hosed down and was explosively shitting from neck to knees for a week afterwards. It didn't seem to occur to them that a toddler would love naturally dairy-free vegetables and to provide some that were uncontaminated.

I think GF or allergies is different to vegan/veggie here. It's not reasonable to expect people to think ooh no, shouldn't have the cheese sandwiches or the hummus and falafel wrap. But for that reason, as lots of people have said, the best way to manage this is for the people with allergies and restrictions to be called first. And yeah, I'd have thought the allergy/GF stuff would be better kept separate for those people anyway in case of contamination.

Buffet offer shouldnt be stingy, it should be assumed dishes that cater for many diets will need to be doubled up and dietary requirements should be boxed up and labelled with people's names. When i browse a buffet i choose what i fancy if i see its vegan or gluten free i read it as an inclusitivity thing to let them know they can eat it NOT that as a fuck off label for everyone else not to touch it. Nothing worse than work bigging up a lunch spread and then its a misely offer. I would be happy that more people ate vegan or gluten free. Allergies should nevrr be on same buffet table anyway they should be well separate as many have said.

I think it's definitely thoughtlessness. As others have said - I'm not vegetarian but at buffet I would absolutely expect to be served some vegetarian dishes, not only meat. And I think that has been catered for with vegetarian food usually being a slightly higher proportion, the realisation that vegan or gluten free or dairy free is to do with very specific dietary issues isn't always clear.

I don't really get the point of asking for everyone's specific dietary requirements if it's a buffet. Rather provide a specific meal for the ones who have those requirements and the buffet can be for the rest. Or include a sign over the smaller, more specific gluten free buffet saying, "Gluten free guests only".

Vegetarian options should be an option for everyone as meat eaters don't always want to eat meat (or sometimes it just looks better), but enough needs to be made to make allowance for that. I sometimes try a bit of the veggie option at my school lunch but I know that there's plenty enough (last sitting, and usually the last to arrive) but they put the meat option first, then veggie, then special diet options are at the very end - that helps limit people taking the special options (and some are labelled with a person's name)

But its very unreasonable to take special diet options when they are clearly limited. Different if they're not limited (like where I am the main options are usually GF anyway so obviously non-Coeliacs can eat those)

Whenever I do the cooking for a party I'm hosting, or order catering for a work event, I start with all vegetarian, and add in meat/fish. Make vegetarian the default, then at least you have enough for most people.

For dietary needs - gluten free for coeliacs or nut-free for those with allergies - that needs to be aid out separately, covered with cling film, and clearly signalled that it's not part of the general buffet.

Vegan - For everyone
Allergies - Should not be eaten by those without allergies

It's all about the labelling
If there are ordinary sandwhiand gluten free sandwiches then I agree it wring to take gluten free. If there is chicken skewers, and then chicken substitute skewers, and vegetable skewers then I would leave the chicken substitute but take the chicken and the vegetable ones.

IG you have a meat snadwich tray, and a non-meat tray and the only cheese or egg are on the non-meat labelled vegetarian than they are not restricted just labelled as vegetarian.

I like the chocolate torte at a nearby pub...its gluten free and vegan and served with vegan ice cream....but it's also the only chocolate torte on the menu.

What was served for vegetarians, vegans, gluten free etc.
In the example OP said about the chicken curry halal. If the non halal version looked not as nice I completely understand why people went for it. Why should them eat a non appealing meal, just because is not halal? If you snooze you lose kind of thing, and yes people got very greedy in buffets. We all know it.

It is very tricky and really depends on the food served. If that person took gluten free bread sandwiches having the same option in standard bread that is not polite but a piece of crustless onion and cheese quiche, that could be easily gluten free and vegetarian but not special food.
It all depends on what was on those trays.

I wouldn't have a cake if I can choose an apple, just because I don't like cake and I love apples. Would I be heartless insensitive just because everyone else also can eat apples? I don't think so.

It depends on the food.