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.

My first thought would be that he probably didn't realise what he was doing/didn't notice the labeling on the food...or it wasn't labelled clearly enough. I wouldn't assume he was being selfish, maybe it was just a mistake.

What about the gluten intolerant, lactose intolerant, those who don’t want butter/margarine on their fake bread, people who want the crusts cut off, those who prefer their sandwiches cut in squares/ triangles….and don’t get me started on paper/polystyrene plates debate.
life’s too short to complain about free food!

Sorry, yeh I get what you are saying and I agree with that. The problem is is that people saying that vegetarian food should be left for the vegetarians are actually meaning only certain items but are expecting each individual to be able to know which items those are and to be fully aligned with them on this which clearly can’t work unless told by the caterer.

Yeah I think people will clock food with an obvious meat replacement as intended for veggies much more so than food that's veggie by nature. So quorn curry instead of chicken, they've done that for the vegetarians. Cheese sandwiches not so much.

Intolerant people should be catered for separately .
If you offer plenty of vegan options you already have the lactose free people catered for.

People who want crusts cut off can do that themselves.

What would be your thoughts on a vegetarian eating vegan food then

I tend to think of things as just food so if I make an asparagus risotto I don't perceive it as vegetarian or vegan when I'm making it. It is just dinner; but is actually suitable for vegetarians and vegans.
Would a vegetarian on seeing asparagus risotto think to themselves 'oh that's vegan I need to go back to my cheese and onion quiche'?

Who's this 'they' because they sound like idiots.

Wait, I get it. It's the people who write the recipes on the internet with all the unnecessary descriptions of the items being vegan. Make this delicious vegan carrot soup and vegan potato curry.

Because without the vegan label, we'd not be able to work out that carrot soup or potato curry is by default vegan, or can be made vegan simply by using the right oil, stock etc.

I don’t think there is anything wrong with this as long as you e declared it.

And yet there has been plenty of threads on here stating that omnis who randomly declare themselves veggie / vegan make life much harder for actual veggies / vegans because if that happens a lot then people stop taking it seriously.

They should just make everything vegan/gluten free! That’ll learn them…

It's almost as if they think buffets are free-for-alls, silly billies.

Food that is specifically for people with special dietary needs should be separate and should be pretty much placed directly in the hands of people who requested it, along with assurances about which items on the buffet are safe for them to eat (or have separate bits for them to help themselves to to avoid cross contamination).

I'd personally not eat a tray of sandwiches labelled gluten free, but I would gladly help myself to lots of vegetarian food because that's a normal part of my diet. I only eat meat a few times a week, so it's just 'food' to me. I'd expect their to be plenty for everyone.

Blame the caterers. They need to put dietary requirements in a different area or separately packed clearly badged as such i.e. intolerance/allergy only.

If I am at a buffet I wouldn't choose gluten free or vegan as they often taste rank when mass catered, but would choose vegetarian options if they are freely available.

Specialist food needs to be separated and clearly labelled - if for allergens/intolerances it should also be separately wrapped.

These days, there should be at least equal amounts of vegetarian and non vegetarian dishes on a buffet.

why can;t they say

Table over on the left is for the people who have said they are veggie/vegan/GF.

table on right is for anyone else - mix of veggie and meat and fish. for people who want a selection. I often eat the veggie food, but i could eat the meat ones if they seemed nice too.

Just ensure the main table has veggie offerings as well as a seperate ONLY veggie/vegan stuff.

The veggies who eat the vegan option can have their own battles!

I’m more sympathetic to actual allergies and intolerances than personal choices, like vegans and vegetarians.

I’m more sympathetic to actual allergies and intolerances than personal choices, like vegans and vegetarians.

Why? Everyone gets hungry.

I am gluten free and once was told there was a sandwich for me - another person grabbed it and when I pointed out it was gluten free he said he didn’t mind and munched through my sandwich and his non gluten free one. I think some people don’t think.

But what did you actually say?

"That sandwich is gluten free" or "that sandwich is gluten free and it is for me and if you eat it I won't be able to eat anything so give it to me please"?

Surely your follow up is "sorry, what I meant was: that's my gf sandwich, it's the only one I can eat"

This used to bug me at my old work on pizza day. They ordered huge ones for everyone to share and one little one without cheese for me and the other vegan in the office. Trouble was people would try it for novelty and then I would hardly have any. Double annoying if they only ate half the slice because they prefer the kind with cheese.

I sometimes go on hiking weekends with a group who feed the vegans first, then vegetarians, then everyone else. (They also cater for other dietary requirements, and those people are served where appropriate in the “pecking order”.) This means the meat eaters can’t snaffle all the vegetarian food, leaving the vegetarians with nothing suitable. Also, it means the servers don’t have to worry so much about which spoon they use for which dish, making it easier for them.

The organisers should be vetting people taking stuff then.

It's on them, not you, to police the problem.

Plenty of people would just see food, pick it up and eat it. Let's say you're hungry, there are no foods that you don't like/don't eat, you have no dietary reqs (and are unfamiliar with the related problems) - plenty of people in that situation won't read the labels - just grab and go.

Perhaps you should let the people in charge know that for next time, they need to send an email in advance saying "GF, nut free, vegan etc has been specifically catered for those who asked so please can everyone else get food from the general section" or whatever

If you have such specific needs then they should be plated up and cling filmed and kept separately, or you can provide your own. Its entitled to think that others can't eat something just because its gluten free or vegan but on an open buffet.

I think YABU calling veganism a dietary requirement, I don't think it's in the same category as dairy-free or gluten-free, it's a dietary preference if anything. It's a bugbear for me as I have to arrange catering for events and will have people put "I don't like mushrooms" in the dietary requirements. Sorry, I am not catering for that. You don't like it, don't eat it. Not the same as not being able to eat it...

I am a 'meat eater' but I'll quite often have the vegetarian option because I like it and I have a balanced diet, that mixes between meat and non-meat meals.

Normally as others have said, where this a dietary requirements caterers have these options separately, but not for vegan/veggie, it's a free for all.