Food orders for work related events are to be vegan and vegetarian only

[ValerieVomit]

We all received an email at work to say that when we order catering in future for work related events we can only order vegetarian and vegan food. The management team has imposed this. It's to reduce our carbon footprint. I don't think that this means there is to be no carnivorous food available for the rest of the organisation but our department won't allow us to order any.

Reasonable or not?

Vegans can't. Not all of it.

Haha! Maybe a few pork pies too!

I know someone like that - they make me laugh as it's not a "real meal," if it doesn't have meat in it.
The thought of a company having the audacity to order in veggie stuff and no meat would probably bring on a "PC gone mad" rant worthy of this board 😁

Wouldn’t bother me. Work buffets are my idea of hell whatever they put out. You know it’s going to be awkward picking up then balancing stuff on a flimsy paper plate or serviette, and nothing ever looks appetising to me. As if that’s not bad enough, you then have to navigate people making small talk whilst chomping and spraying pastry crumbs everywhere.

Just no no no no no for me. I’m busy that day 😂

And that is fine if you are catering for someone in your own home. I wouldn't accept a dinner invite from a staunch vegan and expect to be eating roast chicken.
In the situation the OP described, it's not appropriate to push a particular agenda. If you are putting on an event for many different people you shouldn't force your personal beliefs onto them. Unless of course it's a vegan specific event.

I would say unreasonable.Just my opinion.If there was a email saying meat only,there would be a complaint somewhere it's not inclusive to all.This way,they have covered all bases.They are actually catering for the few,not the many.

Do you have many carnivores in your work place? Some of my colleagues are omnivores, with some vegetarians and vegans, but no one who can eat only meat. We tend to cater 70/30 vegetarian and vegan. Funnily enough, none of the people who eat meat have expired during the afternoon due to its absence. I imagine its because they eat other things too.

Are you this outraged every time a profit-geared company does something for money?

It's a capitalist business. Everything it does is to make money or save money. If you don't like it, feel free to overthrow the system.

Or is it just vegans you hate.

It depends on if everyone in the organisation can safely eat the food. A lot of vegan/veggie food contains nuts or pulses, wheat, soya, etc - which a lot of people are allergic to. Some people may also have other conditions that prevents them from eating specific food e.g. ulcerative colitis.

I must admit every single post expressing horror at the idea of eating processed vegan food made me chuckle. Yes, at a catered work buffet you'd otherwise be eating the finest cuts of venison and fillet steak.

Yes, it is. You can eat the food that's provided, you would just choose not to. What's hard to understand?

I'd be fine with a cheese sandwich, or egg or cucumber and wouldn't really notice there was no ham.

If it was all hummus and vegan 'cheese' I'd avoid the lot but that's due to allergies.

Think about what it is that UK chickens eat. They eat animal feed derived mostly from maize and soya. Both of which are imported. Also we are overfishing anchovy and other fish for animal feed.

Although chickens are relatively good at converting plant protein into animal protein - better than pigs and especially beef - when we feed animals grain and pulses most of the calories and most of the protein is wasted.

So that's why it's better for us to eat imported chickpeas than eat UK chicken where the protein derives from twice the quantity of imported soya beans.

Cattle also produce methane which is a big problem. We should stop feeding cattle grain and soya. Beef reared on regenerated land will be available only in small quantities and will be expensive. Meat is also a big problem with food poisoning.

Ha, exactly.
Do all the people moaning about processed vegan stuff moan equally at the amount of crap that gets pumped into say some processed ham slices?!

Yeah, I have no problem with processed food of any ilk, but vegan cheese has no bloody right being called cheese.

These threads are always funny.

Suddenly everyone objects to ‘processed crap’ and their body is a temple, yet a lot of people eat a fair amount of this ‘processed crap‘ and aren’t particularly healthy. I don’t think processed meat crap is any better than process vegan crap.

I don’t actually eat much ‘processed crap’ but for the occasional work event, I really wouldn’t worry about it. That’s if they serve only processed vegan/veggie crap anyway, my employer provides quality veggie/vegan food at events.

Don’t forget that non-veggie food has never been transported, and animals don’t need feeding!

Excellent! Well done your workplace.

Is it really for carbon footprint or they just know it's usually cheaper than meat and thus saving costs by dressing it up as being eco friendly.

Almonds come from far away, so do bananas etc so I doubt it's saving carbon footprint.

Suggest buying meat options that have been sourced from local farms...its be more exspensive and I'll bet they'll say no!!

I think if I were the one paying and my efforts to reduce the company’s carbon footprint were met with this much whinging, this would be my preferred option too.

The era of free lunches is now over, you entitled lot. You’ll have to buy your own steak and venison sandwiches.

A lot of people on this thread seem to be getting their "facts" from Daily Mail editorials and in another context would be hopping up and down with rage at the thought of anyone being so precious as to turn down a cheese sandwich at a work meeting.

If it's reassurance people are seeking I am happy to confirm that DH and I had an entirely vegetarian and vegan wedding reception over 5 years ago now and every single attendee is still alive.

Sounds great to me.

I've been Vegan a long time and had far too many experiences of turning up to a work thing to find nothing at all that I could eat. My work Christmas meal was once a plate of runner beans that I had to send back as they had put melted butter on them (despite having booked a vegan meal).

To those that say veganism is a choice, yes that's right, but that doesn't mean we should be forced to eat meat / cheese or go hungry.

But that will still hold whether you have a vegan or meat-included buffet. Caterers might smother chicken bites in a peanut-based satay sauce. Chips often have a coating of flour to make them crispier, which is unhelpful for coaeliacs. Lots of sauces contain flour, too. I knew someone who was allergic to meat.

A default menu, whether vegetarian, vegan, meat-heavy or whatever, is likely to contain allergens for someone, unless the caterers are aware before they start preparing.

The vast majority of omnivore food provided at work buffets contains wheat, soya and dairy, because it's normally dominated by sandwiches and wraps. People with allergies and intolerances need to be dealt with separately, regardless of the makeup of the buffet.

And surely stipulate that the feed and bedding for said aninals was also sourced from local farms.

25 bananas would be about 5kg of co2 and 700 litres of water. 25 portions of chicken would be around 106kg of Co2 and around 7,000 litres of water.