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?

I have an intolerance that means I can't eat chickpeas, soy, lentils, peas or any kinds of beans. I.e. basically any vegan substitute. Not a problem if they're going to produce vegetarian stuff but an absolute nightmare when places go vegan only.

Might be worth flagging up as it's related to a long term health condition that for me is a severe enough that multiple occy health people have classed it as a disability.

I'm an omnivore and would be absolutely fine with all catering being vegan or vegetarian in a work context.

I try to avoid chicken unless I know it's free range, and usually the vegetarian options look much nicer than the usual meat eater buffet items but I don't feel it's appropriate to take them as I can eat meat just don't necessarily want to at every meal...

Care needs to be taken around soya/nut allergies but that's not new

Actually it’s now widely proven that eating less meat/being vegan or veggie is very impactful in terms of climate change. It isn’t ignorant in the least; quite the opposite.

Generally the vast majority of ‘vegan foods’ also have a much lower water and climate impact than meat and dairy. There are some things like, avocados, that have a very high impact, but these aren’t ‘vegan foods’, they are things that are widely eaten. If we all went vegan, scientists believe the world’s food-related emissions might drop by 68% within 15 years, limiting global warming (UN 2023)

Being environmentally responsible is laudable and great leadership. It’s not about ‘beliefs’ it’s about scientific fact about the disaster we are heading for

I find it a bit weird tbh. I was an office manager and if we had to order catering we would get a selection, based on how many people were veggie/vegan in the group. I guess some places don't even ever offer catered meetings so it could be worse. Are you Directors all vegan, do you sell or make or market a product where this stance would impress clients? There must be a business reason. It probably won't be much cheaper. Also, why is it only your team?
Ask others how they feel and if a bunch of you disapprove then maybe approach management asking them to reconsider.

I don't eat upf ham, no.

The evening buffet at our wedding was all vegetarian. There were 3 people who refused to eat it.

The OP was very clear, they're doing this to reduce their carbon footprint. Not uncommon nowadays I think: it's a quick win.

What's this food for work events? Does this still happen? Do people still measure things in feet and inches?

You get free food. At work? 🧐

I wonder if the company still pays anyone mileage allowance for using a car. Or provides a space for an SUV to park. Or requires people to travel to an office more than the minimum necessary.

Seems like tokenism or greenwash to me.

It's just posturing and activism.

If they care about carbon footprint, they can express preference for local&seasonal food, and for good proportion of naturally vegetarian food.

It's not reasonable to force ultra processed fake meat on anyone and many alternative protein like soya are known allergens so not a good choice to talk about inclusivity.

Is it free? If so - fine. As long as it wasn’t full of those fake meat things and was real food I’d be happy.

Exactly, some people can not eat most vegan protein sources, if dairy or eggs were also an issue then the policy could make life difficult.

A friend was suffering from multiple intolerances and the only thing that worked was cutting back to safe foods of chicken, rice and green leafy vegetables then gradually trying to reintroduce foods to figure out which were the problem. He needed to eat chicken for the protein, vegetarian was not an option.

If it's free I wouldn't be complaining

Far more annoying was when I found myself at a 4 day festival last year where no meat was allowed - I had to pay £10-£12 per meal for a bowl of fake leather strips in sauce.

I’m allergic to all nuts and coconut so vegan buffet food is virtually impossible for me to eat I’ve been to many and sat eating carrot sticks and crisps….whereas a buffet with a meat option tends to have a plain ham or chicken sandwich I can eat. Even eating vegetarian which is something I try to do is getting to be virtually impossible now due to nut oils being used.

But I don’t get funny about it I just take a pack up. It’s like when a meal out is suggested normally an all you can eat Indian or world cuisine type place I say no and meet for drinks as the cross contamination risk is to high.

@ZiriForGood "t's not reasonable to force ultra processed fake meat "

I agree. Have you, perchance, posted on the wrong thread?

All those voices "it is free, so..."
It isn't free though, it is paid from the business money, it is a kind of extended compensation, and catering typically costs something. There is no reason to be grateful for company splashing money on a nonsense.

It's a good idea. If you don't like the free food, you can bring your own food

At my company we always have high processed poor quality fried (meat)snacks… we often joke that if we would replace them with vegetarian snacks
A. Nobody would notice
and B. The amount of real meat used would only drop a few percents

Can't see any reason to get worked up about this. The company decided on the food, which is wholly reasonable if they are paying. Nobody was ever hurt by a vegetarian lunch. Don't like it? Don't eat it!

Me too. It's not easy to find stuff I can eat at meetings anyway, if it's vegan then there's usually nothing I can eat. It seems to be something that's completely overlooked.

Perfectly reasonable. I'm not vegetarian but a) it won't kill anyone to have a meat-free meal once in a blue moon and b) your employer is paying for the food, so it's very much a case of beggars can't be choosers.

Yes it’s greenwashing. There are food producers who will do more local/seasonal food which is a far better choice.

I don’t have a problem with vegetarian myself but not so much vegan stuff. I have tried meat alternatives and they all give me a bad stomach.
Lots of vegan food is also full of things that people are generally intolerant of like nuts and wheat.

I think then it would be sensible to bring your own stuff in. Dd has to, she has coeliac disease and wouldn’t touch a buffet with a barge pole. It’s the odd time. Surely most people provide their own lunches most days. Missing out on a free buffet is hardly a reason to start shouting disability discrimination.

They did this sort of thing in Scotland. So instead of using locally bred, slaughtered etc beef, they use UPF and if anyone hasn't noticed, we don't grow/produce most of the ingredients in vegan food in this country, so the carbon footprint isn't lowered. I was vegan and cooked veg curries etc, but a lot of vegans have a diet full of UPF. Have a look at what the food contains and pount out that this decision isn't doing anything for their carbon footprint.