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?

Why do people only seem bothered about UPF when it's vegan food?
You don't often see people complaining when a buffet is full of ham sandwiches, sausage rolls, pasties, etc.

The carbon emissions of eating beef from the UK is about 40 times that of a vegetable from Chile. The transportation emissions are tiny compared to the food, water and farting of the animal.

Agree with PPs that vegetarian overall is better. Vegan is processed and can, but doesn't always, carry a high carbon footprint.

I would prefer a meat choice as I love it though but wouldn't care too much as it's free plus, I don't actually have to eat it and can bring in my own meat based stuff.

Most work-related buffets/food occasions are sub-par at best. Even if they fully catered to every diet, religion and allergy requirement people would still complain 😆

Yeah, I don't have any respect for transparent organisations that are so keen to parade their virtue that they'd make a decision like this.

In organisations like mine, expenses (very measly amounts!) are reimbursed for food purchased when an employee has to travel for work- unless food is provided at a catered event.
So effectively they'd be forcing people to travel and incur extra expense, whilst simulateously vastly reducing what's on offer for them to eat (in the case of vegan only) and preventing them from chosing for themselves without incurring further cost.

And yet somehow..... no one's pointed out that if these companies cared so deeply about 'carbon footprint' and chose to hold a virtual event instead of corporate grandstanding- they'd be saving 1000s of kgs of carbon emissions from delegate travel alone😂

Oh the irony!

Absolutely ridiculous and tremendously unhealthy. I would advice that I do not eat ultra processed crap for health reasons and see what they say regarding your inclusion.

How?

I can't have gluten and often the meat is the only bit I can eat!

I hope they enjoy their turnip canapés if they are going to be local and seasonal that’s the sort of stuff they need to be eating.

Please tell me this is some up its own arse marketing agency in London or something of that ilk.

I would bring in my own bento box with food from my own culture. I have zero against veganism/vegetarianism but it should be a choice. Just like I wouldn’t expect everyone to like stuff I eat.

If they want to save the planet they need to stop breeding, travelling and buying anything. I bet they all have the latest iPhone though.

What a bunch of virtue signalling hairshirts.

Spot on, @NoMoreFalafelsForYou .The whole UPF argument is a bit spurious IMO. Tofu is sometimes classed as a UPF, but I'm virtually made of it and am in very good health. It's also a regular feature in Asian cuisine.

I'd also like to remind everyone exactly who invented the idea of a carbon footprint

(it was BP in 2004.)

thats funny - in my experience, thats always the last one to go, and most likely to be left over.

I work in IT

Same!! Always the last to go here.

I can't remember the last time i ever had a lunch that didnt have meat in it, or a dinner, so i'd just bring my own, i dont like a lot of veggie food.

I should add that the emphasis is on local and sustainable as well as plant based.

It probably wouldn't bother me either way, as long as the food isn't ultra processed.

What interests me is to look what the Great and the Good are offered, compared to us grunts. This is a menu from Parliament where, amongst other things, there is steak, pork, duck and fish on offer. It's cheap too because we subsidise it.

https://www.parliament.uk/globalassets/documents/mdr-main-10.09.19.pdf

If I'm going to shout about being better for the environment, then I'd better do my homework, otherwise I'm being fake and pretending.

Its fine to 'call out' fakers and scammers - and hypocrites.

I'm not saying I'm saving the planet, I'm not claiming anything

Almost nothing you've said has any relevance.

Who is asking about your unfair expenses policy? Who mentioned forcing employees to travel? What do in-person vs virtual events have to do with anything?

It is a choice for people to be vegetarian or vegan, of course.

That doesn't mean that anyone catering for you is required to provide meat just because you want to eat it.

They are not taking away your choice in any way by not providing meat, and more than they would be taking away your choice to eat chickpeas if they happened to serve up lentils.

They can choose to serve what they like. You can choose to eat what you like.

I'd just buy myself a Cornish pasty or a Ham sandwich or something and take with me because I'm picky about my food. I don't like food with mayonnaise, mustard, salad cream or any other mush on it. I find a lot of vegetarian sandwiches always assume everyone likes this mush all over their sandwich. I don't like salad leaves, tomatoes or hard eggs either. I don't like onions or spinach so wouldn't eat their quiche or crisps either. I suppose I might eat some fresh fruit. I think it's rather dictatorial tbh. I'm not a vegetarian or a vegan and won't be forced into it. There would be a huge backlash if only meat eaters were catered for and vegetarians or vegans were left out.

Good for you! Not sarcastic and I applaud that. I certainly don't think going meat-free is a cure-all and yes, it comes with its own problems. I'm not even a vegan myself.

However I've noticed that whenever there's a bit of encouragement to take a baby step towards something ethical, we see a lot of nitpicking outrage that it isn't wholly, completely ethical. As if no one should bother taking a small step they think will make the world a fraction better if they're not prepared to take a giant leap and ensure every aspect of their lives is 100% morally pure. I don't understand people who are more outraged by "hypocrisy" than the fact that the planet is burning in the first place.

If an employee of mine refused to take part in meetings because they were having a hissy fit about vegetarian food, I would be rethinking their continued employment pretty rapidly.

This reminds me of the idiots who post pictures of steak on vegan IG pages lol.

it’s probably sandwiches on highly processed white bread. So yea probably better off buying your own dead animals (who have no doubt been eating all the plants that have been draining your water.

Most vegans eat very healthily and usually eschew the highly processed stuff.

It's obviously less inclusive not more. A mixture of meat, vegetarian and vegan would be more inclusive. I think it's judgemental and discriminatory.

Hot news. There's an awful lot more to a vegetarian diet than beans, pulses and soya.

I've been to a few events over the last couple of years where all the catering was vegetarian or vegan. It was absolutely fine.

@caringcarer
I'm not a vegetarian or a vegan and won't be forced into it. There would be a huge backlash if only meat eaters were catered for and vegetarians or vegans were left out
One buffet at work being all vegan/vegetarian isn't forcing you into it
It's not that you can't eat the food, it's that you don't want to.
It's hardly the same for a vegan or vegetarian only being catered meat!
I say this as a meat eater!

No, this is just bollocks though.

Why are you more concerned about people's hypocrisy than about the environment itself?

Social change is a process. It's comprised of small steps. All activists know this. This is how progress has happened in every area throughout history. It's about human behaviours changing a little at a time, not a wholesale instant transformation of the way we live. And yes, this means that not everything is 100% coherent at any given time, which is why activism is a long game.

Yes, practically speaking ruling out any time of common foodstuff is likely to be less inclusive, not more.