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'd have no issue with it from a wanting meat perspective. If it's all good stuff like bean and chickpea salads (as oppose to processed sandwiches etc) though I would struggle with the consequences. To the point where if it were a day long event I would probably have to eat very little, rather than risk spectacular IBS. Which annoys me as I would actually love to eat more of that sort of food, but my system is not on the same page.

Most of the time, yes. When I'm not too ill, I can tolerate white rice, mashed banana and plain potato, but usually I have to live on lean chicken and turkey, lean beef and ham we cook ourselves. It truly sucks and yes, it's expensive. But, the alternative is tube feeding which is like to avoid.

Is meat literally the only thing you eat?

A work buffet is unlikely to be suitable if it contains meat then, as most wouldn’t have plain lean meat available, but usually upfs like ham, sliced chicken, meats in various sauces, or breaded meats etc.

Did you regularly supply veggie/vegan only lunches though?

Those of us with complex dietary restrictions (that aren’t anaphylactic allergies) are pretty used to picking around what we can & can’t eat and just taking the bits we think won’t make us ill.

I used to be vegan, loved the vegan diet, but I’ve developed bowel disease and can’t eat dairy, nuts, seeds, soy, onions, tomatoes, lentils, beans or any type of legume, dried fruits, soft fruits, grapes, root vegetables, brassicas, beetroot or any of the squash family. Also can’t eat beef or pork. None of them will kill me but I will be in bed I’ll for a week after.

I’m Left with chicken, fish, limited wheat, apples, raspberries, carrots, peas, peppers potatoes and rice and not much else. Usually with a meat buffet there’s something I can eat, but veggie/vegan tends to be heavily legume based. One of the conditions I suffer from is incredibly common. Look up the fodmap diet.

I’d much prefer a vegan diet tbh, but I’d have no protein source. I’ve never requested a meat only meal mind - no one would even want that!

Sorry I’ve just seen this. That sounds very difficult and must seriously affect ever eating outside your home. I’d imagine that if you’re in a situation where there’s going to be catering the only option is for you to bring your own food or request some meat in advance. With such an unusually restricted diet this would be a very exceptional request so I don’t see how it could be considered discriminatory to not include meat unless a caterer refused to supply it.

It's really difficult. I don't really go out much because of it. But it's extremely frustrating when people assume anyone can be a vegan, because it's just not true.

Yes, in this situation I'd have to take my own food if there was no meat.

I hope that if you are in a situation where you need to request it, then you’re catered for

We did relatively regularly supply non-meat only food on the request of whoever was organising/paying for the lunch or conference or whatever.

If someone indicated specific allergies that only affected them we’d make something individual.

It definitely shifted a little bit from only sandwiches over time which I thought was down to low or non carb diets and we’d usually recommend at least one platter of meat and some salads but really it was up to the client what they wanted to order, often they didn’t want to pay for cutlery hire or disposable forks etc so sandwiches and other handheld foods tended to still be the default

It wasn’t my business, just a part time job but over a long period of time - all through my BA and various postgrad studies

You can only eat meat? Literally nothing else?

That's a ridiculous argument, in my opinion.

It's like saying people shouldn't walk or cycle their shorter journeys in order to reduce their environmental impact if they have a car for longer or awkward trips.

Imperfect action is better than no action.

My organisation tried this but no one ate it so we’re back to sausage rolls and chicken tikka pieces.

I agree with this.

I noticed someone said they can't eat vegetarian food for medical reasons. I'm genuinely curious as to what they eat.

Probably bowel related

I get it but I'm arguing for them to at least take into account the impact of avocados and soya in the menu as well as meat and avocados are linked to drugs can. Why stop short when it's not hard to go hmm let's look at soya and avocados too

Dogdilemma2000 went into great detail earlier this morning. I imagine many are similar.

Then please actually look at avocados and syoa rather than spouting off with no data. Avocados are not on the chart below but the data is in the article.

https://ourworldindata.org/food-choice-vs-eating-local

Nobody needs meat, I wouldn't really care. I did think it was an inclusive thing at first which I also think is fine. When I cook meals including my gluten intolerant SIL I just give everyone gluten free food, if I used to cook for my veggie SIL everyone gets veggie.

Funnily enough, when I used to cook for my fussy MIL who didn't like any form of flavour or seasoning except parsley, I made her a bland dish and gave everyone else seasoned food.

Avocados are linked to drug cartels. I'm not thick I know what I'm talking about

Maybe we should suggest that they have locally shot venison for the lunches. There are too many deer in the country (due to the lack of natural predators), are free for all their life (so not battery farmed) and don't go through the abattoir (so don't have a distressing death). They must have a lowest carbon footprint as it's not like people measure the carbon footprint of wild animals.

Ok, just looked. Co2 emissions for beef are 10x that of avocados, and 25x that for soya.

So for ever 100kg of emissions for beef, it's 10kg for avocados, and only 4kg for soya.

That's a massive reduction. And given that they are the ones trumpeted as bad for the environment, I think that's pretty good! Most vegans eat plenty of other produce with lower carbon footprints too.

Sorry this is incorrect - in some very very specific circumstances it is protected but not generically!

What do you suggest sheep farmers on the hills around the country plant instead of grazing their sheep?

Also what are you going to ship unrefrigerated? Rice and grain maybe but not fruit or vegetables.

Nobody except you has made any comment on your intelligence level.