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?

Net zero is just greenwashing.

I mean, how do people think the "dairy" is being produced - without cows?!

How are we meant to vote 🤔

But YABVU to have a meltdown. We don’t even get any free food! lol be lucky to get a biscuit. Suck it up I say!

Agree with the posters who have said that the decision is reasonable but the rationale doesn't really make sense.

I'd be perfectly fine with it - if someone's giving me free food as long as its edible I wouldn't care about the type but would roll my eyes a bit at the "worthiness" of it.

I saw a post about an employer in the states where part of the job contract was you could ONLY eat vegan food on site -including bringing your own packed lunch etc. Now that's a bit unreasonable!

I think the general rule is that meat has a higher carbon footprint than dairy products and that dairy products have a higher carbon footprint than most fruit and veg.

Not always easy thought. My husband is dairy soya coconut nut and gluten intolerant. Seeing as processed vegan food pretty much always contains one or more of these, he would be limited to gluten free pasta, rice, fruit and veg if not allowed to eat meat/fish

Presumably the sandwiches will have no butter or mayo on them though, how would pastries be made without animal products without using substitutes, where is the protein coming from in low quantities ?

Just do collective disobedience and keep ordering what you want, as long as it is within the budget. Tell management to ask staff what they think on this sort of matter first before making a decision.

My brother is vegan, so are some of my dd‘s friends. I am not fussy in general so went to vegan cafes several times. I don’t like fake milk, fake cheese, fake butter. It all makes me feel sick. It would be fine to eat something that is “naturally” vegan (like some sort of soup or whatever), ie something that hasn’t had stuff processed to pretend to be cheese/butter/milk/cream etc. I would be pretty fed up if food at work was mandated to be vegan. Wouldn’t mind if it was vegetarian, as long as it wasn’t every day.

It wouldn't bother me. It's surprising that so many people seem to think vegetarian and vegan food is all so unpalatable that they need to have meat.

I bloody love a vegetable samosa and a mushroom vol au vent. Wouldn't say no to a sausage roll or a ham sandwich either, but meat is only one part of my diet. Most of the food I eat is vegan or vegetarian - fruit, veg, rice, pasta, pulses etc. I would have thought that would be the same for most people tbh.

I would be ok about it as long as I could bring my own
im gluten and dairy free plus avoid processed foods so usually bring myself a salad and some protein and nibble anything else that fits in with that - great if fruit is provided too

No idea what they’re made of but some pastries actually don’t use animal products at all. Jus rol products are all vegan for instance. Lots of bog standard biscuits are vegan as well.

This probably won’t work for sandwiches but I find with wraps you don’t need butter or mayo.

Also if they are offering vegan AND vegetarian then chances are they will still be using dairy and eggs.

It’s a stupid argument to simultaneously argue it’s unfair but also trying to point out x y z vegan product is carbon intensive. The company aren’t claiming the food is carbon neutral just that it’s reducing carbon. Even a highly processed quorn sausage is less intensive carbon wise than a meat one

I think this is really progressive and would support it totally in my work place. There’s going to be a likely environmental impact of every catered event and seeking to reduce that is never a bad thing. Just because it’s not possible to make it absolutely perfect in terms of environmental impact doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be making better choices that lessen the harm. We are in a climate and biodiversity crisis and those of us that can make a positive change need to.

Looking for excuses not to make a change, or not making changes because it doesn’t irradiate carbon footprint entirely is unhelpful.

If being deprived of a reconstituted ham sandwich or an arseholes and eyelids sauasge roll at a non compulsory work buffet was the only thing I had to get irate about in the name of ‘virtue signally gone maaaaaaaad’ I’d be delirious with gratitude at how charmed my life is.

And then I’d ask for extra hummus.

My poor partner (vegan and actively allergic to all dairy) often has a dire time finding anything to eat at work events, so I say bring it on - it's more inclusive and no one will die of eating veg options of any kind for one meal.

It would be OK if there was an abundance of decent vegetarian food outlets in your area. At the offices I've worked in it would probably translate to a tray of egg sandwiches and a tray of cheese sandwiches, which wouldn't be much to look forward to.

Catered vegetarian food is often nicer, so I'd be quite happy with that (I'm neither vegetarian nor vegan). It makes sense from a sustainability perspective and from a simplicity in procurement perspective. Actually, we're doing a catered training event in a couple months and we are doing vegetarian food for ease. Everyone can manage to not eat meat for one (free) meal - or if they need a ham sandwich, they are always welcome to sneak out to Pret.

You're right @Herdinggoats there's so much rubbish spouted about healthy and environmentally friendly vegan and vegetarian alternatives.

Half the time they're ultra processed and shipped from the other side of the world. Argentinan beef might have a high carbon footprint, but responsibility sourced British grass fed beef does not.

It's just more look at me virtue signalling, whereas actually it's zero effort for the employers and probably causes more harm than good.

I’m not a difficult colleague and I would attend - but I would be bringing my own food. I can’t stand hummus etc.

I refuse to have vegetarianism forced on me.

Assuming this is just catering at occasional work events, and not all 3 meals every day, wouldn't you just make sure you got your protein in your other 2 meals that day? Or you could bring in your own food if to wanted/needed?

Chickpeas and lentils are shipped slowly across the world very cheaply: their carbon footprint per gram of protein is a tiny fraction of beef, (or indeed cheese) and much lower than chicken, bacon or farmed salmon.

Our last work place did this, it was very successful, there was less food waste and the cost per head was much lower. We did have one vocal colleague who professed they couldn’t eat any vegetarian or vegan food, odd as before that they had been seen eating bread, fruid, salad and even vegetables.

This would never work in my office, when we do have a catered event the most frequent feedback we get is “not enough meat” and there is always loads of vegetarian options left over because they assume more people are veggie than in reality. Same if we only had veggie and vegan pizza, hardly gets touched and there are leftovers for days in the fridge.

To be reasonable it would need be to clear on meeting / event invitation “vegetarian / vegan food only” so that people can bring their own food instead.

Obviously won’t harm me to go meat free for a lunch or dinner, I’d be very warily for the next event and plan accordingly, eg bring cold meat from home to have with the “provided lunch”

It's surprising that so many people seem to think vegetarian and vegan food is all so unpalatable that they need to have meat.

In my experience it because these people aren’t very good cooks. I’m sure they’ll all say they are though. 😅