School residential vegetarian/vegan only

[vgp1234]

My child had really been looking forward to their year 6 residential, but a new head has joined and had changed the format somewhat.

They have now booked a Sustainability Centre in Hampshire, which only caters for vegetarians and vegans. My child is not a vegetarian or vegan, and across the cohort of year 5 and 6 only one child is vegetarian.

While I appreciate that there is a view that they can go 5 days without meat and they should just suck it up, I find it incredibly frustrating that you would not ask a vegetarian or vegan child to suck it up and eat meat for 5 days. So I don't understand why we do not treat both dietary preferences with equal measure.

The new head is very keen on government guidance, and has changed our lunch menu to comply with the current guidance for school lunches which is that 3 days should include meat or fish (previously we had a meat and vegetarian/vegan option every day). However it seems this guidance only applies on the school site, so you can disregard it at a residential. While they are within their rights to do this, it does seem like quite a contradiction.

I have tried speaking to the Sustainability centre directly but they were very inflexible and just stated it is a against their ethos (may I add that they also offer a day trip at a cost to visit a working farm, who rear animals for meat, so their ethos does not run all that deep). This really goes against my ethos as not only do I think you should treat all groups equally, I can't help but feel that this is forcing their ideas on children verses allowing them free choice and the ability to hear both viewpoints (meat is unsustainable/sustainable) and make their own decision.

In all honesty I'm quite perplexed as to why the school choose the venue when it would clearly be controversial, as this is quite a personal choice for parents and the cohort has so few in it that have this dietary preference.

I'm sure some people will not agree with me, and I am open to your opinions as I'm a big believer in hearing both sides of the argument and our ability to think critically for ourselves and not be told what to think (I want this for my child too).

I do plan to send the school an email initially and request that they provide a rounded menu including meat. But I'd really appreciate any advice on how to word this appropriately as I'm quite upset by it, and I'd prefer to send a well worded email than an emotional one.

I don't want to be rude but this genuinely makes me question your intelligence.

People usually go vegetarian because they believe it is morally wrong to kill an animal so we can eat it. So if you ask a vegetarian child to eat meat you're asking them to do something they think is morally wrong. If you ask a meat eating child to eat a meal without meat you are not asking them to do something they think is morally wrong. It's quite simple?

Does your child eat chips, macaroni cheese, cereal, beans on toast? Then they already eat vegetarian food.

If you want your child to consider all sides and decide for themselves then this is an opportunity to do that. Are you going to explain/discuss why some people are vegetarian or vegan and let them form their own opinion?

Does having a diet polarized to either meat or vegetarianism somehow make you lose the capability to type in sentences? Not that it is not amusing

Voted you are being unreasonable before even reading, because how could this ever possibly be a problem? Read your post and yep, wildly unreasonable. Good on the Head for making a positive decision.

Ablondiebutagoody · Today 10:35

I agree with you. Eating together is one of the highlights of this kind of trip but instead of that it will be 3 meals per day of joyless veggie slop.

That says so much about your lack of imagination, limited lifestyle choices and bad cooking.

@InMyShowgirlEra
please stop feeding the goady troll! Just report and ignore.

Send him with loads of meat based snacks in his luggage - jerky etc. I think it’s ridiculous to be honest. I can’t be arsed to check the guidance but I’m fairly certain the eat well plate (still used in most schools) contains protein as a major food group. I would be asking how they intend to ensure the children have a balanced diet. There’s more to being vegetarian than just omitting meat. It has to be replaced with enough protein (I’m not arguing that this ain’t possible as obviously it is) but I would be concerned that it wasn’t being done effectively.

I’ve nothing against vegetarianism and I don’t eat much meat to be honest but I do know that proper nutrition is important especially on a very physically exerting few days for the children.

my god I wish I had as much free time and available headspace as you do! Pick your battles, you're being silly.

The child can stay at home then. That is also a choice.

You're right that most of the almond and oat milks are full of additives - I like oat milk and only have Oatly now: it's only oats, water and salt ( grey packet). I get it delivered from Amazon because Sainsburys don't do it anymore and only do stuff with additives. It's cheaper from Amazon too.
Vegetarian cheese is mostly horrible. Get your DH to find ordinary cheeses that don't have rennet - lots don't now. I'm lactose intolerant but I'm OK with hard cheeses (they are low lactose, apparently).

To suddenly eat all vegetarian food for 5 days in a row may well upset tummies...standby for green apple quick step or the opposite. Oh and plenty of wind.

It is very easy to eat a protein filled diet as a vegetarian.

Is there a sample menu op it will probably be things like pasta and tomato sauce, baked potatoes, pizza, bean chilli and rice all served separately so fussy ones can have plain pasta etc.
If centre used to kids groups they will know what works.
Last thing staff want is to be dealing with hungry moaning kids so will make food that suits.
They might use food grown at the project or get kids making own lunches all part of the experience.

Would you get a grip! Vegetarians can't eat meat for a few days.

There's no reason why a vegan diet should include UPF. I've been vegan for years and rarely touch it - we don't all live on meat substitutes!

As long as your child will eat what's on the menu there's no reason to be concerned. As a meat eater I wouldn't mind eating vegetarian and vegan foods for a few days as there are plenty of amazing dishes that are meat free.

Same. Very rare for me to eat a meat substitute.

Yes, there's quite a lot of ignorance about nutrition on this thread.

as some neurodiverse children, children with allergies and other children with limited diets would be more likely to struggle when food options become more limited

But surely if your child already has a limited diet, you discuss this ahead of the trip, and see if there's a way of solving this? And I'm not sure why you think a vegetarian diet can't cater for allergies in the same way as a meat-eating diet can?

As a cub leader, we will always cater for children with allergies. We will also try to cater for neurodiverse children where possible, or if we can't, we allow them to bring their own food. We had a child who would only eat Smiley Faces, hula hoops, and bananas. So the child brought the smiley faces and hula hoops with him, and we provided plenty of bananas. As it happened, he ate far more than that when sitting with other children, although I appreciate this will not always happen. His mum was stunned.

What we don't really cater for is fussy eaters - although we will always offer a quick sandwich if the child is not eating much at all.

My point is, centres that offer residentials for children will be used to working round any issues with food. Including centres that offer only vegetarian food.

I think going to this type of place IS part of hearing 'both sides'. If you feed your child meat at home how do they ever experience a meat-free lifestyle?

My only concern would be what the actual menu is because let's face it, there are vegan/vegetarian menus that just wouldn't also be child-friendly. There's a difference between a focus on sustainability and a meat-free menu, and running off so far in that direction that it becomes pointless.

And . . . even if they did get meat it might not be burgers?! Or it could be vegetable or mushroom burgers?! Must we now serve every food ever eaten lest we be accused of exclusion?!

I'm not vegan but about 80% of what I eat and cook is vegetarian or vegan without using "meat" substitutes.

I do wonder, do all the apparently compulsory carnivores never eat in Indian, Malaysian, Thai, Chinese or even Italian restaurants? The menus in all of them will be awash with vegetarian and vegan food which are just standard cooking.

I think ND children & children with limited diets would in all likeliness struggle whatever’s on the menu if it’s not their usual.

Crikey. It’s giving those mums who pushed McDonald’s through the school gates because of Jamie Oliver.