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.

You can't be so narrow minded to think that a meat eater eating a vegetarian option is the same as a vegetarian eating meat, surely? I eat meat, I'm quite fussy with veg too so a lot of vegetarian options would not appeal to me but it doesn't compare to what it would be like for a vegetarian to eat meat. I imagine if a vegetarian was made to eat meat they would feel the way a meat eater would if they were to slaughter and eat a beloved pet, maybe even as bad as how someone would feel if they were forced into cannibalism.

“I’d let my displeasure be known” 🙄🙄

Bless you for thinking anyone would govern a flying fuck 😆😆

OP are you on the wind up?!

Thats like saying having an alcohol free work event is ‘the same’ as forcing abstainers to drink. Or smoke free pubs are ‘the same’ as making non smokers smoke?!

I am not vegetarian but I don't see the need to eat meat every day and we often have vegetarian meals. Sweet potato, aubergine and butternut squash all feature in our meals as substitutes to meat. DH and I are on the last night of a long weekend away and we have left DD21 at home; DH is out for a work meal on Tuesday so I suspect that DD and I will have the leftovers of a vegetarian meal she has had in our absence.

I am involved with young people in a church setting and I have catered for groups of young people over the years. I long ago chose the vegetarian option for those meals. Margarita pizza caters for anyone without allergies and macaroni cheese or a tomato based pasta covers most options (I made the pasta dishes with gluten free pasta when I knew I had a coeliac joining us). I put out bowls of cherry tomatoes and carrot sticks for those who wanted them and I figured that it was one meal of the 21 in a week that they were eating. For a number of them, my home cooked vegetarian meal is healthier than the UPF they would eat at home.

🤣🤣🤣 yes we're all pale and wasting away in darkened rooms because we're too weak to go outside! Suggest you look up vegan weight lifters.

Suggest you read my other replies on this thread and then think about whether your response is valid.

My kids wouldn’t have noticed if I didn’t mention it 🤷‍♀️

Are you the poster who fainted after not eating meat for a few days? I'm not going to search through the thread to read all your posts because (a) your post at 27/09/2025 15:16 is ridiculous and (b) if you were the fainting poster that reaction is so far, far, far from normal that it's irrelevant to this discussion.

Are you the poster who fainted after not eating meat for a few days? I'm not going to search through the thread to read all your posts because (a) your post at 27/09/2025 15:16 is ridiculous and (b) if you were the fainting poster that reaction is so far, far, far from normal that it's irrelevant to this discussion.

So do all vegetarians have to live in bungalows or flats? I had no idea.

😁

This is so ridiculous. I haven’t eaten meat for over 25 years and I live in a townhouse.

(Obviously on each landing we have little snack boxes with hummus and lentils so we can grab a quick energy boost if we need to loo or anything)

I do remember telling someone I was veggy and them very solemnly informing me of you didn’t eat any kind of meat for 4 years you’d just die. Didn’t have the heart to explain I was 10 years beyond that peculiar prognosis….

A GP told me at 16 I'd be dead by 30 if I went vegan. I did of course....30 years later.
I can't believe people are trotting out this crap still.

Vegan 23 years.
I can bench press my own bodyweight. No health issues whatsoever.

I sometimes wonder if some of the posters here ever went to school when I read some of the utter nonsense spouted.

Thanks for your view.
I'm not a fainting poster.
Had you read other posts, you would have discovered that I've also been known to request sample menus for omnivores, diabetics, gluten-free etc in my line of work.

Course it is you are forcing them to omit a food group they would usually eat the principal is the same. Unless it’s an allergy you forcing a diet preference on to someone.

It still isn't the same from a moral or ethical point of view.

its a choice nothing more nothing less. One is not more important than the other

Bless.

What because I have a different opinion to you?

My point simply was that making a meat eating person follow a vegan/veg diet is the same as making a vegan/ vegetarian eating meat in PRINCIPLE its going against someone’s wishes.

I am fully away of introducing a new food to someone who has never had ie someone who follows a vegan diet having dairy could lead to digestive issues. My point simply was it is still it’s having dietary choice forced on you.

All 3 diets are CHOICE we make for our own reasons whether that be ethical/moral/health. All 3 deserve the same respect.

Your thought process is totally flawed.
If you honestly don't see a difference between an ethical belief and a dietry choice then no explanation is going to get through to you.
Thankfully the vast majority (including legislators) are able to comprehend the difference.

What because I have a different opinion to you?

My point simply was that making a meat eating person follow a vegan/veg diet is the same as making a vegan/ vegetarian eating meat in PRINCIPLE its going against someone’s wishes.

It’s nothing to do with a difference in opinion. You are factually incorrect.

First world problem. He’ll be fine