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.

Haha this is the terrifying food the OP is objecting to:

https://www.sustainability-centre.org/beech-cafe.html

Wow, that looks like an amazing place for a school residential

The only issue I would have with this is that now my DS is older, he really does like a lot of protein to fill him up, and isn’t keen on beans/lentils etc! He now often asks what meat we’re having for tea each night 🤣 Eggs work to a certain extent yes, but not sure what I would feed him for a week of activities/being busy all day, that would keep him full up.

The level of victimhood for going without meat or fish for five days is astonishing!

The first thing anyone organising a residential trip for children knows is that you need to keep them well fed and not hungryor your life will be miserable They'll know what to do.

Why should they 'suck it up'? A minority is yet again being allowed to dictate to the majority because it is on the 'right' side of the trendy views. Maybe if all the parents of the Year 6 non-vegetarians decided not to send their children on this trip the school might put their interests first and find a location that will cater for everyone rather than just one.

The "fake meat/UPF" argument is a straw man.
These days a lot of cafes etc do use this stuff as an easy way to provide a meat free option but it isn't a major part of the diet of any of the vegetarians I know, any more than beef burgers feature heavily in mine. Like many omnivorous people, I have the odd McDonald's meal. My vegetarian SIL likes a Quorn burger once in a while. But neither of us lives on those kind of things and they're certainly not compulsory! People have eaten meat free diets for thousands of years and all over the world - what do people think they ate before the current fashion for meat substitutes began?
Most of my veggie friends and family don't even want food that looks like meat and complain about "lazy" cafes and restaurants that offer it as their only vegetarian option. I think some people do adopt a meat free diet without really understanding it or having much by the way of cooking skills so just carry on cooking the same kind of food with substitutes but they don't, in my experience at least, represent the majority of vegetarians or vegans. And I would certainly expect any kind of establishment that serves only vegetarian* *meals to have a decent and varied menu.
I'd also hazard a guess that this isn't the first group of largely omnivorous kids they hosted so they probably have some idea what works and what doesn't. They'd soon go out of business if it was as miserable as some are suggesting. A meat free diet isn't suitable for everyone of course but for the vast majority it will be fine, especially for such a short time. Who knows, some of the kids might even come home with new tastes?

Well that makes a change from decades of veggies and vegans being served dry bread and wilted salad as an afterthought with a side order of being mocked.

It would depend on the meals themselves for me.

No meat but fake quorn crap? Fake cheese? No

A proper veggie Indian curry? Yes.

People just don’t get it

its not about sicking up eating vegan/veggie for 5 for 5 days, it’s about having something imposed on you, it’s about having choice taken away from you

as the op said if they went somewhere that provided meat only dishes they would be expected to still provide for vegan/veggie

personally I would be up to not letting my child attend

I don't think they have thought this out with young children.

Agreed.

My son would not enjoy this at all.

As adults, we wouldn't pay for a holiday knowing the hotel restaurant doesn't cater for our dietary likes/needs.

You are being absolutely ridiculous.
If they weren't a "vegetarian" venue, but your child happened to have meals that didn't have meat in, would you still be kicking off? Let's say they served jacket potatoes with beans, scrambled eggs on toast, veggie sausages and chips, veggie pasta, roast dinner with nut roast. Cheese sandwiches for lunch, cereal for breakfast? It's just because they've labelled themselves as veggie you've got an issue.
You're really going to kick up a fuss because your child won't have the option of meat as well as a full menu they can eat with no exclusions?
I could understand if there were no veggie options meaning veggie children would either starve or be forced to eat something they cant have. But this is a complete non issue.

Unless your child eats meat several times a day, every day (which is objectively unhealthy and bad for the environment), it’s likely to affect less than a handful of meals across the residential?

Same with offering meat at lunch on fewer days at school? If you are keen that your child has meat those days, provide it for dinner?

Does your child eat pizza? Pasta with tomato sauce? Jacket potato with beans? Assuming so, they will survive 5 days without meat. I would be thrilled if our school chose a venue like this, its forward thinking and reflects what we should all do more of.

They have found a place that caters for everyone, can't you see that?

it’s about having choice taken away from you

most vegetarians have this all the time. It is nice that they aren't the ones making all the "compromises" this time. Usually there is a lovely big menu and one vegetarian/vegan option. That is it. That is having choice taken away from you. Not one 5 day trip.

If op and the other "can't live without meat die hard parents" don't like it - they can withdraw their precious children and they can go to school for a week instead.

Your child is an omnivore. They are being offered food that is within the selection of food they will eat. You have no grounds for complaint.

however, the issue that all these groups who push for vegetarian or vegan only catering often seem to miss is that of food allergies. My DD would love to be vegetarian, but is allergic to soy, nuts, spinach and celery and it is almost impossible for her to find vegetarian or vegan food that doesn't contain at least one of those ingredients.

looked it up the Sustainability Centre in the South Downs looks amazing (and I assume is about teaching them about the sustainability goals etc which is vital education for the future)

so breakfast looks to be your standard continental breakfast cereals/toast/pastries

I assume it is vegetarian because of cost that if you are looking to have a model based on sustainability you cannot and shouldn’t have cheap cuts of meat/processed food - so it is easier just not to have it

it looks an amazing learning experience for them

Being veggie for 5 days - as long as it's not the nut cutlets tasteless variety - will be fine and realistically you cannot demand that a vegan/vegetarian eat meat.
As to the rest, why go to a working farm rearing animals for meat if meat is not the Sustainablilty Centre's ethos? Mind, once you start asking vegans/vegetarians what the effects of everyone on the planet giving up meat (and dairy) completely would be it is quite fun watching them squirm - once you have pointed out that an entirely vegan planet would have no use for any animals, currently domesticated animals cannot be returned to the wild, and that we would have to hunt down every creature that attacked plants. I always ask if they have ever seen an Indian cow sanctuary, too.

Dramatic much!

If you sign your child up go on a group residential you are signing up to limited choices - over activities, over meals, over use of mobile phones, over bedtimes etc etc

You are free to keep them at home and cater to their every whim so you never restrict their choices. I assume you offer them extensive menu every night for them to have unfettered choice of what they eat for dinner?

I'm a teacher and I've done a billion residentials.

Food is always an issue. So many kids are now accustomed to eating only what they like and there are always a good few moans at mealtimes.

I've been to places with great food, and some with not so great food and it doesn't really make a difference. Someone has always got something to say.
My attitude is that kids should be willing to try everything and show respect for different menus and the people who prepared them.

I find it difficult to understand why OP would make such a big deal of this. It's five days, I'm sure the food will be more than adequate and there will be so many other things going on, so many activities and so much excitement that it's not really a big deal. The food is not really the focus of the residential.

Are you anxious about your DC going away and perhaps fixating on the diet?

OP, if your child was on a carnivore diet then you would have a valid point.
Your child is not so you don’t.
I try to eat carnivore and YABU.

My daughters have had the reverse experience, they are vegan as were many of the children at their school ( who were vegan or vegetarian) and on their residential every evening meal was fake meat sausages (catering staff not sure if they were vegan)so my kids couldn'te eat as they were rank. Lunch was egg sandwiches (not vegan obviously). Breakfast was also limited fake meat sauages, eggs, toast or cereal (with no vegan milk provided). Often the meat eaters also went for the toast and sausages so many veggies missed out.

They survived ( as had packed snacks) but the cost of the trip was outrageous, especially as there was little they could eat despite the company making claims about their fantastic menus and that there would be heaps of food for large appetites for young people who had been doing activities all day. We were even given a form outlining food preferences. Even the meat eaters had a poor offering and not enough food provided even for small portions. The company run trips for the majority of schools in the county and beyond - must rake in a fortune.

Don't be that person, OP. Your child will be fine. There are plenty of delicious meals they'll enjoy there, I'm sure.