To think that this menu isn’t suitable for children?

[Mummyofabear]

A few months ago I booked to take my children to Matilda in Concert at the Royal Albert Hall this month (October), I had to book hospitality tickets because those were the only tickets left at the time of booking. And then today have been sent an email with the hospitality details and this is the menu! They don’t have a separate children’s menu either even though Matilda is a family event! AIBU to think this menu isn’t suitable for children? My children have autism and are very fussy so the only thing that they will eat on this menu will be the desserts but even then I don’t think there’s much on this menu that most neurotypical children would eat either? In my opinion it’s not suitable for families or children even though it’s supposed to be a family event!

I’ve copied and pasted the menu below incase the image doesn’t work:

Snacks (served pre-show):
Black garlic polenta crackers

Seaweed tapioca crackers

Canapés (served pre-show):
Glazed beef skewer, chimichurri

Parmesan churros, tomato and Parmesan sauce (V)

Cold Bowl (served pre-show):

Pumpkin seed houmous, maple-roast pumpkin, pomegranate, pickled pumpkin ribbons, mint oil

Sliders (served pre-show):
28-day dry-aged beef patty, crispy bacon, tarragon and chive aioli, confit garlic,
served with potato hash puffs, truffle mayo

Moroccan-Spiced lamb slider, grilled onions, sumac mayonnaise & pickled cucumber,
served with buffalo cauliflower

Dessert canapés (served during the interval):
Mango, passion fruit, coconut pavlova

Millionaire's chocolate mousse, salted caramel, vanilla sablé

Milk and Cookies

Drinks:

Trebbiano, Rubicone, Novità
Sangiovese, Rubicone, Novità
Estrella Galicia 4.7%
Ginger bitters (soft cocktail)
Sparkling mineral water
Still mineral water

The OP said £250.

My kids would be looking for the goujons and diet coke. It's not ideal, I agree

Did you miss the bit about not eating garlic?

If the mango and passionfruit was just the fruit rather than part of the coconut pavlova then fine (I can’t work it out!).

I can guarantee that everything else will just taste of garlic.

You’d pay £250 for goujons and Diet Coke??

So none of it will be seasoned with pepper or any other ‘flavourful’ ingredient?

I like garlic, but I certainly don’t put garlic in any roast that I make.

I only cook a roast at Christmas, due to cost, but there’s no garlic in it!

All these people commenting ‘oh it’s just fancy burgers and cheesy chips and desserts’. What a life and what a luxury. May you never know neurodivergence. How hard it is it to have a simple inclusive option? Don’t pick it if you don’t want it. Job done.

Ok so that rules out the black garlic crackers and the garlic confit element of the slider (which sounds like it could be easily removed).
Again though, the thread wasn’t about you and your dietary preferences. The OP said it wasn’t suitable for ‘children’. Plenty of children do like garlic. I’d say that based on the 100s of kids I know and have worked with, foods like garlic bread/lasagne etc are pretty common.
As you acknowledged upthread, there is nothing that could be served that would suit everyone. The menu provides a wide variety of different flavours, with very minimal ‘spice’. The only taste not really catered for is someone who likes plain foods, and I’m sure they’d be willing to accommodate specific food preferences if asked.

What @BugJuicesaid 👌🏼

But what would be a single inclusive option? Unless it was ryvita, apples and fromage frais then it wouldn’t be inclusive of my autistic son. What single option would you suggest that is ‘inclusive’?

Out of interest, OP, what do you think would be an acceptable offer for children?

That’s not spice though? It’s flavour.

Exactly. There is no single option that every child would eat.

all the research says neurodivergence is a brain difference that has evolved over time. Like we have different heights and hair colours, we have different brain types. If neurodivergent people were all really that fussy, they would have starved and their genes wouldn’t have been passed on. I think it’s very disrespectful and narrow minded to say all neurodivergent children are fussy and won’t eat anything. Evolution doesn’t work like this.

Exactly. It’s perfectly normal food for humans. Kids shouldn’t eat differently to adults.

My ARFID ass would only be turning up to the show 🤣

This kind of thing is to be expected with hospitality tbh. I’d say skip it but sounds like you’ve paid a lot

Why would the pumpkin cold bowl taste of garlic? Or the seaweed crackers? Or the chocolate mousse? Or the milk and cookies? Or anything except the garlic confit and the black garlic crackers?

I do agree with this. It's much easier to just call the venue and 9 times out of 10, they will offer something suitable to the persons dietary needs.

At one hospitality place to watch football, they learned that my son's favourite 'safe' food is pizza and they absolutely plied him with pizza and treat him like a king. They were wonderful with him and couldn't do enough for him.

No it is actually a spice and one which I can taste a mile off

I think in the uk we make too much of a thing around children’s menus, and child friendly foods, children don’t need a separate menu, just smaller portion sizes.

Sounds good. My wee one would love ryvita apples and yogurt as these are all
bland so seems like with ten seconds thought there are already alternatives that would work!

Polenta is ground up corn. Most children eat sweetcorn and popcorn. As a cracker it's going to be close to popcorn in taste, but flatter - not a sloppy polenta porridge type dish.

Seaweed is vaguely salty. It's a very mild flavour. Ordinary ready-salted crisps would be a stronger taste. The reason tapioca flour is a very common thickener in things like yoghurt is precisely because it tastes of nothing. And it's certainly not an ingredient most people don't eat. Most people eat it all the time, but haven't read the ingredients list to know it's there.

Glazed beef skewer will almost certainly be a mild BBQ type glaze. Chimichurri is similar to pesto, but with parsley instead of basil. Does contain a small amount of chilli but it's a dip - they don't like it, they don't dip.

Parmesan is not something most people would consider strong. And it's not going to be used in vast quantities.

Pomegranate is so "poncy" my mother used to be given it as a snack when she was a child in a working class household in Essex in the 1950s. Looks pretty, tastes of very little. Easy to eat around if they don't like it, as are the pumpkin strips.

Sumac is a dried, ground up berry. Tastes slightly citrus. Not 'hot' in any way.

And if you're objecting to chocolate and cream as substances not widely popular with children, I really don't know what to say to you. Have you met any children? Ever? Of course you'll find a few outliers - I didn't eat cream as a child, and still don't, because I'm allergic to dairy - but for a menu with mass appeal they're a good choice. Most people do like them.

You think every single autistic kid would eat that? Thats literally the only thing he eats, so no other option would be inclusive for him.

Not all neurodivergent people are fussy eaters, though, so it's stupid to say "may you never know neurodivergence" - some of us already do.

Yes, arfid is an issue for some, but not all ND kids have a restricted diet.

I was talking about the ‘flavourful ingredients’ you referred to. They’re all spices?