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

I wouldn't like that, never mind my kid! No, you are not wrong.

I have emailed them to ask if there is anything they can do.

It doesn't make them wrong or weird.

As unsophisticated means "lacking worldly experience, social ease, complex development, or cultural refinement" it does make them a little unsophisticated if they don't have social ease in a refined cultural setting because they lack experience of the world of food.

🙈🙈🙈🙈

So only those with a wide culinary palette can be sophisticated? I’m sure you are imagining us all like Onslow from Keeping Up Appearances 🤣🤣

In fact I could argue that apparently being genuinely unable to understand what someone can eat if they don’t like garlic or how it is physically possible to cook from scratch without garlic (as if that is a compulsory element rather than a common or preferred one) shows a certain lack of knowledge.

I can go into refined cultural settings (and do) and fit in fine. I am an intelligent person who is capable of deep conversation on any number of subjects. Having a restricted diet does not make me socially unaware. If anything my AUDHD has made me hyper aware of how to fit in when I need to.

Outside of a formal meal, it couldn’t matter less what my tastes are unless someone is monitoring me. And for a formal meal then i would expect some wiggle room to cater for food requirements and allergies.

But that attitude is exactly what is wrong with some self styled ‘foodies’ - thank you for succinctly demonstrating this.

Sorry, you can't have it both ways.

Food is just food. It has no intrinsic social qualities. Weird and wanky are absolutely loaded terms that equate to the people culturally associated with the food.

There is absolutely nothing weird or wanky about tapioca, garlic or seaweed themselves. They are absolutely standard foods in many cultures.

So you are being pretty weasely to blatantly mock other people's food choices but hide your own because you know it's unpleasant to have people mocking yours.

So only those with a wide culinary palette can be sophisticated?

No, sophistication is not a black and white concept.

Which is why I wrote "a little unsophisticated."

Having an unsophisticated palette is obviously one element of unsophistication, like having no ear for music, no taste in art, no love of travel or language.

My kids would not eat this and neither would I tbh where is the veg option

Black garlic polenta crackers

Seaweed tapioca crackers

Parmesan churros, tomato and Parmesan sauce

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

And desserts

Parmesan isn't vegetarian and crackers and ribbons of pumpkin isn't a meal

It doesn't have to. If OP calls them, they will very likely accommodate children with limited diet due to additional needs, medical reasons etc.

@SusanSHelit None of it is a meal. It's a series of snacks and canapés.

The Parmesan dish is marked (V). Vegetarian Parmesan exists.

Let us know what the response is. Hopefully it can get sorted so you can all enjoy the night including the food.

The Parmesan dish is marked (V). Vegetarian Parmesan exists.

The V marking means very little. There's no quality control on its use and it's frequently misapplied.

There's vegetarian parmesan-style cheese, there's no vegetarian Parmesan. It's a protected name, applied only to a specific recipe (including animal rennet) made in a specific region.

A lot of mumsnetters hate travel

This thread is batshit.
It's burgers. Chocolate mousse. Cookies. Milk.

But with all these references to "wide culinary palette" you'd think the menu was awash with sweetbreads and caviar.

From most of the posts, I don't actually think it's about fussy eating either. It's more about reading comprehension and not seeing what the menu is actually saying behind the faux-fancy language. If it said "mini burgers" then I suspect the response would be quite different.