Work Christmas Party Menu

[Laureatus]

Hi everyone! Bit of a silly question, but I need to make menu choices for my work Christmas party; but we haven't told anyone I'm pregnant yet. I'm struggling with the starter options:

goats cheese and fig salad (I presume this will be white-rind goats cheese, so should avoid)

smoked trout rilette with salmon carpaccio (rilette is like paté and carpaccio is raw, so think I need to avoid)

ham hock terrine (again I think this falls within pâté so I'll need to avoid)

Main should be fine as I'll have turkey - really want the beef Wellington but I guess it'll be gorgeously pink!

Should I order the salad and just leave the cheese? Or have no starter? I've been struggling with being incredibly hungry so I feel like I'll need it! Or shall I speak to someone on the social committee in confidence? I need to choose by Wednesday next week. Eek!

No issue with ham hock. Even the pate risks are tiny.

In fact, the risks with all of the food stuff is so tiny in the uk I really wouldn’t worry

I'd go for the salad and just mush up the cheese to look like i've eaten some. but i also couldn't stomach any type is pate

I’d do the goats cheese one, least worrying and you could cut the rind off (unlikely to have the rind I reckon)

I ate pate and medium cooked steaks in all 4 of my pregnancies. Risks are minimal.

The ham would be cooked before it’s made into the terreine, so would be fine.

@Laureatus I have the same issue. Turkey sounds like a safe main. Are they the only starter options, no soup?

Are you in the U.K.? If yes refer only to the NHS guidelines and stay off the internet because there’s a lot of American advice out there where food standards are totally different. Presuming you are British then the fish option is fine. You can eat smoked fish and you can eat raw fish if it’s been frozen first, which it always is in the U.K. I would presume goats cheese is a no as it’s likely to be unpasteurised. You should avoid the pate.

Link here:
www.nhs.uk/pregnancy/keeping-well/foods-to-avoid/

To be honest you would be fine eating any of that

I really wouldn't worry about any of those personally! For reference, salad is one of the main offenders for listeria. Pick what you want and enjoy your meal.

So you should be fine with the ham hock I think …. It’s the liver in pate which is an issue because of the high Vitamin A content. However I wouldn’t worry about this too much? Closer to the time you can tell them (or even just contact the venue directly if you still don’t want to tell your employer) and I’m quite sure it will be possible to accommodate a change/special request.

We’re going out to dinner tomorrow and just spoke to the restaurant as I’m pregnant and have gestational diabetes and literally couldn’t eat any of the starters on the menu - they are going to make me a modified version of one of their dishes and were very helpful/accommodating.

No advice but just to say, I wouldn’t worry about anyone scrutinising your choices. At my wedding a friend- who I knew was trying for a baby and who had gotten married the year before- rang me very apologetic three days before and asked if she could change her goats cheese starter to something else as she had recently had food poisoning from goats cheese and couldn’t face it. I said sure, no worries and didn’t even think about it. It was only when she revealed she was pregnant with the 12 week scan the next month that the penny dropped 😂 I felt like a right donut.

Trout pate isn’t the same as liver pate and smoked salmon js also absolutely fine, you’d be fine with the ham hock as well. Tbh I’d eat any but I’m on my second and I read Emily Oster during my first too which basically explained how minute the chances are of being ill from any of this stuff. Cheese is life 😂

I ate rare steak/unpasteurised cheese/pate/shellfish etc the whole way through pregnancy. You're more likely to get hit by a bus than have a problem with any of the things on that menu. The risk is literally miniscule.

Cheese is life 😂

Also this.

Thanks everyone; personally I'd rather follow the guidance fully if I can like I did last time, hence checking. I know the risks are minimal. I also choose not to drink at all when I know a glass here or there would be fine. I'll just choose one and hopefully can change it once the news it out. Thanks!

@LakeShoreD UK offshore so our health service follows the NHS. I have only referred to the NHS guidelines. It's not my first pregnancy either 🙂 my reading was that fish pate (rilette) is also to be avoided, although they only list it in the meats section, it does say 'all pâtés, so I understood it to include tureen?). I presumed the salmon would have to be frozen as it is in 'proper UK', but just amn't totally sure.

@HoneyPea that's it, no soup!

@TrampolineForMrKite aww thanks, that's cute! My trouble is I'd need to ask for a completely different starter from what I understand. Everyone should know by the dinner date but if I can just eat one of these comfortably, I'd rather not change.

@Laureatus I'm the same although I do have a soup option as well as blue cheese tart, smoked salmon or chicken terrine. I think smoked salmon should be ok but may go with the soup just to be safe (although I really don't like cinnamon which is in it!)

I meant I'm the same about following the advice. Although everywhere you look says something different!!!'

@HoneyPea ah yes I see! Smoked salmon is definitely fine. On my menu it's not smoked salmon but salmon carpaccio (raw) which I'd rather avoid but is probably ok!

None of these are vegan options which would be much safer overall… can you just pretend you’ve gone vegan and see what the options for that are like? 😂

I don't think terrine is pâté - it'll be ham and other delicious things squished together into a mould, then cut into slices. I'd go with that :)

I'd eat any of those, goats cheese is mostly pasteurised so fine - check with the restaurant if concerned. I ate pate throughout pregnancy, as I've never had food poisoning in nearly 50 years of eating pate, I don't think it's risky in the U.K.! Keeping hot food warm is a far higher risk eg buffets. I've had food poisoning 3 times in my life, all 3 times commercial buffets, needless to say I avoid!

Pate/liver are contraindicated during pregnancy because of the vitamin A. Therefore a fish (not liver) pate or a ham hock terrine will be fine.
Ham terrine is pressed pieces of cooked ham. No pregnancy risk.

Enjoy your turkey :)

Oh it’s the word pate throwing you off! I’d interpret the guidelines exactly as they are written- that the meat section applies only to meat. The guidelines say smoked trout is fine and it’s smoked trout. I’d personally eat it without a second thought. Following the same logic I also would not avoid mushroom pate, despite the fact it’s called a pate. If U.K. food standards still apply where you are then the salmon if served raw will definitely have been frozen because it’s the law.

But if you’re that worried about it then why not get the goats cheese option and eat only the salad. No point stressing about a work Xmas do! Or you could say you’ve gone vegan and ask for an alternative?

@LakeShoreD yeah it's just the NHS guidelines under the meat section says all pates including vegetarian pate, so it's not just because of the liver content!

If I say I'm vegan I can't have the main I want 🤣

Anyway, I'm going to see what my husband reckons as it's his baby too, and as I said I'll prob just ask closer the time if I can have a soup or something.

I make ham hock terrine every year for Christmas. It's a pork knuckle, salted for weeks, then cooked for about 8 hours. The joint is then stripped for the meat and the meat is set in gelatine in the fridge. It's definitely not a kind of pate and carries no risk of listeria. It's been cooked for longer than the bloody turkey!