No sausages or ham sandwiches at Christmas party

[MaggieW]

Help, I need some perspective on this please.

DD, Y3, and her table have had to plan what they want to have to eat at their table for the class Christmas party next week. Five out of six children wanted ham sandwiches and the little party sausages, but the teacher said that these weren't allowed because there is a Muslim girl also at the table and she can't eat pork. I am quite taken aback by this as I would have thought if you can't eat something for some reason you don't, but it shouldn't prevent the others from having something they would like. In previous years there's been no restriction at all. What do others think please?

Last year a London borough sent an email to all its employees telling them that they weren't going to serve refreshments in meetings during ramadan. There was an outcry and when they actually asked their muslim staff the majority thought it was a daft idea as they weren't offended by others eating and drinking in front of them during the day. PC gone mad I say I think this sort of thing causes more problems than it solves what do we do next not have any meat products at a xmas party because they are vegetarians?.

I am facing a similar although not identical issue but from the other side of things.
My dd's Christmas party menu consists of cocktail sausages, cheese cubes and hula hoops.
Our problem is that my daughter is a vegetarian so will not be able to eat the sausages. Not a big deal as she will still have the cheese and the hula hoops.
My problem with it is:
a)This is the second year this teacher has taught my daughter. She knows she is a vegetarian. She had a choice of heaps of foods and chose these ones for her class. Other classes, with no vegetarians, are having meat free snacks.
b)I am the one setting up the snacks so I will have to set out 114 cocktail sausages. I will sound precious and get flamed for this but I am physically repulsed by meat. I will do it as I have no desire to make a fuss but that will be me for the rest of the day - Yeuch!
I agreee the ops teacher has made a strange choice by offering a choice and then removing a choice, and by singling someone out because of it. She could easily have hosted a vegetarian party without anyone noticing or even thinking about it...as could my dd's teacher!

Ha ha! Quite an amusing cross post Mumzy!

Goodness mumzy, did you say "pc gone mad I say" for real then? Excellent .

Agree with MrsDaffodil.

And of course you can come to dinner Jade .

Fresh veggie summer rolls with chilli sauce follwed by wild mushroom lasagne, ok?

Can I come too please? Not a vegetarian but fresh veggie summer rolls with chilli sauce follwed by wild mushroom lasagne sounds fantastic!!

I don't think pork should be banned from the table and I doubt the parents in question have asked for it to be, but if the children are working together to plan a menu for them all to share it is reasonable that they make choices they can all share. e.g if one didn't like brown bread they might all agree to have white.

PC gone mad!! Is the school also making sure everything is nut free in case of nut allergy sufferers, and dairy free for those that are allergic to dairy, oh and gluten free for the coeliacs. And no E numbers for the hyperactive

The menu plan is only within a table of six, isn't it? So yes, I would think that if the exercise is to be plan a shared menu then if there is a dairy-free child on a neighbouring table they should be thinking of non-diary things to eat within that small group.

Two "PC gone mad" already.

Jolly good work.

Two "PC gone mad" already.

Jolly good work.

We have a high percentage of muslim children in our school. We still allow ham/pork food products at the parties. Likewise we have children on Halal diets and non Halal food is present. And we have vegetarian children - again meat products are allowed.

So long as it is clear what is what and there are alternatives for those with restictions on their diet, then I cannot see why these foods should be restricted.

No worries, MrsDaffodil, will stick your name on the list

Hulababy, I quite agree, except for this bit "DD, Y3, and her table have had to plan what they want to have to eat at their table for the class Christmas party next week"

This is where I took that it was a small group planning what to eat within just that small group. And I do think that it sounds like the girls had not adequately considered all the people in their group.

Mumzy - are you referring to Tower Hamlets in 2008?

Because the reports vary wildly as to the status of the suggestion that courtesy be shown by not eating in front of fasting colleagues to explaining that part of the problem was that 'Iftar' packs were supplied so that Muslim Cllrs attending evening meetings could eat as soon as sundown fell - but by the time the sun went down the Iftar packs had all been scoffed by the non-muslims present!

I really wouldn't bat an eyelid if my DD weren't allowed to have her first choice of sandwich filling in order to fully include another child on the same table. In fact I think I'd rather that than the alternative. Honest to goodness - it's a cocktail sausage at a school party. What's wrong with saying "so and so doesn't eat sausages, how about you think of something you'd all like to eat?".

Maybe one of the criterion was that everyone in the group had to like the chosen foods.

I don't know how people can be bothered caring so much about little things like this in their childrne's lives.

Sounds delicious to me Tolalola (am partial to a nice lasagne!)

When I picked dd up from school today they were asking for contributions of party food, everything has to be vegetarian and nut free.

Nuts are different - someone could die which is why they are banned. bit different to belief, no?
I'm with those who think so long as everyone is catered for, and there are plenty of non-pork options as well, all should be allowed.

Too late now but....this could have been avoided. We live in a very diverse area but haven't had these tensions at school. The reason why it has been so simple is because schools all have policies already in place on food, 'threads', religious dress and so on.

If it was a case of the six children planning what to eat as a group, then of course the teacher was right to say no to sausages if one of the six can't eat them. It has nothing to do with political correctness, it's just basic manners.

If you invited five friends round for dinner and you knew that one of them didn't eat pork, you wouldn't put a hog roast on the menu would you?

Havent read the whole thread so sorry if someone has already suggested this but the teacher could have suggested that they have halal beef cocktail sausages and beef or chicken sliced cooked meat instead and asked the parent of the muslim child where they could get them from.

My daughter has frequently been offered meat on Ash Wednesday when she was at a local primary. We wouldn't have dreamed of making a fuss about it. When in Rome... (er, or not.) I have very often been presented with roast lamb or beef on Ash Wednesday.

If I'd posted in AIBU I have no doubt that I'd have been told that I was being unreasonable and there was no reason why everybody else should have to have fish just because of me.