There’s no glory in producing a beautiful three-course dinner for 500 if you have not looked after the 20 odd people who need a different menu. Opening a packet of pre-portioned whatever doesn’t cut it, these guests deserve the same quality and care that everyone else receives.
Briefly, dietary requirements cover any guest requiring a variation to the menu; these usually fall into food intolerance and allergies, religious restrictions and vegetarians. The difference between a food allergy and intolerance is an allergy is a response by the immune system that mistakenly decides a particular food is harmful and reacts. Food intolerance usually involves the inability to properly digest something, for example lactose in milk or gluten in wheat. Religious restrictions include Muslim, Hindu, Buddhism and Kosher etcetera, and involve restrictions on meat, how food is prepared, how animals are slaughtered, and fasting. Vegetarians obviously don’t eat meat but some vegans don’t eat any animal products.
What is behind the growth in dietary requirements and are they genuine?
It may be that more people are finding God, but global multicultural societies mean there is a greater mix of cultures, therefore a wider spread of religious diet restrictions.
With increased awareness of food allergies and intolerances there is definitely a mix of fact and fad. One study found that about 25 per cent of parents thought their children have food allergies when only about four per cent really do. However, there has been a genuine increase. This could be due to a variety of things: people adopting foreign diets and the import of exotic products; a change in the way foods are prepared; or just part of a general increase in allergies and intolerances.
Even though we have all seen a guest with the dairy allergy have an extra helping of cream-filled desert, it is important to cater for those with real dietary requirements. Some requirements can be dealt with in the main menu. For example, at In2food a lot of our main dishes are gluten free. Halal beef, lamb and chicken is easy to source, or an item in a dish may be able to be substituted.
Creating a tasty dish which covers most or all of the remaining dietary requirements keeps things simple, reducing the chance of someone getting the wrong dish, and allowing the kitchen to focus on food quality rather than which plate for which dietary requirement. We take all dietary allergies and intolerances seriously but it is important to know when a reaction is severe. In the case of very sensitive dietary requirements a simple menu is prepared away from all other food and cooking.
There is as much chance of dyin g from lightning as there is from say a peanut allergy. While we can’t control nature, with the right information and planning we can manage the risk of food allergies.
Of the total population, about one-point-five percent are allergic, three to five percent vegetarian and anywhere between zero to 100 per cent religious restrictions (depending on the country). These people make up a significant group at any function and deserve proper attention.
Phil Galbriath is marketing manager of catering company In2Food.
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