Re: [72attendees] Dietary restrictions

Dealing with our dietary restrictions isn't at all difficult if things
are properly planned in advance.  All of us that deal with this know
this, but getting the info individually ahead of a meeting can be
difficult. IN addition, I personally travel early to assess the food
situation. For this meeting, my primary fault was assuming that the food
I could order in the restaurants on Sat/Sun would be available to me at
lunch. If I had known the lunch options in advance, I would have shopped
for a lot more on Sunday (I try to avoid having a lot of leftover food
at the end of meetings, as I consider it very wasteful and of course,
airlines dramatically restrict what I can take home anyways). 

Any decent chef (available at virtually any venue where we would hold a
meeting) is trained in dealing with all of this. The costs are really
minimal, as in most cases it involves leaving out things, using basic
ingredients and fresh foods that don't require a lot of prep. For
example, a salad bar with protein for everyone's restrictions (i.e., no
gluten, kosher meats (for non-vegetarians/vegans) and nuts/beans/tofu
for vegans/vegetarians). The biggest issue for most of us is
cross-contamination (i.e, handling bread and then supposed gluten-free
items or cooking veggies in chicken broth or in oils that have been used
for meats, etc.)  and again decent chefs are aware of this. As well, I
am very happy to provide a detailed list of foods that work for the
majority.  There is an excellent example of food that meats most of our
needs - Cornucopia in Dublin - all vegan/vegetarian - everything labeled
with allergens. The largest hurdle is kosher, which requires a bit more
pre-planning, but as others can support there are many conferences that
provide are able to meet this requirement. 

Also, IMHO, the fact that many of us with these restrictions typically
can't eat ANY or very little of the items offered at breaks means that
we are already paying for something we don't get. So, I don't think the
cost is an issue for this situation at all!

And, I do want to acknowledge that the AMS staff was very gracious in
ensuring that I had a meal I could eat for WG chairs yesterday, so
they're already aware that this can be managed. Thanks!

Regards,
Mary.

--- speaking for many folks here - I've heard offline from quite a few
folks about all these issues ---

-----Original Message-----
From: 72attendees-bounces@ietf.org [mailto:72attendees-bounces@ietf.org]
On Behalf Of Dave Crocker
Sent: Thursday, July 31, 2008 5:03 AM
To: Dale Worley
Cc: 72attendees@ietf.org
Subject: Re: [72attendees] Dietary restrictions

Dale Worley wrote:
> If we use venues used to international conferences and pay full 
> freight, the chefs understand and will deal with all sorts of dietary 
> restrictions.  But that costs money, people are already objecting to 
> costs, and full-freight prices and globalized venues work directly 
> against our goal of being accessible to an international audience.

What is the basis for you claim that such venues are more expensive than
other venues we go to.  (For example, can you list some of each type
that the IETF has been to?)

d/
-- 

   Dave Crocker
   Brandenburg InternetWorking
   bbiw.net
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