Dietary Needs

Thrive March religious dietary restrictions calendar
Dietary Needs Religious Dietary Practices February 28, 2018

March Religious Dietary Restrictions Calendar

Dietary Needs Religious Dietary Practices February 28, 2018

In keeping with my commitment to bring a helpful monthly dietary restrictions calendar to everyone, here are March dates to keep in mind as you plan menus for March events. March 4 – Mahāśivarātrī (Shiv Ratri) Observance & Dietary Restriction Mahāśivarātrī (Shiv Ratri) is a Hindu festival. Followers of Shaivism, which is one of four Hindu religions, worship Lord Shiva as a Monotheist Lord. The festival is a vigil in His honor and is observed with a 24-hour fast from food and water. How to Include Participants While we will still be feeding our guests and employees on this day,…

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Purim - Thrive-cover
Dietary Needs Food Service Meetings & Events Religious Dietary Practices February 21, 2018

Purim: Fasting, Foods, & Fun Festivities

Dietary Needs Food Service Meetings & Events Religious Dietary Practices February 21, 2018

Jewish people around the world will be joining in on colorful celebrations, delicious food traditions, and joyous commemorations. This year, Purim will begin the evening of Wednesday, February 28th and end the evening of Thursday march 1, 2018. Like many religious observances, this holy day has a many beautiful traditions, including dietary practices. What Purim Celebrates The holiday is a celebration based on a story in the Book of Esther. A young woman named Esther was the wife of King Ahasuerus of Persia. The King’s advisor, Haman, persuaded him to kill all the Jews in the empire, but Esther’s cousin…

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Food for Everyone Thrive!
Dietary Needs Food Service Meetings & Events February 7, 2018

Food For Everyone: Feasts & Fasts

Dietary Needs Food Service Meetings & Events February 7, 2018

Those with dietary restrictions shouldn’t have to fast because they fear the feast. In other words, our employees, attendees, and colleagues shouldn’t have to skip meals or pack they’re own food, when they’ve paid for the banquet, the meal plan, or the cafeteria pass. If food is going to be available to groups of people, then courtesy, professionalism, and the law dictate that there be food for everyone in that group. This year, commit to a new take on menu management by resolving to accommodate dietary restrictions for all your guests.  Inclusion Inclusion looses all meaning when it isn’t … inclusive. We want…

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Thrive February religious dietary restrictions calendar
Dietary Needs Food Service Meetings & Events Religious Dietary Practices January 31, 2018

Religious Dietary Restrictions Calendar: February 2019

Dietary Needs Food Service Meetings & Events Religious Dietary Practices January 31, 2018

It can be tough to keep up with the dietary restrictions of our attendees and employees. Knowing the holy days that are coming up can take effort because dates change each year and not all of them are included in the standard desk or Google calendar. On top of that, it’s hard to know which religious days are observed with dietary restrictions and what those accommodations would look like on a menu. A religious dietary restrictions calendar is exactly what’s needed. Even though our attendees and employees may not list their religious dietary restrictions and may not provide a handy…

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Religious Dietary Restrictions Guide - Thrive!
Religious Dietary Practices January 24, 2018

Religious Dietary Restrictions: Your Essential Quick Reference Guide

Religious Dietary Practices January 24, 2018
There are many religions with dietary restrictions and food traditions. Some are more famous than others, but all need to be respected and observed as closely as we are able when menu planning. This is your Thrive! guide to religious dietary restrictions.  Also, this isn’t comprehensive, and there are some differences in food rules across denominations. Plus, some people will observe these rules differently and with varied commitment. The best habit for us as HR professionals, caterers, chefs, and menu planners is to: Ask the attendee or employee what their requirements are prior to the event. Plan on accommodating as…

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Dietary Needs January 17, 2018

Try These New Year’s Resolutions for Event Planners

Dietary Needs January 17, 2018

When thinking about resolutions for event planners, we are probably just like anyone else in a lot of ways. We want to be healthy, happy, and finally finish that book we’ve had bookmarked on the nightstand. But professionally, there’s a lot we can do, and I’ve got a few manageable suggestions for anyone looking for a few meeting and event commitments to be more inclusive in 2018. Embrace New Technologies There are plenty of ways to do this. We can implement a new event planning software. We can manage our to-do list with a new app. We can experiment with…

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An Apple a Day...Is Not for Everyone
Food Allergies January 9, 2018

An Apple Day…Is Not for Everyone

Food Allergies January 9, 2018

How One Meeting Eliminated Apple to Create a Safe Space for a Food-Allergic Attendee Last month I met a woman with an apple allergy. Yes, an apple allergy. I’m sure some of you can’t believe it, but it’s a real thing, and it can be fatal. While I’ve known others with an apple allergy, Leticia’s is the most severe I’ve encountered. As she explained in her registration form, she is “highly, deathly allergic” to apples, “both ingested and inhaled from others eating nearby.” This was vital information to know about her, since I was analyzing and coding catering menus to…

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Turn-it-teal
Food Allergies Food Safety October 18, 2017

Turn-It-Teal for October & Thrive! for the Holidays

Food Allergies Food Safety October 18, 2017

The Turn-It-Teal project began in 2014 as a way to increase awareness around food allergies. Now it’s a movement and it’s keeping kids safe on Halloween. Every year, children across the country dress up as their favorite heroes and action figures to collect those precious sweets, door-to-door. However, there is a growing challenge these kiddos face. For many, candy is just a decadent one-night sugar coma.   For a growing number of kids, the unknowns in that handful of candy, can be life-threatening. And while overeating candy is going to lead to a stomach ache for most kids on Halloween,…

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Dietary Needs Religious Dietary Practices September 29, 2017

Yom Kippur: A Time of Reflection and Food Restrictions (G’mar Hatima Tova & G’mar Tov)

Dietary Needs Religious Dietary Practices September 29, 2017

Dietary restrictions come in many shapes and sizes. They can be health-related, but they can also be religious dietary restrictions. For Yom Kippur, religious dietary restrictions are an important part of this holy day. When menu planning, we always need to take into account whether we have any religious dietary restrictions among our attendees, such as the need for Kosher meals. During holy days, it’s also important to recognize the timing of meals and traditional foods to have available. We don’t have to restrict everyone in attendance, of course. However, having traditional foods available to attendees during the traditional pre-fast…

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National Anti-Boredom Month
Dietary Needs July 21, 2017

Banish Boring Banquets – National Anti-Boredom Month

Dietary Needs July 21, 2017

Is it possible to actually die of boredom? Well, scientists have found that people who complain of boredom actually live shorter lives. That’s right. People who complain of boredom are more likely to die young. I thought National Anti-Boredom Month would be a great time to publish a light piece on boring food and beverage.    In a longitudinal study of 7,000 participants over 25 years, respondents who complained they were bored were 40% more likely to have died by the end of the study. Specialists from the department of Epidemiology and Public Health at the University College of London reported…

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