Jennifer Johnson shares how to plans event menus for guests dietary needs, including her own Autoimmune Disease and gluten intolerance.
A hotel chef spills the beans on how meeting and event planners can accommodate the ever-increasing requests for vegetarian/vegan options.
There is growing attention being paid to food waste, which is wonderful. I’ll be speaking at IMEX next week and while you can catch me at a few sessions, Wasting Away will be a session on food waste and our bottom line on October 18th. As a prompt to help us celebrate the no waste movement, let’s all take part in World Food Day this Sunday, October 16th. You can read a general article I’ve written on why the day exists and how we can integrate more awareness into our daily lives. Below is a beautiful guest post by James Spellos.…
This article originally appeared in the Spring 2016 issue of Allergic Living. Off to a convention and packing special food needs? There's much to know. Allergic Living Spring 2016 As I exited a luncheon in a hotel ballroom last fall, I saw a fellow attendee being tended to by a swarm of EMTs and convention staff. She was being treated for an anaphylactic reaction to the food she was served. She had informed the meeting planner and hotel of her serious food allergies, yet in this case, that wasn’t enough. Fortunately, after a trip to the hospital, the woman recovered…
The culinary world seems to discover a new dining trend every five minutes, but when it comes down to it, banquets haven’t changed all that much. There might be some inspiration and ideas event planners can learn from ancient Rome. I recently read this very entertaining and informative piece about history’s ten greatest banquets, and I was struck by what they had in common, all the way back to the days of Nero. They were once-in-a-lifetime events full of entertainment and surprise. They were opportunities for people to show off their wealth. But most importantly, whether it was dormice sprinkled with…
Like most event planners, I read a lot of restaurant menus. I like to keep in touch with trends and ways to diversify the plate while respecting the palate. One thing that continues to surprise me is just how similar they are. At both down-home joints and white-tablecloth establishments, Americans seem to be interested in a narrow choice of meats. We will eat any part of the chicken, but most restaurants focus on the breast. When it comes to beef, we eat about half the cow, but only about 10 percent (e.g., strip loin, tenderloin, sirloin, and rib eye) ends…
Meal Tickets Help Identify and Communicate Important Information One of the biggest challenges meeting planners and catering managers face is the efficient accommodation of the spectrum of allergies, religious restrictions, and dietary choices of attendees. As the founder of Thrive!, Tracy Stuckrath is very familiar with the increasingly common outcry around dietary needs management, “I wish there was a clear, organized system for identifying and accommodating the dietary restrictions of our attendees – without slowing down service.” In answer to this challenge, Thrive now offers standard and customized Meal Tickets! By implementing Thrive’s Meal Ticket system, dietary needs management just got easier. Through the use of diet…
It’s time to accept special dietary concerns as the prevalent reality they are and begin to find creative and delicious solutions to accommodate these needs. In the process, we will help food-allergic guests feel welcome in our homes, our events and our lives.