Catering for 'fussy eaters'

With so many people now who call themselves vegetarians, vegans, coeliacs, have religious food preferences, or just don't like particular foods for whatever reason, it can be very hard when catering for anyone little own large groups. The most important thing to do when trying to organise food for groups is to find out if anyone has specific dietary requirements, and if so what they are.


Finding out dietary requirements can prove quite a challenge if you're not quite sure what exactly all these words mean. Defining them is actually not a very easy thing to do as some people are vegetarian only some of the time or call themselves vegetarian but will eat white meat. Typically however, a vegetarian is someone who does not eat meat.  A vegan on the other hand is someone who does not eat any animal products (meat, eggs, cheese, milk, animal based oils etc). Coeliacs are people who suffer from coeliac disease which prevents them eating products which contain gluten.  Religious restrictions are a little different in that they can be imposed only seasonally, or even just during a particular time of the day.  They may vary from vegetarianism to veganism, or a ban of food all together (fasting).


There are other less common dietary requirements which I will not mention, but it is important to keep in mind that some people do have other requirements, such as the increasingly common allergy to peanuts and strawberries.  These restrictions do NOT make it impossible to feed large groups of people however, with a little planning and creativity you can provide enough food for everyone- even when it seems 'they can't eat anything!!'


If you're just organising a small dinner, then it is possibly easiest to ask anyone who has requirements what sort of foods they eat, and prepare something they suggest, or ask them to bring their own food. If catering for a larger group, it is more than likely that you will have to cater for a few different groups. Try asking them for suggestions, or just try google!
It may sound too simple, but typing a few of these into google can give you some really helpful websites and literally thousands of ideas and recipes to cater for anyone!!


Here are a few of the most helpful ones I have come across:
http://www.peta.org/living/vegetarian-living/default.aspx
http://www.suite101.com/content/cooking-for-vegetarians-a32476
http://www.ehow.com/how_2057428_cook-vegan.html
http://www.coeliachelp.me.uk/Whatcanieat.html


A very handy site if you're unsure about various religious restrictions:
http://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/bhcv2/bhcarticles.nsf/pages/Food_culture_and_religion?OpenDocument