Saracen Sauce

[Sue Wensel]

Michael F. Gunter wrote:
> 
> >       How do you handle getting people with dietary restrictions to notify
> >       you *before* you start buying food?
> >
> 
> My attitude is that I try to avoid or at least substitute for the more common
> dietary restrictions (no pork, plenty of food for vegetarians, etc...) but for
> the less common problems.  Well, if they tell me I try to make some accommodation
> but if not, tough cookies.
> 
> > I just cooked an event and had *one* person (out of nearly 150 attendees) who
> > told me ahead of time that she had an allergy.  Meanwhile, I know several
> > local vegetarians did not tell me, 

...

> 
> I always try to make sure that vegetarians are well taken care of at my feasts, it
> is just pre-supposed planning.  Besides, having good edible veggie dishes can make
> for a less expensive feast.
> 
> >
> > I also had one person attend who could not eat a single dish I made because of
> > dietary restrictions.  At least he was prepared to eat off-board, which wasn't
> > scheduled and everyone knew that.  If he had let me know ahead of time, I
> > could at least have made something special for him for lunch and dinner.
> 
> The sign of a caring head cook. :-{)}
> 
> > Derdriu
> >
> >
> 
> Yers,
> 
> Gunthar

It seems to me as if you are pretty much doing all that you can to
accomodate the maximum number of people. I also had one person contact
me in advance regarding dietary restrictions at an event I cooked for a
couple of weeks ago. As it happens, that person proved ultimately unable
to attend anyway. There will always be a certain amount of this sort of
thing. Ways to deal with it include:

	1. Include a loud, tactless notice in the text of the event notice to
the effect that you are willing to accomodate the dietary restrictions
of the event rs, but that you will have to KNOW ABOUT THEM IN ADVANCE.

	2. Post (prominently) a menu with an attached ingredients list. Leave
plenty of room for addtional hand-written notes, in case you decide
during the day to throw an unscheduled tot of ginger in something. Have
a herald announce shortly before the feast that persons with dietary
restrictions should check the list for recent annotations.

	3. Keep your menu constructed so that the feast is modular. Meat dishes
should contain meat. Vegetable dishes should not. Dishes that fit
neither category clearly can often be made in their "fast day" or Lenten
form. For instance, a green or black porrey can be made with butter
instead of bacon. It will often say this right in the primary source
recipe. This will take care of most of the problems you might encounter.
You can also set aside a small portion of the dish before the
questionable ingredient is added, to be reserved for the use of
vegatarians, people with allergies, or whatever it may be.

	4. You may or may not choose to provide additional vegetarian "main
courses" for such people as have contacted you in advance: I have never
found this to be necessary, and have never known anyone to go hungry
because of it. I am certainly willing to do so if I am asked to do so,
but I usually am able to set up my menu with sufficient variety that if
someone has to avoid up to about 40% of the meal, they will still be fed
more than adequately.

I feel that if you have done these things, you have faithfully
discharged any responsibility in this area as a chef. Running a kitchen
isn't easy, especially if you are actually doing the cooking as well. I
don't mean to sound harsh, but while I feel a cook should accomodate the
minority, I also feel that this should not be at the noticeable expense
of the majority. If providing what is in essence a separate feast for
folks with dietary restrictions detracts from your ability to provide
the rest of the attendees with their money's worth, then you need to
rethink your plans.

Cheerfully anticipating a flood of intriguing responses to this,

Adamantius