Next week I am talking to the head of catering.
I have been told by the chain of command to provide him my dietary
requirements and the chefs will provide me with the food.

That is the theory.

I just know it is not going to work out so simply.

My question is, how do I get them to cook me lovely vegan food all the
time?

The cooking is happening in the Gulf. The chefs are Indian. The
catering company are a LONG way from the sort of organization that
does the food at Google's campus, for example.

One, maybe two of the cooks, I get along with, if I talk with them.
One I dislike due to his arrogance. They are all pretty arrogant,
actually, but no problem. (And hey, they are chefs!

I try to humbly, sensitively, cross-culturally awarely get my little
message across to them and they do not give a hoot. "You can eat
this." "But that pizza has cheese on it. Can you remember that I
mentioned no cheese?" "Then take the cheese off."

Here are some of the issues:

I am the only vegan. They cater for a lot of people.
They think they understand vegetarian / vegan. They don't. But they
think they do.
They feel threatened when there is a need to verify the ingredients of
dishes that have been prepared.
I get conflicting messages regarding the ingredients (no meat stock/
meat stock)
They lie / say whatever they guess will molify me
They do not care at all about vegan thinking/cooking and if they
consider it at all, think that it is a problem for themselves, and
even unhealthy for me
THings like vegan margarine / egg replacement powder /other stuff that
might be commonly available in the West are not around here.
I guess there is a limited budget, and what cash there is available
for getting fresh food must be raided to supplement the salaries of
some/one of the staff.
It is difficult to have faith that they would be bothered to be
strictly vegan.

Things that might help:
The chefs would really appreciate a bit of extra money I could send
their way as a tip or something
They have good catering facilities
What non vegan food they supply is pretty good, some say
The head of catering is a good bloke


What approach do you think I should take with the head of catering?
What should I say to him? Just give a list of recipes?
I think that maybe getting just one of the chefs to be my "specialist"
and giving him a nice monthly tip or something, and printing out a few
recipes...
But he would have to learn what vegan cooking means, and he is SO
arrogant - it is impossible to tell them anything...

Please help!

Thank you

money money money money.


you also have to be very scrutenous also.... chef's in general are basic
retards...


whenever i hear one say "the flavor's in the fat" i run off laughing.




"n" > wrote in message
...
> Next week I am talking to the head of catering.
> I have been told by the chain of command to provide him my dietary
> requirements and the chefs will provide me with the food.
>
> That is the theory.
>
> I just know it is not going to work out so simply.
>
> My question is, how do I get them to cook me lovely vegan food all the
> time?
>
> The cooking is happening in the Gulf. The chefs are Indian. The
> catering company are a LONG way from the sort of organization that
> does the food at Google's campus, for example.
>
> One, maybe two of the cooks, I get along with, if I talk with them.
> One I dislike due to his arrogance. They are all pretty arrogant,
> actually, but no problem. (And hey, they are chefs!
>
> I try to humbly, sensitively, cross-culturally awarely get my little
> message across to them and they do not give a hoot. "You can eat
> this." "But that pizza has cheese on it. Can you remember that I
> mentioned no cheese?" "Then take the cheese off."
>
> Here are some of the issues:
>
> I am the only vegan. They cater for a lot of people.
> They think they understand vegetarian / vegan. They don't. But they
> think they do.
> They feel threatened when there is a need to verify the ingredients of
> dishes that have been prepared.
> I get conflicting messages regarding the ingredients (no meat stock/
> meat stock)
> They lie / say whatever they guess will molify me
> They do not care at all about vegan thinking/cooking and if they
> consider it at all, think that it is a problem for themselves, and
> even unhealthy for me
> THings like vegan margarine / egg replacement powder /other stuff that
> might be commonly available in the West are not around here.
> I guess there is a limited budget, and what cash there is available
> for getting fresh food must be raided to supplement the salaries of
> some/one of the staff.
> It is difficult to have faith that they would be bothered to be
> strictly vegan.
>
> Things that might help:
> The chefs would really appreciate a bit of extra money I could send
> their way as a tip or something
> They have good catering facilities
> What non vegan food they supply is pretty good, some say
> The head of catering is a good bloke
>
>
> What approach do you think I should take with the head of catering?
> What should I say to him? Just give a list of recipes?
> I think that maybe getting just one of the chefs to be my "specialist"
> and giving him a nice monthly tip or something, and printing out a few
> recipes...
> But he would have to learn what vegan cooking means, and he is SO
> arrogant - it is impossible to tell them anything...
>
> Please help!
>
> Thank you
>