Re: [Debconf-team] Food [Re: Registration questions]

[Anthony Towns <aj@erisian.com.au>]

On 22 February 2015 at 01:11, martin f krafft <madduck@debconf.org> wrote:

How about making the choices be:
  Food preferences:
    None
    I like to eat meat and fish
    No animal products for me (vegan, strict vegetarian)
    Other / allergies (contact organisers)

​FWIW, given there's a "meat+fish" option, I'd probably read "Food preferences: None" as "Don't give me any food, I'll go elsewhere"; or maybe "I'll eat anything" and expect it to be the same as the same as the meat+fish option. If it really means "lacto-ovo vegetarian" ​

 

​probably better to be a bit more explicit.​

(If the baseline is appropriately nutritious vegetarian meals, it might be reasonable to just tell people that -- ie, not have a meat+fish option at all -- and suggest that they go to a restaurant or foodtruck etc if they want a steak or a burger? Assuming there are such things somewhere nearby, anyway. Maybe soylent should be an option...)

This still means that people with true restrictions, such as
allergies, have to contact the organisers, but we can't reasonably
ask for all combinations in the form anyway (e.g. gluten-free vegan
and lactose-intolerant meat-eater…).

​​

​Isn't it usual to have a free-form text field for this? Makes it a bit easier, and a bit less risk of requirements getting lost in email shuffle. ("Additional dietary restrictions:" perhaps, after choosing meat/veg/vegan as a baseline)

Based on someone's experience at LCA this year, might be worth putting in a "don't add jokes in this field, thanks!" to save people from themselves:

 ​http://lists.lca2015.linux.org.au/pipermail/chat/2015-January/000620.html

​Cheers,
aj​