Re: [Debconf-team] Food [Re: Registration questions]
On Wed, Feb 25, 2015 at 4:59 AM, martin f krafft <madduck@debconf.org> wrote:
> also sprach Giacomo Catenazzi <cate@debian.org> [2015-02-25 09:52 +0100]:
>> No. Having no default is not acceptable for registration people.
>> It cause us to send many many mails to remember people to set
>> something sensible.
>
> As others have pointed out: unless a choice is made, the
> registration cannot be completed. I think that alleviates your
> concern, doesn't it?
>
>
> also sprach Philip Hands <phil@hands.com> [2015-02-25 10:16 +0100]:
>> In that case, how about making the default option:
>>
>> I will be happy eat whatever is provided (see catering notes).
>>
>> then if people fail to express themselves and subsequently try to
>> complian they just get pointed at that setting and told that they should
>> have chosen something else.
>
> Also an interesting proposal, which would make it:
>
> At DebConf15, we will be serving a variety of foods, sourced
> mostly from regional partners, and featuring local as well as
> non-local dishes. The baseline will be vegetarian and meat/fish
> shall be served as a side dish. Special requirements will be
> catered to without exception, if at all possible.
>
> Food preferences:
> * I will be happy to eat whatever is provided [default]
> * I am lacto-ovo vegetarian, don't provide meat/fish for me
> * I am strict vegetarian (vegan), don't provide any animal products for me
> * Other (please use field below to let us know)
>
> Additional notes and restrictions -- please be as concrete as
> possible and avoid from abusing this field. If any questions
> arise, please contact the organisers:
Going to be speaking from the point of view of an "omnivore", or
"someone who would fill out none as dietary preference".
Excluding individual outliers, the amount of meat in a person's diet
is heavily influenced by the culture in which they were raised, which
is in turn influenced by local climate, regional wealth, and
individual family wealth. Looking at global dietary data, annual per
capita meat consumption varies from 4.8kg in the poorest West African
nations to 145.7kg in Denmark. US is 124.8kg, and DE is 82.1kg. My
personal meat consumption level probably falls fairly close to that of
the US average.
If we are going to treat this as an end user experience operation,
which I think that discussing this in the frame of the questions being
asked to attendees seems to indicate we are, I would argue that the
"principal of least astonishment" should prevail our plan.
What does this mean in practice? As an omnivore, I'd expect an amount
meat in my daily diet to either match what I am culturally used to, or
barring that, match what is cultural norm for the local region I am
visiting. Since Debian is a culturally diverse organization, it would
be impossible to cater this to individual omnivores, so I would argue,
that we should aim for local norms. IE: 82.1kg/year /365 days in a
year = 0.225kg/day (~0.496 lb/day.)
With this target in mind, I feel that hug's plan makes the most amount
of sense. I'd keep our historical options as he proposed, but would
modify his plan slightly to be "Prepare extra vegetarian/vegan dishes,
and tell EVERYONE that if they have strong dietary preferences one way
or another, that they should eat early." (This advice to come early
would include vegetarians, vegans and those who prefer to have meat
with most meals, like myself and my son.)
I'd also perhaps argue that the kitchen should keep some frozen
hamburgers/hotdogs and veggie burgers/hotdogs (or local equivalents)
on hand for late comers who have strong dietary preferences, but
didn't follow the guidance.
Cheers,
Brian
P.S. - I am little frustrated that it seems from the overall trend in
the conversation, that the choices of those that choose to include
meat in their diet, seem to be having their choices being classified
as "optional", vs. those that choose not to eat meat, having their
choices being classified as a "need". (food allergies aside).
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