What’s on the Menu? How to Improve Food Inclusivity at Your Event Or Conference
My friend and I went to a bar in Portland and ordered a half-and-half pizza. (It was Detroit-style, if that matters to you). My friend is lactose-intolerant, but eats meat, while I’m mostly vegetarian, and selective about which animal products I consume. We ordered vegan cheese and meat pepperoni on one half, and dairy cheese with vegan pepperoni on the other half.
When the pizza came out, it was clear that the meat pepperoni had been put on the half with dairy cheese, and the vegan pepperoni on the half with vegan cheese. We begrudgingly picked the toppings off and put them on their respective sides. (The bar also offered to make us another pizza with simpler toppings.)
The irony is that this isn’t the first time it’s happened to us, and we’re always very clear when we order that the toppings we want may seem counterintuitive at first glance. It seems like many kitchens can’t easily follow instructions that clash with neat dietary guidelines — even when they otherwise cater to plant-based diets.
In reality, many dietary restrictions don’t map into discrete categories, and more people have dietary preferences than we might think.
Here’s a guide to making your menu more inclusive for people with diverse dietary needs. It’s specifically focused on catered events like workshops and conferences, but it can also applied be applied to restaurants and even dinner parties.
Read on to learn more about dietary preferences and how to empower people to make their own food choices.
Why Food Inclusivity Matters
It’s easy to assume that most people are OK with mainstream food options, and that everyone will be happy if you provide a selection of “standard fare”, with separate options for vegan, vegetarian, and gluten-free diets.
Often, these “special dietary options” are set aside and reserved only for people with specific needs or preferences — which is itself a problem, because dietary needs can be variable and fluid.
Here are three broad categories of dietary needs to be aware of:
Medical restrictions
Some of the most common dietary restrictions are for health and medical reasons — which can be surprisingly varied. These include:
- A food allergy, which is an immune response to a specific food item or ingredient, such as nuts or shellfish, potentially resulting in a rash, hives, swelling, or other symptoms. In some cases, a food allergy can be life-threatening.
- A food intolerance, which differs from an allergy in that that it primarily affects the digestive system — such as gas or bloating after consuming lactose.
- A medical diet, designed to manage a specific health condition, such as a gluten-free diet to manage celiac disease, a low-sodium diet to manage high blood pressure, or a sugar-free diet to manage diabetes.
These restrictions vary in their degree or severity, and can often be confused for one another. For example, a dairy allergy and lactose intolerance are different conditions with different symptoms and dietary requirements.
As many as 1 in 10 adults and 1 in 13 children have a food allergy.
Dietary preferences
Dietary preferences may be treated as less valid than medical restrictions, because people “choose” them, but these can be integral to a person’s well-being and sense of identity. Here are some of the most common reasons for them:
- Ethical reasons: Plant-based diets (i.e., vegan or vegetarian diets) are often undertaken for ethical reasons, such as animal welfare. Some ethical diets may appear inconsistent to observers — such as a vegetarian who avoids certain types of meats but not others — but should still be respected.
- Cultural reasons: Cultural food preferences may be linked to specific food ingredients or flavors associated with a cultural tradition. This category also includes religious diets like Halal or Kosher diets. Some cultural diets may be time-specific, such as fasting during Lent or Ramadan.
- Sensory reasons: Sensory sensitivities are common among neurodivergent children and adults. These include personal likes and dislikes, such as tastes, textures, or combinations of ingredients that cause discomfort or disgust. A great example is too much sauce or salad dressing on a menu item.
Eating disorders
Eating disorders are another important consideration when planning an inclusive event or conference. These conditions include anorexia, bulimia, and binge eating, and may be linked to anxiety disorders and body image issues.
According to ANAD.org, these eating disorders are more common among BIPOC, LGBTQ+ people, and people with disabilities. Planning an inclusive event without accounting for eating disorders risks making it less accessible to these groups.
Events that plan to serve alcohol should also be mindful of alcohol use disorder, and ensure that non-alcoholic options are available to participants.
5 Ways to Make Your Event More Inclusive at Mealtimes
Running an event or conference involves a lot of considerations, from selecting speakers to troubleshooting WiFi issues. Often, providing food and drink gets outsourced to a third party, such as your event venue or a catering company.
Depending on how much control you have over the menu and event space, some of these practices will be easier to implement than others. Ultimately, you either need to choose a food vendor you can trust, or oversee the decisions that your catering company is making. Here are five ways to make your event more inclusive for people with diverse dietary needs:
1. List ingredients
As we’ve seen above, not all dietary preferences map into neat categories, such as “vegetarian” or “gluten-free.” Providing a list of ingredients for individual items takes some of the guesswork out of mealtimes, and allows people with dietary preferences to self-select the food that works for them.
For example, a person with lactose intolerance doesn’t need to stick to the “vegan” menu, as long as they know which items do and don’t contain milk.
This is especially important at buffets and other self-serve contexts in which the differences between items may not be obvious. At a recent conference I attended, some of the dishes were labeled with broad categories, such as “assorted muffins” or “assorted quiches” — excluding people who might have chosen to eat them if only they knew which were which!
Ingredients are more helpful than simply specifying “vegan” or “gluten-free,” since people with these dietary restrictions may have other likes and dislikes too. At one meal, the meat option was labeled “Wagyu beef sausage rolls” while the non-meat options were simply labeled “vegan” and “vegetarian,” implying that vegans and vegetarians didn’t need to know what their food contained.
By providing a variety of combinations and avoiding repeat toppings (say, cheese on everything) you can cater to a wider range of tastes — and allow people with dietary restrictions to partake of the “main” options if they wish.
2. Provide a menu in advance
Another helpful option is to provide participants with a menu well in advance of mealtimes. This may not be possible if your caterer doesn’t provide you with this information ahead of time, but it can take the stress out of mealtimes for those who have dietary preferences or an eating disorder.
If you’re having a multi-day conference, post the next day’s menu at the end of the day, or send it out the night before in an email so no one is caught by surprise. If someone knows that a particular meal won’t appeal to them, they can make a plan to bring their own food, eat elsewhere, or snack until the next mealtime.
3. Don’t gatekeep
This one is tricky: when providing meals at your event, you need to know roughly how many people in each category will be attending. If you get it wrong, you may end up with hungry vegans or vegetarians who didn’t get enough to eat.
At the same time, gatekeeping who is and isn’t vegetarian or gluten-free can feel exclusionary. A recent event I attended had a sign reading “Special Dietary Needs Only” at the vegan/GF table; at another event, a staff member was loudly asking “Are you vegetarian?” before letting people access the food.
The reality is that dietary preferences can be fluid, and gatekeeping dietary options and doesn’t reflect the ethos of an inclusive conference. Just as a participant might want to try out new pronouns on their name badge for the day, they might want to try out a vegan or vegetarian option. Similarly, a vegetarian with food sensitivities might decide that the meat dish is the least-bad option for the day.
Flexitarians exist, and shouldn’t have to worry if they’re “vegetarian” enough any more than bisexuals should have to wonder if they’re queer enough!
4. Offer a space away from food
Food sensitivities aren’t just about what’s on an individual’s plate; they can extend to the entire eating environment. When I was a kid, I stood at the end of the lunch table, as close to the door as possible, because I couldn’t stand sitting in the middle of the table surrounded by the smells of everyone else’s sandwiches.
People with dietary preferences may have reactions to the sight of specific foods or strong smells in the dining area. If food is served throughout the conference area, these participants may have nowhere to go to avoid being exposed to it.
Many events provide a quiet zone or low-sensory space for neurodivergent people; consider offering a comparable space for people with food sensitivities. Similarly, ensure that empty plates are collected promptly so as to avoid the buildup of unpleasant sights and smells in the conference area.
5. Admit when you don’t know
Accommodating dietary needs can be a challenge, especially when no one in the organizing group has experience with a particular diet. On a recent hiking trip in South America, one of the people in my group had celiac disease, and needed to avoid all gluten — including cross-contaminated items.
Our tour guides kept reassuring her that she’d be taken care of, and that she didn’t have to bring her own food; but at each stop, there was a complication. Either they couldn’t guarantee that the food hadn’t been cooked in cross-contaminated oil, or else they over-corrected and thought that she needed to avoid all oil.
It was upsetting that she couldn’t relax and enjoy mealtimes with the rest of us, but it was more upsetting that they’d over-promised what they could deliver.
If you aren’t familiar with a specific diet and aren’t sure how to accommodate it, ask the participant or seek expert advice. Many participants will gladly provide educational resources to help you figure out what they can and cannot eat.
Food Inclusivity Benefits Everyone
Food can be a touchy subject. We all have food preferences, even those of us who think we eat a “typical” diet or aren’t particularly fussy about what we eat. Maybe you don’t like mustard in your sandwiches or pineapple on pizza.
Offering healthy and diverse food options isn’t just about catering to a select few, but about giving more information and options to everyone.
Whether you want to accommodate cultural diversity, address medical conditions, or welcome participants with eating disorders, follow these five tips to increase food inclusivity and accessibility at your event or conference.
Want to get more queer perspectives on how we talk about food? Check out the Queer Food Conference (May 1-3, 2026 in Montreal, Canada), or attend one of their upcoming virtual events and book launch parties:
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