In this day and age, it is perfectly reasonable to assume a person making a living through catering understands the dietary restrictions of major religions.

Subby doesn't get out much, does he?

brerrabbit

Reasonable assumption but you don't need to make it According to the article there was a specific "no pork" request on the record and the caterer forgot to check his notes.

Pretty much, everyone should know that if they're serving food professionally. Same with Jews. Same with knowing what a vegan is.

As a chef there is no real excuse for this. To be fair, folks should have really discussed the matter when the menu was planned.

This shouldn't be looked on as a religious thing.

It should be looked on as a caterer not being good at their job.

Same with Jews.

Jews have a wide range of interpretations of dietary rules. Some leave sausage off pizza on Saturdays and otherwise eat the same as anybody else.

While people should know about Jews and Muslims and their weird food habits I'm pretty sure I don't care. Here is free food, eat it or not. If you are detached from reality I don't see how it is my job to accommodate that.

MasterAdkins: While people should know about Jews and Muslims and their weird food habits I'm pretty sure I don't care. Here is free food, eat it or not. If you are detached from reality I don't see how it is my job to accommodate that.

What if it had been a food allergy? You can kill people like this.

MasterAdkins: While people should know about Jews and Muslims and their weird food habits I'm pretty sure I don't care. Here is free food, eat it or not. If you are detached from reality I don't see how it is my job to accommodate that.

As a consumer? Not an entirely crazy thought process to have.

For a professional it is irresponsible. There's the rub: caterers are still professionals.

Aarontology: This shouldn't be looked on as a religious thing.

It should be looked on as a caterer not being good at their job.

Yup.

Read the full article.

There was a ten month lead time before the event. The catering company was slow to respond to her wishes in many cases even to the point of taking a month and a half to get back to her.

I would have likely changed caterers the first time that this happened. They obviously do not care about her business. Also, I would have raised one hell of a big stink over it at the event.

Payment? Not happening. Lets talk about this in court.

Most of their correspondance was through E-mail. I am generally the worst person in the world about saving e-mails dealing with any type of money for a few years. Self documenting evidence at it's finest.

Methinks the company should have given them a freebie due to their farkup. All that disputing this is going to do is spread bad press about their company.

There should have been a contract that specifies exactly what food would be served.

If it took "3 to 6 weeks" to get a response from the venue, the person that held the party needed to find another place.

I don't know what kind of party she booked, but simply specifying "no pork" without knowing the entire menu (for a whopping $17,000) is just idiotic.

brerrabbit: Read the full article.

There was a ten month lead time before the event. The catering company was slow to respond to her wishes in many cases even to the point of taking a month and a half to get back to her.

I would have likely changed caterers the first time that this happened. They obviously do not care about her business. Also, I would have raised one hell of a big stink over it at the event.

Payment? Not happening. Lets talk about this in court.

Most of their correspondance was through E-mail. I am generally the worst person in the world about saving e-mails dealing with any type of money for a few years. Self documenting evidence at it's finest.

Methinks the company should have given them a freebie due to their farkup. All that disputing this is going to do is spread bad press about their company.

You often have to book that far ahead of time for popular venues and this was a country club which means she couldn't bring in an outside caterer. There's no way she could have found another venue, caterer, florist, etc in time to rebook. She would have had to cancel and start from scratch for the next year or the one after. She may not have even lived in the same place as this club--hence the emails.

Who doesn't know that? I mean, with all the fearmongering butthurt these days, especially with Fox screaming about halal turkeys.

Two observations.

1) Bad caterer is bad.

2) lulz

CSB:

My last tour in Iraq I was in an Artillery unit. Since there was very little need for artillery by an occupying force, we mostly did infantry type work; going door to door looking for terrorists, patrolling the streets, etc (Lucky for me I didn't have to do all that. Just a simple radio fixer.)

Anyways, we would bring back prisoners, they would be blindfolded and sat on the ground with those twist tie cuffs. The place that they would take them was right outside of my workplace, the Battalion Commo shop (aka S-6 in other units). Sometimes those who were tasked to watch over the prisoners would be dicks and purposefully gave them MRE's that had pork products in them. They had no idea what were in them.

As a lowly Private, there really was not much that I could do about it. No one gave a shiat.

Not everyone, but maybe someone who makes a living preparing food should have some sort of clue.

/thinking subby is 13.

cman: CSB:

My last tour in Iraq I was in an Artillery unit. Since there was very little need for artillery by an occupying force, we mostly did infantry type work; going door to door looking for terrorists, patrolling the streets, etc (Lucky for me I didn't have to do all that. Just a simple radio fixer.)

Anyways, we would bring back prisoners, they would be blindfolded and sat on the ground with those twist tie cuffs. The place that they would take them was right outside of my workplace, the Battalion Commo shop (aka S-6 in other units). Sometimes those who were tasked to watch over the prisoners would be dicks and purposefully gave them MRE's that had pork products in them. They had no idea what were in them.

As a lowly Private, there really was not much that I could do about it. No one gave a shiat.

I'm sorry you had to witness to such a disregard of professionalism. If it helps any, consuming pork unknowingly is not a sin in Islam. Not good, but it is forgiven.

the caterer is in the wrong. and submitter is a moron.

The caterer is a dumbass, but denying yourself the goodness of bacon because of an invisible man in the sky and a book that's thousands of years old is also stupid.

cman: CSB:

My last tour in Iraq I was in an Artillery unit. Since there was very little need for artillery by an occupying force, we mostly did infantry type work; going door to door looking for terrorists, patrolling the streets, etc (Lucky for me I didn't have to do all that. Just a simple radio fixer.)

Anyways, we would bring back prisoners, they would be blindfolded and sat on the ground with those twist tie cuffs. The place that they would take them was right outside of my workplace, the Battalion Commo shop (aka S-6 in other units). Sometimes those who were tasked to watch over the prisoners would be dicks and purposefully gave them MRE's that had pork products in them. They had no idea what were in them.

As a lowly Private, there really was not much that I could do about it. No one gave a shiat.

Goddammitsomuch.

Probably the same people who had McCain/Palin 2008 stickers on their backpacks too...

oldebayer: Caterer is a moran.

This sort of thing happened when Burger King tried to sell their ham & cheese bagels as "kosher."

I hope you're kidding. Please tell me you're kidding.

/you never know

brerrabbit: In this day and age, it is perfectly reasonable to assume a person making a living through catering understands the dietary restrictions of major religions.

I agree.

Unless you just got off the turnip truck, it should have been common knowledge.

ZAZ: Same with Jews.

Jews have a wide range of interpretations of dietary rules. Some leave sausage off pizza on Saturdays and otherwise eat the same as anybody else.

Came here to say essentially this. Yes, chefs understand dietary restrictions. But just saying someone is Jewish, Muslim, whatever isn't enough. I know a ton of Jewish people who practice only parts of the religion. They're very similar to catholics... some are hard core with the whole no-meat-on-Fridays, some just show up to church on Christmas and Easter.

I'm sure there are plenty of Muslims that eat pork, but still believe in parts of the religion.

If you're spending $3000 on catering, you should explicitly state what ingredients you need left off some/all items. Not that hard.

"Please make 5 dishes with zero pork."

/Didn't read the article because its the Consumerist and most likely complete hyperbole.

brerrabbit: In this day and age, it is perfectly reasonable to assume a person making a living through catering understands the dietary restrictions of major religions.

Even if they didn't know, why wouldn't they ask -- presumably the person telling you that thought it was relevant. If someone told you "there will be albinos present", and you didn't understand what that meant in relation to catering (or whatever the current context was), wouldn't you ask "do albinos have special dietary restrictions"? It's not like this was some stranger sitting next to you on the train; you're taking instructions from this person to do work for them, so it's your professional duty to attempt to understand them.

twoody: I wouldn't serve bacon to Jews.

Really? Because I know a bunch of Jews that would be pissed off to have their portion sans the bacon.

The crux is as a chef you can't discern exactly what a Jewish person means by "I'm Jewish".

If she spent $17,000 and it took 10-months just to plan with the caterer, you'd figure she'd have know exactly what they were serving prior.