Lessons From “On the Side” Way of Life

Hi everyone.  May I be the last to wish you a very happy and healthy New Year!!  As some of you might know, despite founding Enjoy Life 8 years ago, I do not have any food sensitivities myself — although, sometimes I feel that I should.

Despite not having any food sensitivities, I most certainly know what its like to prepare parties for people with food sensitivities, as we have many employees that need stay away from various foods.

Growing up, I never knew what it meant to be a “high maintenance” eater – when my family went out to eat it was pretty much stick to the menu.  Yes, I would like the Linguini with Pesto, house salad with the house dressing and a cup of the chicken noodle soup…and a Coke please. A similar pattern continued around the table to my brother, my mother and my father.  We just stuck to the script because, we like it all, and that is how the chef designed it to be prepared.

So fast forward to married life, and my “appreciation” for the art of ordering whatever you wanted whether or not it was on the menu began.  My wife and her side of the family are just the opposite.

Despite not having any true food sensitivities, it was the typical When Harry Met Sally scene: I would like the Spaghetti Marinara; no spices; add chicken and broccoli; no oil; no butter; Caesar salad, but with the vinaigrette dressing (on the side) instead of the Caesar dressing; no cheese; no croutons; definitely no anchovies…oh and a diet coke with a lemon (easy ice).

So, I believe my wife helped “warm me up” to going out to eat with many of my fellow Enjoy Life employees, many of whom have various food sensitivities.  So now the stakes were increased substantially, this was not just about liking or disliking a food, it was about being safe.

Over the last 8 years, I have definitely seen a significant change in attitude by the wait staff at various restaurants.  If you told them you had a food allergy and couldn’t eat wheat or dairy, they would look at you a little strange and give that uncomfortable nod of the head that basically says “I have no idea what you’re talking about, but I am going to nod like I do.”  Or, you get the person who tells the waitress that “This guest is gluten free” and they respond back with, “GLUTTON??  What is GLUTTON??”  Unbelievable, we have come a long way baby.  Discretion: I continue to order directly off the menu because after the waitress spends a good 10 minutes making sure that the other 3 people in my party are properly taken care of, the last thing I want to do is further complicate the situation.

So during the holidays, like most companies, we have a holiday party where we bring in a lot of food.  Now to “complicate” things further, we have an extremely diverse workforce, something that I am incredibly proud of. In fact our 70 person company is represented by people from 20 different countries, yes 20!  So when we had our holiday party, we tried to bring in many different types of food to accommodate as many people as possible — foods representing many different countries and foods that meet the needs of our food sensitive employees.  Trying to put together this party and the logistics of getting all of the various foods from all of the various restaurants takes quite a bit of planning and patience.  It turned out the party was a great success and a ton of fun!!!

After taking a couple week breather, I am moving forward on preparation for the Enjoy Life holiday party 2010 – as a I fear that if we don’t get started soon we are not going to meet everyone’s needs.  I love my “high maintenance” crowd at home and at work!

Happy and healthy eating,

Scott