Step one in accommodating spiritual diets, like kosher and halal, at your assembly is to grasp the assorted restrictions and preferences primarily based on spiritual practices.
Kosher meals complies with the dietary requirements of conventional Jewish regulation.The most typical kosher restriction is the separation of dairy and meat merchandise; dishes containing dairy can not additionally comprise any sort of meat or poultry. All seafood and pork are strictly prohibited.
The Islamic dietary legal guidelines, halal, prohibit alcohol, pork merchandise, sure kinds of seafood and carnivorous animals, birds of prey, animals corresponding to rabbits, something that’s thought of blood or blood product, and meals combined with animal-derived components.
To accommodate these diets, it’s important to plan forward, ask the precise questions, and work intently together with your chef, or depend on outdoors catering sources.
Following are some suggestions for accommodating attendees with kosher and halal diets.
1. Discover a venue with a kosher kitchen
Some assembly venues have devoted kosher kitchens. For instance, hospitality trade chief Harris Rosen created Zayde’s Kosher Kitchen at Rosen Plaza Lodge to satisfy this want. It has three totally different kitchens — Glatt, Cholov Yisroel, and Pareve — all run by a full-time mashgiach temidi, or kosher supervisor.
Some eating places and venues with a big proportion of Bar/Bat Mitzvahs and weddings additionally adapt their kitchens to be kosher-vertified, corresponding to Warehouse 215 in Phoenix.
2. Begin planning early
Inquire about dietary wants early on. Kosher and halal meals take time to supply, so the registration type is the place to ask about dietary necessities. Arrange your kinds in order that responses are obligatory.
3. Ask which features attendees plan to attend
The easiest way to keep away from wasted meals — and cash — is to incorporate counts for every meal for these attendees. Particular meals could be costly; estimates vary from $50 to $200 per individual for a proper plated dinner.
4. Give your lodge time to supply catering
Many motels will select to buy ready-made kosher and halal meals, and have already got established relationships with native caterers. (Zayde’s, for instance, provides pre-packaged kosher meals to different motels within the Orlando space.) Even eating places will order particular meals from different eating places for attendees at an occasion, if they’re given sufficient advance discover.
5. Supply already-available substitutes
Some attendees are blissful to work with vegetarian selections. Supply them the prospect to decide on a vegetarian meal, a vegan meal, or to pick gadgets from the buffet. Ensure components in buffet gadgets are clearly labeled.
Sources: Meals for Thought Catering,