Special Diets and Holiday Parties

While most people have good intentions often many diets can look easy to accommodate on the surface but in reality it is hard to know if some foods are acceptable.

Here are some tips for people to help educate their hosts on their special diets for the holidays. These are easy ways to make going to other people's houses easier and safer.

• Bring a dish to share. Make sure it is fine the the host first, of course.
• Never assume that something is “probably fine” to eat. This pitfall often ends with getting sick.
• Call ahead and ask the host what they are serving. It is often easy to figure out what you might be able to eat if it is known early on. Also inform your host of allergies or intolerances that you may have.
• Eat something before you go. This way if there is nothing that you can eat, you are not starving.
• Keep snacks or even bring a microwavable meal with you just in case things do not go as planned.
• Do some research for your host and email it to them. Better yet, print something out and bring it to them. Offer recipes if they are open to it.
• Be understanding of your host. Strict diets are difficult to accommodate for others with little experience with them.
• Host the party yourself! No home is safer than your own and you can show others how tasty allergen-free food can be.

For people with that have to be on special diets, holiday time can be the equivalent to walking through a mine field. This can make hosting a party can be very difficult when guests have food allergies. Here are some tips to make the holidays enjoyable for everyone.

• If you know someone with a food allergy or special diet is coming to your home, call them and talk about it. Ask them how they prefer you deal with their special dietary requests. Get educated about it by doing some on line research.
• Ask them for some recipes.
• Save labels and recipes. Allow the person on the special diet to look them over for possible offending ingredients. If the recipe is a secret just write the ingredients down on a piece of paper with out quantities or instructions.
• Ask them to bring something they can eat and maybe share. Many people on special diets would love to do this to ensure they can eat something safe.
• Do not be offended if after your efforts the person on the special diet can not eat anything. Understand that it can be difficult to accommodate someone with strict dietary restraints.

Enjoy the Holidays!

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