idnits 2.17.1
draft-barnes-healthy-food-07.txt:
Checking boilerplate required by RFC 5378 and the IETF Trust (see
https://trustee.ietf.org/license-info):
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
No issues found here.
Checking nits according to https://www.ietf.org/id-info/1id-guidelines.txt:
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
No issues found here.
Checking nits according to https://www.ietf.org/id-info/checklist :
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
No issues found here.
Miscellaneous warnings:
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
== The copyright year in the IETF Trust and authors Copyright Line does not
match the current year
-- The document seems to lack a disclaimer for pre-RFC5378 work, but may
have content which was first submitted before 10 November 2008. If you
have contacted all the original authors and they are all willing to grant
the BCP78 rights to the IETF Trust, then this is fine, and you can ignore
this comment. If not, you may need to add the pre-RFC5378 disclaimer.
(See the Legal Provisions document at
https://trustee.ietf.org/license-info for more information.)
-- The document date (July 16, 2013) is 3936 days in the past. Is this
intentional?
Checking references for intended status: Informational
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
== Unused Reference: 'GFgourmet' is defined on line 803, but no explicit
reference was found in the text
Summary: 0 errors (**), 0 flaws (~~), 2 warnings (==), 2 comments (--).
Run idnits with the --verbose option for more detailed information about
the items above.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2 Network Working Group M. Barnes
3 Internet-Draft Polycom
4 Intended status: Informational July 16, 2013
5 Expires: January 17, 2014
7 Healthy Food and Special Dietary Requirements for IETF meetings
8 draft-barnes-healthy-food-07
10 Abstract
12 This document describes the basic requirements for food for folks
13 that attend IETF meetings require special diets, as well as those
14 that prefer to eat healthy. While, the variety of special diets is
15 quite broad, the most general categories are described. There can be
16 controversy as to what constitutes healthy eating, but there are some
17 common, generally available foods that comprise the basis for healthy
18 eating and special diets. This document provides some
19 recommendations to meeting planners, as well as participants, in
20 handling these requirements.
22 Status of this Memo
24 This Internet-Draft is submitted in full conformance with the
25 provisions of BCP 78 and BCP 79.
27 Internet-Drafts are working documents of the Internet Engineering
28 Task Force (IETF). Note that other groups may also distribute
29 working documents as Internet-Drafts. The list of current Internet-
30 Drafts is at http://datatracker.ietf.org/drafts/current/.
32 Internet-Drafts are draft documents valid for a maximum of six months
33 and may be updated, replaced, or obsoleted by other documents at any
34 time. It is inappropriate to use Internet-Drafts as reference
35 material or to cite them other than as "work in progress."
37 This Internet-Draft will expire on January 17, 2014.
39 Copyright Notice
41 Copyright (c) 2013 IETF Trust and the persons identified as the
42 document authors. All rights reserved.
44 This document is subject to BCP 78 and the IETF Trust's Legal
45 Provisions Relating to IETF Documents
46 (http://trustee.ietf.org/license-info) in effect on the date of
47 publication of this document. Please review these documents
48 carefully, as they describe your rights and restrictions with respect
49 to this document. Code Components extracted from this document must
50 include Simplified BSD License text as described in Section 4.e of
51 the Trust Legal Provisions and are provided without warranty as
52 described in the Simplified BSD License.
54 Table of Contents
56 1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
57 2. Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
58 3. Conventions and Terminology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
59 4. Requirements for Special Diets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
60 5. Venue Selection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
61 6. Meeting Coordination . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
62 7. Venue and Food Service Recommendations . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
63 8. Participant Recommendations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
64 9. Specific Food Recommendations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
65 10. Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
66 11. IANA Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
67 12. Acknowledgements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
68 13. Informative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
69 Author's Address . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
71 1. Introduction
73 While much of the success of IETF protocols can be attributed to the
74 availability of large cookies and readily available beer, there are
75 some IETF participants for whom such items aren't compatible with
76 dietary restrictions or the choice to eat a healthy diet. So, while
77 the IETF Tao [RFC6722] describes the IETF as "a place to go for 'many
78 fine lunches and dinners'", for folks with dietary restrictions,
79 meals can require the most planning and be one the most stressful
80 aspect of the meetings. Certainly, the tao clearly states that folks
81 are on their own for lunches and dinners, however, the meeting fee
82 does cover (some of) the cost for the food provided at breakfasts and
83 breaks. The dietary restrictions are quite varied, but fall into
84 general catgories based typically on medical, religious, health and
85 ethical reasons. While [RFC6640] describes some food considerations
86 which are very useful for the average attendee, it intentionally does
87 not address the dietary restrictions described in this document.
89 Most folks are generally understanding of dietary restrictions for
90 medical conditions such as diabetes, celiac disease, and folks with
91 severe allergies to foods such as peanuts that cause immediate
92 anaphylactic and often life threatening reactions. In general, folks
93 respect the special diets required for religious reasons and for
94 folks who have chosen to follow a healthy and vegan/vegetarian diet,
95 which for some folks also has a religious basis. More subtle food
96 allergies and sensitivies, as well as less common medical conditions
97 (e.g., PKU) can sometimes be more difficult to handle, both in terms
98 of the understanding by the general public and food service staff.
99 It is also important to note that these dietary restrictions are not
100 just an inconvenience, but rather they can introduce a barrier to
101 full participation by a subset of the population. The logistics
102 involved in obtaining the appropriate food can interfere with
103 participation in the meeting sessions, as well as informal
104 discussions.
106 2. Overview
108 In general, most folks on restricted diets are very resourceful in
109 terms of researching the meeting venue and determining availability
110 of "safe foods". Folks with these food restrictions typically are
111 proficient at managing these situations provided they have access to
112 information or are able to talk directly with food service staff, in
113 particular the head chef. However, in some cases, this can be more
114 difficult in terms of access to the "safe food" when folks are in
115 foreign countries where their native language (or a language in which
116 they are very fluent) is not widely understood or when the meeting
117 venue is in a more remote geograhic location. Indeed, many of the
118 folks with dietary restrictions arrive at the meetings early enough
119 to scout out locations for finding "safe food". However, at times,
120 the hotels modify their typical food service offerings, such as
121 ordering from menus to just providing a more restricted subset of
122 food choices, to optimize the handling of the large crowds and
123 limited time during the lunch period. Typically, the extra food
124 service areas (carts, etc.) that some meeting venues use to handle
125 the lunch crowds do not offer any food appropriate for several of the
126 dietary restrictions. Meeting venues that are not co-located with
127 the meeting hotel, in particular those that are not located in the
128 city center, typically introduce the most problems in terms of
129 availability of safe food. The cafes that may be located at the
130 venue typically do not have any safe foods available and often the
131 availability of food for participants in the general area of the
132 venue (i.e., close enough so folks can get back to the venue for
133 afternoon meetings) is very limited at these locations.
135 Many folks with dietary restrictions compensate for the lack of
136 readily available safe food by bringing food from home to the
137 meeting. In the case where the meeting is in the home country, there
138 is likely no issue with this practice. However, many meetings
139 require a large number of IETF participants to travel to foreign
140 countries, many of whom prohibit the participants from bringing
141 outside food. Since the food from home often provides a large part
142 of the sustenance for participants with restricted diets, this can
143 introduce a large problem - either the participant goes without or
144 they violate the laws of a particular country and don't declare the
145 food to avoid confiscation. While folks with restrictions due to
146 medical conditions can bring a doctor's letter, there is still a risk
147 of the food being confiscated, since it is highly unlikely that the
148 folks handling the situation are able to make a decision outside the
149 rules with or without the letter. Certainly, participants have a
150 choice, although difficult in cases where the meetings are required
151 for their jobs, as to whether or not they attend a meetings. IETF is
152 an open and inclusive organization, thus facilitating accessiblity to
153 safe foods should be a human factors consideration for the meetings.
154 In addition, laws in some countries (e.g., American Disabilities Act
155 in the U.S.) classify some medical conditions as invisible
156 disabilities (e.g., celiac disease, food allergies, hearing issues)
157 and thus require that accommodations be made for dietary restrictions
158 for medical reasons, in the same way as accommodations are made for
159 other disabilities. The American Disabilities Act applies to non-
160 profit agencies that serve the public.
162 The objective of this document is to summarize some common
163 requirements for all special diets. The focus of this document is to
164 provide information for individuals/organization that choose venues
165 (Section 5), meeting organizers (Section 6), participants (Section 8)
166 and the meeting venue staff (Section 7) to meet some basic
167 requirements for these dietary restrictions. It is recommended that
168 these recommendations be more formally adopted by the first two
169 groups (i.e., those that choose venues and those that organize and
170 run the logistics for the meeting) into their procedures.
172 This document is not intended to provide comprehensive information
173 about any of these dietary restrictions, but rather the restrictions
174 are described in a very general sense, with a few examples, to
175 provide the context for the recommendations in this document. The
176 references include cookbooks that are representative of the special
177 diets discussed in this document. Most of these cookbooks provide a
178 basic overview of particular dietary restriction, lists of safe
179 ingredients, etc. There are a plethora of websites with tons of more
180 information on this topic and specific dietary restrictions.
182 In addition, this document discusses the importance of providing
183 remote attendance for folks whose conditions limit their ability to
184 travel. It is hoped that by increasing the availability of foods for
185 folks with these restrictions could increase the ability for some
186 folks to attend the face to face meetings.
188 While discussion of this document was originally targeted for the
189 ietf-food@employees.org mailing list, it has become increasingly
190 clear that this is something that the community as a whole needs to
191 understand, thus the author is prepared to open the floodgates again,
192 in particular due to the decision to hold yet another meeting in a
193 remote location (IETF-86) in Orlando, without consideration of these
194 requirements.
196 3. Conventions and Terminology
198 This document uses the following terms:
200 Celiac disease: A medical condition which requires a diet entirely
201 free of wheat, rye, barley and most oats. The reaction, as in
202 food allergies, is to the protein in these grains, which is
203 gliaden or most often referred to as gluten. Of particular
204 concern for this dietary restriction is that even the smallest
205 amount of the offending food can trigger the manifestion of the
206 illness. This website provides an excellent overview:
207
208 Food additives: Anything added to food which is typically not
209 natural in origin, such as artificial flavors, artificial colors/
210 dyes, nitrates/nitrites, sufites/sulfates, mono-sodium glutamate
211 (MSG). This list is not comprehensive and some of these additives
212 (i.e., the latter three) are naturally occurring in foods,
213 however, the levels/volume of the substance is a fraction of what
214 is typically added to foods.
215 Food allergies: Typically refers to a food to which one has a fairly
216 immediate and sometimes anaphylactic reaction. These allergies
217 are typically recognized in that folks produced IgE antibodies to
218 a specific food. There are also foods in which the reaction is
219 delayed and one typically produces IgG antibodies. There are also
220 acute mucousal reactions such as to gluten, in which case IgA
221 antibodies are produced. It is not uncommon for folks with food
222 allergies to also have food intolerances.
223 Food intolerances: Food intolerances can be less severe than food
224 allergies in that the reaction is often delayed and isn't
225 typically life threatening. The reactions cover a very broad
226 range of symptoms such as gastrointestinal reactions (e.g., from
227 dairy or gluten), oral reactions (swelling, mouth ulcers, etc.)
228 flu-like symptoms such as overall muscle aches, headaches,
229 fatigue, sinus congestion, etc. In a small subset of folks, there
230 can be fairly severe neurological impacts producing ADD/ADHD
231 symptoms, severe anger, seizures, etc.
232 Halal: Halal is commonly used to refer to food that is permissible
233 according to Islamic law and is special diet followed by most
234 Muslims. One of the areas of most concern for this diet is the
235 source and processing of meat. In one sense, the Halal
236 requirements are extremely close to Kashrut standards followed by
237 those who consume a Kosher Diet. As with a Kosher diet, pork is
238 never acceptable.
239 Healthy: In the most general sense, healthy refers to a diet that is
240 typically void of processed foods, highly processed sweeteners,
241 food additives, food preservatives, hydrogenated oils, etc. In
242 some cases folks such as those on Vegetarian and Vegan diets would
243 add animal fats to this list. And, obviously, foods with wheat
244 are not considered healthy for celiacs, even foods with natural
245 sweeteners are often unhealthy and of course, any food to which
246 one is allergic is not healthy. So, in this document, the terms
247 is used to refer to a diet based on vegetables and some fruits,
248 along with appropriate proteins, grains, and healthy fats, all of
249 which are suitable for a variety of special diets.
250 Kosher: A Kosher diet is based on specific rules for food source,
251 preparation and handling that are typically followed by many Jews.
252 The strictest rules are around the source and preparation of
253 meats. In particular meat and dairy must not be mixed and in most
254 cases utensils that have been used to prepare non-Kosher foods
255 cannot be used. Pork is considered non-kosher.
256 Phenylketonuria (PKU): A medical condition requiring a low protein
257 diet and avoidance of any food containing phenylalanine (e.g.,
258 aspartame). The diet for PKU is often comprised of large amounts
259 of fruits and vegetables in specific portions since the daily
260 intake of protein must be monitored. Grains can be consumed in
261 moderation. The manner in which the food is prepared must be
262 known as ingredients used in cooking and added prior to serving
263 (e.g., butter) need to be identified as they can contribute to the
264 total amount of protein.
265 Special Diet: Special Diet: Refers to any diet for which the source,
266 method of preparation, handling and serving of the food must all
267 be known. In this document, this term is used to refer to any of
268 the dietary restrictions discussed.
269 Vegan: A Vegan diet entirely excludes the use of animals for food
270 (including animal by-products such as cow's milk, butter, eggs,
271 honey, etc.). Many folks adopt a completely vegan lifestyle and
272 eschew the use of animals or animal by-products for any purpose
273 (e.g., no leather shoes). In terms of dietary restrictions, one
274 can view a vegan diet to be a subset of a vegetarian diet.
275 Vegetarian: A vegetarian diet is one which excludes the consumption
276 of meat products, usually including fish. Some vegetarian diets
277 also exclude animal by-products such as egg and dairy.
278 Vegetarians that do consume egg and dairy products are sometimes
279 referred to as lactoOvo-vegetarians and those that consume dairy
280 products, but no eggs, are referred to as lacto-vegetarians.
282 4. Requirements for Special Diets
284 While there is no strict definition as to what qualifies as a
285 "healthy" diet, there are a variety of diets that individuals choose
286 based upon a desire to maintain good health and prevent disease as
287 well as to treat specific diseases.
289 Allergies are a key reason that some folks must follow a specific
290 diet. In terms of the number of folks that require special diets, it
291 is estimated that anywhere from 3% to 7% of the population has food
292 allergies. The top eight allergens are: milk (cow), eggs, peanuts,
293 tree nuts (such as almonds, cashews, walnuts), fish (such as bass,
294 cod, flounder), shellfish (such as crab, lobster, shrimp), soy and
295 wheat. It should be noted that the allergic reactions are to the
296 protein found in the food. For example, an allergy to milk is most
297 often due to casein, which is the most common protein found in cow's
298 milk. Thus, any other food product that also contains casein (e.g.,
299 butter and cheese) can also cause an allergic reaction. While
300 intolerances to specific foods may not elicit a true allergic
301 reaction, individuals with food intolerances typcially must also
302 avoid the offending food. For example, some individuals are lactose
303 intolerant and thus they also cannot consume cow's milk as described
304 on the following website:
305 .
307 It's estimated that about 5 percent of the U.S. population is
308 vegetarian and about 0.2 percent of the U.S. Population being vegan.
309 Twenty-five percent of the population has the genetic predisposition
310 to develop celiac disease. It is estimated that as little as 0.3
311 percent of the individuals with celiac disease have been diagnosed.
312 Both the U.S. and Europe are actively working to educate the medical
313 community on the high prevalence of undiagnosed celiac. In some
314 countries, the rate of diagnosis has doubled in recent years. This
315 trend is expected to continue, thus as time goes by the need for food
316 accommodating this diet will increase. As of 2009, about 15% of the
317 U.S. Population were following a gluten-free diet. Western Europeans
318 and those of European descent experience the highest incidence of
319 Celiac disease. Although, it is not specific to those ethnic groups
320 and has been found in all populations around the world.
322 Dietary restrictions for religious reasons include those who follow
323 Halal, Kosher and some folks that follow Vegan/Vegetarian diets.
324 Halal is commonly used to refer to food that is permissible according
325 to Islamic law and is special diet followed by most Muslims. One of
326 the areas of most concern for this diet is the source and processing
327 of meat. In one sense, the Halal requirements are extremely close to
328 Kashrut standards followed by those who consume a Kosher Diet. As
329 with a Kosher diet, pork is never acceptable for a Halal diet. Fish
330 with scales are considered both Halal and Kosher. Shell fish are
331 controversial and are a common allergen, thus recommended to be
332 avoided as part of planning for foods to accommodate a broad range of
333 dietary restrictions.
335 Dietary restrictions due to medical conditions impose very stringent
336 requirements on the food, in particular for allergies and food
337 intolerances. Celiac disease is a good example of a medical
338 condition that requires extreme care in the preparation and handling
339 of the food. In many cases, this requires that the food is not
340 processed or prepared anywhere near those grains. For example, it
341 would not be appropriate to use the utensils, bowls or pots/pans that
342 have been used to prepare foods containing those grains without
343 thoroughly cleaning and only metal or glass should be used since
344 trace amounts of the grains can attach to plastics and wood. For
345 example, this means that neither plastic nor wood cutting boards that
346 have been used for these grains can be used. Nor, can the foods be
347 prepared in the same area or even near an area where the grains are
348 being used for food preparation. In general, this requires
349 designating ahead of time a specific area to be used for the
350 preparation of these foods and ensuring that the food preparer and
351 anyone that handles or serves the food uses appropriate methods to
352 avoid cross contamination. In terms of serving the food, providing
353 plastic utensils and dishes, while not environmentally friendly,
354 helps to avoid one potential area of cross contamination for most of
355 the diets.
357 In general, the same rules that are required for handling food for
358 medically restricted diets applies to all other special diets in
359 terms of avoiding cross contamination. Meat products require special
360 consideration in ensuring that food suitable for vegetarians/vegans
361 is not contaminated, that appropriate meat products are provided for
362 folks on Kosher/Halal diets and that the meat products are
363 unprocessed and thus suitable for most allergy/intolerance special
364 diets, with the obvious exception that folks that are allergic to
365 fish can't eat fish, etc..
367 There are laws in many countries and jurisdictions (e.g.,U.S., E.U.)
368 that make it illegal to mislabel foods that are Halal or Kosher. At
369 this time, food manufacturers in many jusisdictions (e.g.,U.S., U.K,
370 E.U.) must include all ingredients on the labels of any packaged food
371 product. The following are examples of the requirements for such:
372 <:http://food.gov.uk:80/foodlabelling/>, ,
374 . Many
375 products also contain designations as to whether the product is
376 vegetarian or vegan, however, the standards for these labels are not
377 as clearly specified or restricted. Manufacturers are required to
378 specifically label the food if it contains any of the top 8
379 allergens.
381 In terms of detailed information available to food service
382 establishments in order to accommodate these special diets, the
383 (U.S.) National Restaurant Association [NRA] has produced a
384 comprehensive guide for food service establishments to ensure that
385 they appropriately handle food specifically for allergies and
386 intolerance, but could be used to avoid cross contamination and
387 ensure that only "safe" foods are served.
389 The fundamental requirements for the provision of food to accommodate
390 special diets consists of the following:
392 1. The meetings should be held in a location where markets that sell
393 foods for special diets are conveniently located.
394 2. The right food should be accessible to the participants at the
395 meeting venue.
396 3. Food that is served at the venue should be prepared and served by
397 appropriate methods as described above.
398 4. The meeting coordination and venue staff should be made aware of
399 participants requiring such food and should be willing to
400 accommodate such requirements.
402 The subsequent sections of this document describe the
403 responsibilities of the following organizations/individuals in
404 meeting these requirements:
406 o The IETF individuals involved in selection and negotiation of the
407 meeting venue as described in Section 5. In general, this is the
408 responsibility of the IETF Administrative Oversight Committee
409 (IAOC), but applies to anyone involved in this role.
410 o The IETF organization and individuals that handle the coordination
411 of the meetings such as the meeting registrations and other
412 logistics, as well, coordination for the provisions at the meeting
413 venue, as described in Section 6. In general, these are the
414 responsibilities of the IETF secretariat, but apply to anyone
415 responsibile for this role.
416 o The venue staff that are responsible for providing services during
417 the meeting as described in Section 7.
418 o The attendees with specific dietary restrictions and requirements
419 as described in Section 8.
421 5. Venue Selection
423 Accommodating the requirements for special diets starts with the
424 selection of the venue. The following describes some criteria and
425 suggestions that can significantly impact the availability of foods
426 for special diets relative to the venue. It is recommended that
427 these critera and suggestions be considered as part of the evaluation
428 and negotiation process in the selection of a venue. Other than the
429 last criteria, if a venue cannot satisfy these criteria, then the
430 venue should be deemed unsuitable for an IETF meeting.
432 1. Accessiblity to "healthy" food: Meetings that are located in the
433 city center of large metropolitan areas significantly increase
434 the accessibility to foods for special diets. Food markets are
435 generally within walking distance and the number of restaurant
436 options improve the potential for a healthy meal. In addition,
437 the opening hours for food markets don't entirely overlap with
438 meeting times, thus allowing the attendee to find healthy/safe
439 food without having to miss a meeting (which is the primary
440 objective in attending the meetings for most attendees).
441 2. Onsite accommodations: While the location of the meeting
442 dramatically impacts the availability of food near the meeting
443 venue, the logistics of the meetings do require the accessibility
444 to healthy/safe food during the meetings. The folks that
445 negotiate the contract should ensure that the venue is willing
446 and able to make accommodations for basic requirements in
447 Section 4. Section 7 outlines specific requirements for the
448 venue and food service staff that provides useful input into this
449 requirement. Information as to the number of attendees for whom
450 the accommodations are required can be based on the information
451 available from previous meetings, with updated information
452 provided once the majority of the registrations for the meeting
453 have been completed. In addition, folks that negotiate the
454 contract should ensure that attendees are allowed to bring in
455 outside food and beverage. This is a necessity in the case that
456 the venue fails to provide adequate food onsite. More
457 importantly, it is a medical necessity for some folks to always
458 have specific types of food and drink readily available (e.g.,
459 for diabetics or others with blood sugar issues).
460 3. Repeat venues: Meetings that are located where previous meetings
461 have been held can greatly faciliate (or dramatically inhibit)
462 the accessiblity to safe/healthy foods. The attendees from
463 previous meeting (s) already have the information on
464 accessibility to the healthy/safe foods which should influence
465 venue selection. If the post-meeting surveys include questions
466 as to the availability of foods for these specific diets at the
467 venue, the folks that select the venue know a priori whether the
468 venue is suitable in this respect. For cases of first time
469 attendees for a specific location, relevant information can be
470 gathered from attendees that have previously visited the city.
472 6. Meeting Coordination
474 IETF meeting coordination staff are typically pro-active in meeting
475 the needs of folks with special dietary restrictions when they've
476 been made aware. The meeting registration form includes a field for
477 participants to indicate dietary restrictions. Accommodations
478 including the following have been provided:
480 o At one venue that served many cookies with nuts, the meeting staff
481 was able to ask the food service staff at the meeting venue to
482 have some nut free cookies available and labeled as such.
483 o The staff are very accommodating in ensuring special meals are
484 provided to participants that attend meetings where meals are
485 provided in cases where they have been made aware (e.g., WG chairs
486 lunch).
487 o The availability of safe/healthy foods at the breaks has
488 increased. For example, frozen fruit bars have been available at
489 the traditional Thursday ice cream social and veggies have been
490 available at some of the afternoon breaks.
492 The following summarizes the recommendations for special diets that
493 meeting planners should be able to accommodate with some pre-
494 planning, and as noted above have already been pro-active in
495 accommodating:
497 1. Ensuring that specific foods for special diets is available at
498 the IETF meeting hotel restaurants, along with information on the
499 accessiblity to such in nearby markets/restaurants. These
500 accommodations should be available starting on the Friday nite
501 prior to the meeting week, since some folks arrive early for pre-
502 meetings and the tools session.
503 2. Determining special dietary needs of participants during
504 registration and communicating any additional requirements to the
505 venue staff and to the meeting hosts that are sponsoring the
506 Sunday evening reception and social event who may be directly
507 planning and coordinating the food for those events.
508 3. Providing information about the provisions for special diets in
509 the participants IETF registration packet and on the IETF meeting
510 attendee mailing list.
511 4. During the meeting, responding to the concerns raised by
512 participants in terms of the problems encountered. In general,
513 this requires serving as a facilitator between the participant
514 and the venue staff. It should be noted, that in general this
515 situation intervention should only be required in cases where the
516 participant has done their part with regards to the necessary
517 accommodations for their special diet per Section 8.
519 7. Venue and Food Service Recommendations
521 Since IETF meetings are typically held at full service venues,
522 accommodating special diets is a service that can typically be
523 provided, in particular with advance notice that allows the venue to
524 properly plan. Planning is required to ensure that the basic
525 requirements identified in Section 4 can be satisfied.
527 The following summarizes the recommendations for special diets that
528 the venue and food service staff should be able to accommodate with
529 some pre-planning and meet all the requirements.
531 1. Agreement with meeting planners during the contract negotiation
532 phase that they can at least meet the basic requirements in
533 Section 4.
534 2. Providing information about the provisions for special diets on
535 check-in and readily available at all food service locations
536 within the venue.
537 3. Ensuring that specific foods for special diets is purchased in
538 time to meet the dietary requirements starting on the Friday
539 night prior to the meeting week, since some folks arrive early
540 for pre-meetings and tools session.
541 4. Training chefs if necessary to ensure food for special diets is
542 properly prepared. Noting, that the majority of chefs receive
543 training to accommodate special diets. There is a food service
544 training guide published by the National Restaurant Association
545 (the other NRA) [NRA] that provides explicit details for
546 restaurants in accommodating food allergies that applies
547 generally to other dietary restrictions.
548 5. Training waitstaff on the need to clearly document the special
549 dietary requirements when food is ordered.
550 6. Training waitstaff to effectively communicate with the food
551 preparers and servers (which are not always the waitstaff in some
552 food service locations) to ensure that the preparation, handling
553 and serving of the food for the specific dietary restriction is
554 understood.
555 7. During the meeting, ensuring food that is available at evening
556 reception, breakfast and snacks is arranged to avoid cross-
557 contamination. Items of particular concern are ensuring that
558 products with nuts are clearly labeled and not co-mingled with
559 nut-free products, meat products are separate from dairy
560 products, wheat products (e.g., bread, bagels, muffins, etc.) are
561 separated from safe food items such as fruit and ideally a list
562 of ingredients is readily available for any prepared foods.
563 8. Allowing outside food and beverage. While all the items listed
564 above dramatically increase the accessibility to safe food, there
565 will still be times that an attendee cannot ascertain whether
566 certain foods are safe and thus cannot be consumed. In addition,
567 certain medical conditions require that attendees always have
568 specific types of food and beverages on hand (e.g., diabetics and
569 others with blood sugar issues).
571 While this list might seem quite onerous, a similar approach is used
572 by a variety of organizations including public schools, overnight
573 summer camps for kids, airlines that still provide meals for
574 international flights and a broad range of other conferences from
575 small to large.
577 8. Participant Recommendations
579 The following summarizes the recommendations for special diets for
580 which the participant is responsible. These recommendations allow
581 the individual to pro-actively ensure that adequate food is readily
582 available during the meeting, for lunch in particular:
584 1. Ensuring that the accommodations booked for the meeting can
585 accommodate any food or medication which requires special
586 handling such as refrigeration (e.g., insulin for diabetics and
587 any other supplements, medications or foods which are important
588 for other special diets). Many hotels will provide a
589 refrigerator in the room. Some hotels have microwaves in the
590 rooms or in common areas. In many cases, it can be a really good
591 idea to stay at a hotel near the venue, where food preparation
592 items and refrigerators are standard. Many of the major chains
593 have residence style hotels and one can often find corporate
594 apartments for rent in major cities. For example, there was a
595 residence type hotel right next to the meeting venue in
596 Philadelphia. The room rate was identical. There were also two
597 Whole Foods markets within walking distance. Thus, for folks on
598 special diets, we really had an optimal setup. Often, the
599 residence/suite style hotels will also do shopping for you (with
600 a list provided in the room).
601 2. Bringing special dietary items (including medications, etc.) that
602 are typically not generally available, especially in airports or
603 when arriving off hours in an unfamilar location, in carry on
604 luggage. It is often very, very helpful (and sometimes
605 necessary) to have a letter from your healthcare provider
606 documenting the need to travel with these items. Also, this will
607 typically allow you to go through security with a freezie pack in
608 a lunch cooler.
609 3. Indicating the dietary restriction when registering for the IETF
610 meeting.
611 4. Monitoring the IETF "food" mailing list for information as to
612 availability of specific special diet foods, including food
613 markets, nearby food service establishments, as well as at the
614 venue.
615 5. Gathering the available special diet information upon arriving at
616 the venue.
617 6. Sharing information on the IETF "food" or IETF meeting specific
618 mailing list as to local food service establishments and markets
619 near the venue during the meeting.
620 7. Communicating effectively with the food service personnel your
621 specific dietary needs. While the expectation is that the venue
622 and meeting planners have done their job, ensuring that one gets
623 the right food requires effective communication every step of the
624 way. Thus, the same approach that one uses elsewhere should also
625 be used at the meetings. One can never assume that everything
626 has been taken care of by someone else. And, as with anything
627 that involves many people doing the right thing, there is always
628 room for human error. A very effective tool for communicating
629 this information are food allergy cards available on several
630 websites, some of which allow you to enter all your restrictions
631 and print them yourself. Others are pre-printed and purchased
632 from the vendor. These cards can be given to the food service
633 staff. This is very helpful for staff that are unfamiliar with
634 handling special dietary requests, as oftentimes these cards
635 trigger a visit from the chef. In virtually all cases a
636 discussion with the chef on your dietary requirements results in
637 the precise food that you have require.
638 8. Thanking the folks that do take the effort during the meeting to
639 accommodate your special dietary needs and ensuring that the food
640 service staff are adequately tipped in locales for which this is
641 a custom.
643 9. Specific Food Recommendations
645 While specific foods for the special diets can be quite diverse and
646 sometimes contradictory (e.g., meat for vegans/vegetarians, seitan
647 for celiacs, etc.), there are also sufficient readily available foods
648 that can meet the requirements of the majority of the special diets.
649 There are a plethora of recipes in cookbooks and on websites that
650 address all these various diets, including many that combine the
651 diets, such as [kosher-veg] and [cornucopia]. Stores such as Whole
652 Foods, with locations in virtually all major U.S. cities, as well as
653 in the U.K., typically handle this in an exceptional manner, as well,
654 as they often have a salad bar section that consists of very plain
655 and clearly labeled foods. Most Whole Foods stores also have lists
656 of specific foods in the store that are safe for a variety of special
657 diets. Many airlines that provide special meals typically use the
658 same basic meal to accommodate all special diets, in many cases just
659 substituting an alternative protein such as the ubiquitous portobello
660 mushroom for the meat to accommodate a vegetarian/vegan diet. Also,
661 many restaurants do have a subset of their menu that can typically
662 accommodate special diets and in many cases the menus either label
663 the items as such or include a note indicating that dishes can be
664 prepared to accommodate dietary restrictions.
666 The following summarizes some basic foods that can accommodate the
667 majority of special diets that the venue coordinator and food service
668 staff should be able to accommodate with little pre-planning since
669 they are the foods that provide the basis for most healthy diets. In
670 addition, almost all of these items require very little preparation,
671 thus the potential for cross-contamination is fairly low by observing
672 the basics of a clean prep area and clean utensils, etc. Also, many
673 of these items can be delivered by the food service distributors
674 ready for serving (e.g., salads and even some meats). Virtually all
675 the foods can be served cold, as most folks find a cold meal
676 acceptable for breakfast and lunch since dinners at IETF meetings
677 tend to be larger, hot meals:
679 o A variety of fresh fruits available at breakfast, lunch and for
680 breaks, when cookies, etc. are served. The fruit must be kept
681 separate from the cookies, etc. to avoid cross-contamination.
682 o A variety of fresh vegetables, either served raw or steamed and
683 served plain, available at lunch either on a buffet or on the
684 menu.
685 o At least two greens (without preservatives) for a salad base
686 available at lunch and dinner - e.g., Romaine and spinach - served
687 separately as some folks cannot tolerate the oxalates in fresh
688 spinach.
690 o Lean proteins such as beans, steamed fish and steamed, grilled or
691 deli meats such as chicken or beef, with at least one kosher
692 option and ensuring that the meats are unseasoned and without
693 fillers. Note, that the meats can be served cold, thus prepared
694 the night before and actually this may be very economical for the
695 food service establishment where fresh foods are typically more
696 desireable - e.g., fish spoils most quickly, thus cooking what's
697 left from the dinner the night before is economical and efficient.
698 For some folks, these foods are eaten for both breakfast and
699 lunch.
700 o Also, to accommodate folks that can handle various spices and
701 seasonings with their food, a range of condiments such as the
702 basic salt and pepper, ketchup, mustard, mayonnaise and Tabasco
703 sauce, as well as minimal salad dressings such as vinegar and oil.
704 These items are readily available at virtually any food service
705 establishment.
706 o Within the food preparation environment for these foods and in the
707 case of buffets, avoiding dairy altogether is recommended as it is
708 a common allergen, not eaten by vegans, has special rules for a
709 Kosher/Halal diet, 50 percent of celiacs cannot tolerate dairy and
710 the most health conscious of people typically recognize that cow's
711 milk, pastuerized in particular, is not a particularly healthy
712 food.
714 The following food options would be nice to have available, but may
715 require some pre-planning depending upon the venue, but in general
716 can be purchased/prepared ahead of time, thus should not be
717 particularly difficult to support:
719 o Alternative grains such as Quinoa - can be served as a hot
720 breakfast cereal or served as a side dish as an alternative to
721 rice or cracked wheat salad (Tabbouleh) - the latter could be made
722 using leftovers from breakfast. In the case of breakfast, side
723 options such as maple syrup and dried fruits like raisins can be
724 used to sweeten (in the same manner as these items are served with
725 oatmeal).
726 o Rice crackers as an alternative to wheat based grain products.
727 o Hummus as a protein alternative for breakfast and lunch. Hummus
728 keeps quite well, thus the food service staff would only need to
729 prepare a large enough batch to last the week.
730 o Sprouted beans as a salad/protein alternative for breakfast and
731 lunch.
732 o Soups that would accommodate all diets such as non-dairy Squash or
733 vegan lentil soup. As with the meats, this soup could be made
734 with leftovers served from the previous evening.
735 o Nuts and seeds (e.g., pumpkin, sunflower, etc.), including nut
736 butters, as alternative protein sources for folks. These are
737 suitable for all meals and snacks.
739 o Snack bars as an alternative to the cookie option at breaks.
740 There is a wide range of healthy snack bars available, with many
741 being either free of all allergens, vegan and kosher or at least
742 accommodating 2 of the 3 main restrictions. For example, bars
743 with honey are not vegan, but may be suitable for all the other
744 special diets. Many of the manufacturers of these snack bars will
745 provide a certain number to non-profit organizations for their
746 events for marketing and as a public service.
748 10. Security Considerations
750 This document neither defines nor extends any Internet protocol, thus
751 there are no particular security considerations. One could consider
752 the information as to which participant requires a special diet to
753 require some level of privacy, but in general, this isn't considered
754 particularly private for most folks. As noted in Section 8, one can
755 never assume that the food offerings are safe and the individual
756 should always confirm such.
758 11. IANA Considerations
760 This document requires no IANA registrations.
762 12. Acknowledgements
764 The authors appreciate the feedback from the individuals who
765 considered the discussion on the IETF-72 attendee list to be
766 constructive and provided good input. In addition, we also
767 appreciate the feedback from folks that considered this topic to be
768 only of concern for a small subset of participants and an onerous
769 task and expectation for consideration by both meeting planners and
770 the meeting venue. Feedback from these folks provided the motivation
771 for this document.
773 The author appreciates the support from Dan Wing in setting up the
774 ietf-food mailing list. The list has been very helpful in
775 identifying restaurants, markets, etc. and allowing folks with
776 similar food interests to meet and dine together at recent meetings.
778 The author appreciates the comments and feedback from Dan Romascanu,
779 Teemu Huovila, Ran Atkinson, Fred Baker, SM, Joel Jaegli, John
780 Klensin and Melinda Shore. This document was provided to Ole
781 Jacobsson (as an IAOC member) as input to the meeting hosts (Kaori
782 Maeda and Akira Kato) for planning purposes for IETF-76 in Hiroshima.
784 13. Informative References
786 [RFC6722] Hoffman, P., "Publishing the "Tao of the IETF" as a Web
787 Page", RFC 6722, August 2012.
789 [RFC6640] George, W., "IETF Meeting Attendees' Frequently Asked
790 (Travel) Questions", RFC 6640, June 2012.
792 [NRA] Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Network, "Welcoming Guests
793 with Food Allergies", 2008.
795 [kosher-veg]
796 Marks, G., "Olive Trees and Honey: A Treasury of
797 Vegetarian Recipes from Jewish Communities Around the
798 World", November 2004.
800 [cornucopia]
801 Heffernan, E., "Cornucopia at Home", October 2008.
803 [GFgourmet]
804 Hagman, B., "The Gluten-free Gourmet Cooks Fast and
805 Healthy", June 2000.
807 Author's Address
809 Mary Barnes
810 Polycom
811 TX
812 US
814 Email: mary.ietf.barnes@gmail.com