With summer here and the beautiful countryside full of flowers and beautiful green foliage, it’s time to grab a blanket and a basket of yummy treats and head out for a picnic.

Whether you’re planning a romantic gathering or a family adventure that is perfect for youngsters to blow off all that extra holiday energy, picnics are a great way to enjoy the outdoors. They’re certainly the perfect excuse to enjoy our beautiful climate and surrounds – especially because most of us spend a great deal of time in offices and classrooms.

According to the team of culinary gurus at Granny Mouse, picnics have come a long way since the days of the so-called ‘picque-nique’ in 17^th Century France. Outdoor gatherings like this found their way to England when the French aristocracy fled the French Industrial revolution and became a perfect fit with one of England’s best known culinary traditions – the good old sandwich.

However, unless you’re able to dream up some exotic fillings, your outdoor picnic should be less like a lunchbox and more about delicious bites that are reminiscent of tapas.

The idea behind this form of al fresco dining is to make sure that the delicious goodies that make up your picnic spread are finger friendly and easy to nibble as well as fun and unexpected.

These days you can find beautiful baskets or picnic bags that double up as cooler bags so there’s no excuse for wilted lettuce and sad salads.

With a little imagination, you can pass on the standard sausage rolls, samoosa’s and crisps and put together an imaginative and even healthy offering for all.

Here are some ideas from Granny Mouse’s culinary artists:

• Create various salads in individual jars. Our ideas include a cous cous, feta and beetroot salad with sprouts and a layered Greek salad.
• Desserts in jars – the same applies and this is a great way to serve a deconstructed blueberry cheesecake or a trifle.
• Find some exotic breads and cut them into bread sticks. Our team serves these with a basil pesto dip. Cheese and onion bread fingers can be combined with a spicy mayo dip.
• Skewers – these are perfect for sweet and savoury. Try melon, prosciutto and mozzarella balls with a balsamic reduction or tomato, basil and feta.
• Mini quiches – biltong, butternut and feta or tomato chutney and balsamic caramelised onion.
• Mini Prego rolls.
• Bite size doughnut balls with a chocolate dipping sauce.
• Crepes filled with a variety of fruit and custard

Imagine living with a serious food allergy which may include gluten, peanuts, shellfish or other allergies, and realize that it can be a little scary when going to conferences or special events, always being worried that they may eat something risky and provide some social anxiety.

Attendees with severe food allergies can become self-conscious being the centre of attention as they sit down to dine and the topic of conversation turns to their dietary issues.

Food allergies are considered to be an invisible disability. As meeting professionals, I think we would all agree that attending any conference or event should be safe and inclusive, where everyone is able to eat!

We have a duty of care and responsibility to our attendees to remove barriers and risks for them. Some consequences if food allergies are not properly handled?

Your guests don’t get to eat. They eat, but get sick. They get rushed to the hospital. Or worse….they could die.

Plan ahead

• Always ask for dietary restrictions when coordinating your conference – even if it’s only a small snack being provided.
• Ensure your registration questions are clear so you can differentiate between preference and allergy. For example, the questions need to be specific.
• When sourcing venues, ask specifically how they are able to accommodate food allergies and give your business to ones that have a good plan in place and take this topic seriously.

Questions to ask the guest

• Contact the guest before the event to discuss their allergy and find out how severe it is. Some allergies might be mild and don’t need many accommodations while others can be extremely severe. Ask if it’s an airborne allergen and what level of risk it is.
• Share the menu ahead of time. This will reduce anxiety.
• If a guest has specific questions around food handling, they might want to speak to the chef themselves. At Granny Mouse we are also there to discuss and find alternatives.
• We also need to confirm whether they are staying in the hotel. If they are, ask for the guestroom to be cleared of any allergens and disinfected, if necessary. We also have fridges in all our rooms so guests can keep their medication in there and we can also provide food that will not affect their specific allergy.
• If the allergy is quite serious, we at Granny Mouse like to have access to emergency contacts and action plans so we can assist in the event of an allergic reaction.

Speak to the venue

• If it is a buffet, we make sure there is a separate meal made, which is covered and placed on a separate table. They should never be told to eat from the same buffet in case of cross contamination (unless the food allergy is very mild). Their plate of food should have their name on it, not just “gluten-free” as other people might take it.
• Food should also be labelled and clearly state what the food does, and does not contain? This can be lifesaving information!
• Our chef is more than happy to chat about providing food alternatives which look similar to what the rest of the group is being served – for example, if everyone gets chicken, provide the guest chicken, but without the allergen. This will avoid the focus of conversation being on their meal.
• For a reception of passed appetizers, ask for a plate to be created of foods that can be offered to the guest at the beginning of the event.

Prepare onsite

• Meet the conferencing manager and do a walk-through of procedures together with our banqueting team.
• When a guest arrives at the registration desk, we can also provide a dietary card.

With some careful planning, your guests will be able to enjoy the event knowing that the meeting coordinator and venue understand the severity of their allergy, are advocating for them and are fully prepared. It is our opportunity to protect the safety of our attendees and there is nothing more important than that!

Luckily at Granny Mouse Country House & Spa, their dedicated team is there to help you plan for every food allergy, to ensure that your next conference is stress free, and that everyone has something tasty to remember.

Source: https://www.corporatemeetingsnetwork.ca/2018/01/09/plan-events-food-allergies-mind/