Vegetarian – The worst food to eat at the workplace
In a previous office, a colleague opened his lunch box to proudly display paya. He held court on the benefits of the soup and happily offered it. But seeing goat trotters almost made us lose our lunch and appetite. Thankfully, everyone at the table was non-vegetarian.
But this was not the first time he had opened his lunch box to reveal something ‘interesting’. Chicken with bones, fish and pork with fat was, still is, his regular lunch.
Vegetarians narrate horror tales about their non-vegetarian colleagues’ choice for office lunches from fish to smelly eggs. The non-vegetarians on their part rant about the vegetarians’ heeng ka tadka, smelly paranthas from gobi to mooli that lingers in the air hours after the lunch is over. And the battle continues.
Be Considerate
At one time, bringing in packed lunch would have been an object of ridicule but is now common. Maybe it is the health benefits of home-made food or the fact that studies in the UK have found that packing your own lunch actually saves you £2,500 a year! But the more ‘personalised’ lunches you have, the more complex are the office etiquette issues: what should you pack, how and where should you eat – in a group or alone, etc.
Even though most companies now have designated eating spaces, the number of people dining at the desk is increasing. Estimates by American Dietetic Association pitches it at 83%. This means, there’s someone eating at the desk leaving a tell-tale smell hanging in the air.
At heart, it’s not a vegetarian-non-vegetarian divide, but a considerate-inconsiderate debate. The problem with inconsiderate lunch picks is – you don’t know when you are doing it, and no one tells you when you are.
Packing Pointers
According to corporate grooming coach Pria Warrick, “Corporate offices with expat employees face a lot of issues regarding what to pack for an office lunch.” The main grouse: smelly food, mixing curry with rice and eating habits from using hands or chewing with your mouth open.
There are some definite no-nos for office lunch. The don’t-pack list includes: raw onions, garlic, asafoetida, rock salt, cauliflower, radish, fish and curry. Sundry web surveys rate fish as the worst food offender at work, followed closely by popcorn and Indian curry.
Smells Fishy
In a new research by Monell Chemical Senses Center, a Philadelphia-based multidisciplinary research on taste, smell and chemosensory irritation, problematic office food smells stem from situational expectations.
Simply speaking, you enter a restaurant expecting to smell lot of aromas, but that’s not true for a workplace. In food, smells and the association context matters. The institute conducted an experiment where people who smelled Stilton cheese in a container marked “Food” reported a cheesy scent, whereas those sniffing the same in a bottle marked “Body” thought it smelled like feet. Bottomline: if you eat Stilton at your desk your co-workers might think your feet stink.
Warrick says that non-vegetarian food is more offensive – to sense and sensibilities – than vegetarian one. “Maybe for the workplace you can stick to a vegetarian course,” she suggests. Or pack your food right – and tight. Use ziplocks, foil and odour-preventing plastic containers. Instead of chicken curry, how about a chicken wrap?
“Food is a personal issue, you can’t really tell people what to eat and what not. It has to be understood,” Warrick says. That’s the caveat: it’s always someone else. The perpetrator is always the lunch box next to you.
Vegetarian, Raw and Vegan with Bill & Sheila
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