Convention menu dilemma

Ooh, a puzzle.

I think I’d try to serve:
Canned soda, bottled water, coffee, tea, with packets of sugar and little shelf-stable creamers, both dairy and vegan.
The lemonade of years past!

Plain hummus (check labels to make sure there’s no capsaicin or allium) with pita and a box of gluten-free wafers.

More crackers and breads, including some clearly labeled and separated gluten-free options.

A cheese plate, with no vegetable decorations to avoid cross contamination. That provides protein and fat for everyone except the non-dairy folks, who i think can all eat the hummus. Don’t get cheese with stuff mixed in, get cheeses that are just cheese.

A separate plate with some sausages, if you have budget and space for it. I’m sure you know this, but don’t put meat on the same plate as anything you are serving to vegetarians, as it will often gross them out. The capsaicin guy will avoid this platter, so spicy stuff is okay here.

Hand fruit. That is, whole fruits people can pick up with their hands. It tends to be room-temperature stable, and with no utensils, there’s little risk it will have been contaminated. Depending on season and budget, mandarins, apples, pears, peaches, plums, bananas are all good. (Banana guy will take another fruit. He says he’s okay being in the same room with bananas.

If you can keep it cool, a bowl of salad greens, with a separate bowl of cherry tomatoes and a separate bowl of cut bell peppers, and bottled salad dressings would be nice. I’d not serve onions and garlic, even separate, in part because they can smell bad in an enclosed space. But your could throw cucumbers and radishes into the salad mix of you are feeling energetic.

Some commercially packaged candy bars / sweet snacks/ protein bars/ kind bars in wrappers, avoiding any that have peanuts as ingredients. My guess is that a candy bar made in a facility that uses peanuts that isn’t consumed by the people sensitive to peanuts will be safe enough, and they will know not to eat them.

Actually, that pepper allergy person is extremely sensitive. Avoid anything with capsaicin in it, anywhere in the room. There are lots of sausages that are safe (read the ingredients, avoid “spices” even though that will remove a lot) or substitute thick sliced ham or turkey ham cut into pieces that fit on the crackers.

I was thinking perhaps cubed ham on toothpicks, with spreadable cheese for the crackers.

I might do cheese cubes, then, to match the meat. Also, then it’s easy to say “brand x cheese type y”, and the people with serious allergies will take comfort from that info.

Oh, and is there any chance you’d have room for a crock pot or an instant pot or something? I have a super recipe for lentils (slightly adapted from Madhur Jaffrey’s an invitation to Indian cooking) that i think everyone on your list could eat.

Again, the hotel does not want us cooking hot dishes that compete with their own restaurants.

Update: Norwescon was this past weekend, and according to the huzzahs and tickertape parade in my honor your suggestions made it a great success! I had no complaints about food being unavailable to certain groups, I stayed within budget, and I had a great time. Once again, I thank y’all!

Yay! Once again, the Dope comes through.

What did you end up providing?

Congrats-
Brian

Yay!

And

Ditto.

Congratulations! I feel like we shared your worries about doing a good job. SO glad it all went well.

Ditto^2.

First off, I totally avoided all nuts and peppers. For the general members I served up bowls of fruit whole, not cut up(small apples, small bananas and tangerines) and vegetables(celery and baby carrots). There were deconstructed sandwiches(individually bagged ziplock sandwich bags with two slices of bread each, turkey, ham or roast beef, cheddar, Swiss or American, and individual condiment packets). For breakfast I had muffins and oatmeal. On request I had gluten-free bread, non-dairy cheese and gluten-free oatmeal. I served the standard sodas, both regular and sugar free, regular coffee, Earl Grey tea and various herbal teas, sparkling waters and bottled water, non-fat milk, and soy and almond milks on request.
For the pro parties at night honoring the guests of honor and the panelists we gave our allergy list to a catering service and they served up various trays of well-labeled goodies, and there were no complaints at all. All in all a complete success, and I’ve been asked back to do it again for next year’s Norwescon.

The price of success - you have to do it again.

Glad it worked out so well.

That sounds great!

It looks like I’ll be doing the same thing for Orycon in November.

No good deed goes unpunished.

That was a helluva feat to pull off. You done good - way better than I could’ve.

Does this mean @Czarcasm, will now be the Czar of Convention Food Puzzles?

The CCFP for short?

I think it’s better than NYC rat Czar, but hey, gotta catch them all.