This thread was inspired by something that happened to me 20-some years ago, so I don’t need answer fast. I’ll share what actually happened a little farther down.
You have to feed a group of 50 - maybe as part of a business meeting or a seminar. You can’t offer choices and you can’t canvass the attendees ahead of time. Your budget is for more than baloney sandwiches but not enough for surf-and-turf, and you can’t have a buffet - the plated food will be served at tables.
FWIW, the attendees may or may not have eaten at some point during the day, but they will be able to get something after they leave your venue, so nobody’s going to starve.
I would choose some sort of antipasto platter for each person. You know, like you used to get in Italian restaurants 50 years ago. Some tuna or salmon, olives, some salami, cheeses, cheese stuffed peppers etc. And some good Italian bread on the side with dipping oil.
Some sort of meat-free pasta dish, preferably a baked one that isn’t going to become noticeably less appealing during the time it takes to serve it. Lasagna, baked ziti, that sort of a thing. And a green salad.
I do catering for pretty much exactly this. The catering portion of out business is mostly actual lunches (that is, served in the middle of a work day and knowing people are hungry), but we also dabble in funerals. Funerals are tough because they tend to be eating at some random point in the day. Some people are hungry, some aren’t, some will have a few bites of something, others will go back to the food 3 times.
Anyway, for an event like that, we usually suggest cocktail sandwiches. Basically cold cuts on dinner rolls (about have the size of a hamburger rolls). That works out well. People that aren’t very hungry but want to socialize will have one, people that are starving will grab two or three of them.
After that, just normal ‘lunch’ stuff. Fruit and veggie platters, some type of (lettuce) salad, some potato or pasta salad and a small dessert like a platter of cookies or brownies.
And, on preview, what Elmer said, salad dressing generally on the side. Same with our sandwiches, condiments on the side. Or, as I like to explain when someone is expressing concern about condiments already on the sandwiches, ‘there’s nothing on them that you can’t pick off’.
In my case, a group of us were on a training trip for work. We’d had some morning meetings and after lunch, there was to be a tour, so the venue we were visiting fed us. I’m guessing our travel office paid for the meal, but I don’t know and it doesn’t matter.
They served a salad, with assorted dressings available, baked salmon with a white (cheese?) sauce, a potato side and a veggie side. It was memorable in that it was the first time I ever had salmon, and it was soooooo good! But I know lots of people don’t like fish or any sort of seafood (my sister, for one.) However, the sides were ordinary enough that I’m pretty sure everyone ate at least something. I seem to recall the beverage choice was iced tea or water - I always take water anyway.
Faced with a similar situation, I’d probably opt for something benign like baked chicken, mashed potatoes, and peas-n-carrots, or maybe green beans, bread and butter, and maybe salad. I figure that way, most people could find something to tide them over.
I bet it’s a nightmare these days, what with vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, keto, religious restrictions, and whatever the food-fad-du-jour might be.
When the lil’wrekker was in highschool, somehow(?) I got on a committee that was responsible for providing lunches for visiting groups of ‘dignitaries’
The school would tell us when, what and where they needed the food.
Most successful was ‘finger food’
Deli-trays, slider sandwiches.
Desserts would be pre-portioned.
We generally set it up buffet style.
We were ‘Moms’ not service experts. So plating and serving dishes was just out.
We were always thanked.
No one got food poisoning.
I think we were successful.
ETA- I re-read the OP and see ‘buffet style’ was not an option.
I agree, having salmon and only salmon as the main course for 50 people is risky. I’m sure, if I was there, I wouldn’t be the only person who wouldn’t eat it and would hopefully be able to fill up on the sides. I usually suggest that people have at least 2 options. Again to go back to our lunches as an example. People love our chicken salad. I’ve had people call us for a lunch for, say, 20 people, and ask for 20 chicken salad sandwiches. Granted, if you polled the attendees and that’s what they want, it’s fine, but otherwise I suggest they maybe go half and half with something else or at least put in a few non-chicken salad sandwiches.
Speaking as a vegetarian, someone serving me meat with the attitude of ‘Oh, you can just leave it if you don’t want it’ would leave me extremely annoyed with the caterers. If I don’t want animals to be killed for me to eat, killing animals just to sit in front of me for a bit then go in the trash is kinda dialling that up to 11.
Regarding the question, I just wouldn’t attempt it, given the restrictions. Off the top of my head, I have friends allergic or intolerant to the point of being sick to:
dairy
eggs
soya
nuts
onions
garlic
tomatoes
gluten
Plus vegetarians, vegans, people who keep kosher (though I don’t know anyone who keeps it proper strict) and halal (they cheat even more), and people with oral allergy syndrome who don’t eat most raw fruit and vegetables.
About the only think I think I could safely prep and plate that everyone I know could eat without risk to their health or breaking their dietary beliefs would be plain rice, and no-one wants to eat that.
A nice salad, dressing on side, with some cold sliced chicken, garlic bread and a wedge of some kind of melon.
Everyone will be able to eat something, you won’t need to keep it warm or worry it’s getting cold, minimal cutlery/condiments required. A snap to have catered in, plated and ready to serve!
I would serve two half sandwiches, one veggie, and other bland meat (probably chicken), wrapped, and not touching each other, with no condiments. And a small salad, not touching the sandwiches. And a piece of hand-fruit – perhaps a mix of apples, oranges, and bananas, so people can trade around the table if they want. Note that they could also trade the wrapped half sandwiches.
And I’d have condiments on the table, or in little packets on the plate. And serve water and unsweetened iced tea, with sugar on the table.
I have lots of friend with dietary issues, and that won’t satisfy all of them (the gluten free might be able to peel and eat the orange, but that might be it) but it will satisfy most of them. And those who have celiac, or a deadly allergy to nightshades, or whatever, will just have to eat later. But honestly, they are used to it. And as mentioned above, plain unseasoned white rice is pretty much the only food I can think of that every single one of my friends can eat, and that’s not what anyone especially wants to eat.
Well, you could give your half chicken sandwich to the guy next to you. But honestly, at least half of my vegetarian friends are used to eating around the meat, so long as it doesn’t touch the stuff they plan to eat. And as someone who won’t eat anything with bell peppers in it, I never get the vegetarian option at a meeting unless it’s described in great detail – just too dangerous. I’m not alone – lots of people have aversions to one vegetable or another, lots are sensitive to alliums (onions, etc.) and nightshade allergies aren’t all that rare.
I’m vegetarian largely for environmental reasons; the insane levels of food waste are something that gets me anyway. I’m actually fine with my food touching meat or being cooked in the same fryer, although I know many aren’t, but people serving me unwanted meat kinda makes my blood boil.
We all have our own ways of being bloody awkward.
I would stick with grazing options with elevated choices of cheeses, bread rounds, crudités, deli meat chunks, fruit, chips, salsa, bean dip, trail mix. My last trip to Paris we had a gluten free and a vegetarian guest. The vegetarian fared pretty good the gal who was gluten free not so much. The time we all had a decadent dessert she was given an unpeeled banana on a plate and a little bit of attitude from the waiter as well. She was a champ though and took it well. Poor thing was also dragging along two suitcases on our trip what a nightmare.
