Food at Pycon

[Aahz]

In article <mailman.339.1067783904.702.python-list at python.org>,
Kendall Clark  <kendall at monkeyfist.com> wrote:
>On Sun, Nov 02, 2003 at 01:55:48AM -0500, Aahz wrote:
>>
>> I'm saddened that you chose not to write a balanced post about the
>> subject, so here is some additional information for people:
>
>Balanced or not, I have to agree with Laura. The food at PyCon earlier
>this year was awful, especially for those of us who are
>vegetarian. While, as a vegetarian, I'm used to getting treated like a
>2nd class citizen at geek conferences, the vegetarian options at PyCon
>were terrible. Of course, this is just about the only bad thing I can
>say about the conference, but since the subject has come up...

Well, given the forcefulness of Laura's non-vegetarian comments, I doubt
you can fairly claim that you were being treated as a second-class
citizen this time.  ;-)

>Now I live in DC, near to the conference site, and will certainly be
>at the next one; I'd appreciate the chance to not subsidize other
>people's food consumption which I find morally problematic. Or, if I
>do have to subsidize them, I'd at least like to have something I can
>eat which is tasty and inoffensive.

More seriously, I think almost everyone who goes to a conference ends up
subsidizing some activity that others want and they don't.  We can
certainly make more effort to accomodate a variety of food needs, but
given the wide variety of needs that I'm aware of, I doubt we'll cover
everything.

Here's what we probably have to deal with in dietary restrictions:
low-fat, low-carb, vegetarian, vegan, kosher, wheat-free.  That doesn't
even count the people who dislike what we provide but don't actually have
a "food need" (like Laura).  

But I think that providing food is overall a social good for a conference
because of the convenience factor in promoting conversation.
-- 
Aahz (aahz at pythoncraft.com)           <*>         http://www.pythoncraft.com/

"It is easier to optimize correct code than to correct optimized code."
--Bill Harlan