A few initial thoughts about food at BiCon 2015.
As far as I know this was the first BiCon with most meals included in the registration fee. We’re more used to self catering, bringing food with us, going out for meals or buying them on-site (perhaps in advance).
I go to a lot of work events and I expect though don’t welcome bad or non-existent vegan food. It doesn’t seem to correlate with expense: one of the most expensive venues didn’t know what was in their food and couldn’t find out or managed a main meal with practically no carbohydrates, protein or green veg. Some student unions have been excellent.
I know Nottingham, Beeston and the university well and so could easily find other food if I needed it and I brought a little of my own (yay vegan jerky!) I’m also privileged financially in that I could order in or buy food if I wished and I have many friends at BiCon who would feed me if I asked. I can deal will missing the odd meal though wouldn’t like it, particularly if stressed or ill. I find food I like comforting. I’m into good food and quite critical of bad food (food for me, not so much other people’s taste in food) though I can and will eat a wide variety of vegan fayre without major distress or adverse bodily reaction. When I’ve been other places where I’m unsure there will be good Grant food, I’ve brought more of my own for my own peace of mind.
I don’t come to BiCon for the food though meals and chat over snacks at BiCons with other attendees have been many of the best bits of BiCons for me because of how social they have been and I chose not to do that this year but instead to try the meals offered.
I found the BiCon venue’s food inadequate at lunch on the first day though I got to it late because I was being interviewed for the local radio. I thought it was quickly corrected to something better the next day. Otherwise the food was OK to live on for a couple of days if uninteresting. The bulk food serving seemed a bit inefficient for a venue used to conferences though perhaps we are unusual in demanding good accessibility but not wanting a lot of frills. Again, they made corrections within a day. I don’t think it was particularly expensive though could be wrong. I thought the cafe by the day venue quite pleasant.
I found knowing where I might find most attenders at regular points of the day an unusual highlight of BiCon this year. I liked being able to sit with or near other BiCon people especially sharing with people I don’t otherwise know and so would be less likely to have met on a meal out. I liked having an easy place to arrange to check in with partners and friends. I found the dining hall a little loud but not much too loud. On Friday night I was very tired and food was close to my room and easy to get apart from the queue.
When I’ve organised community stuff I find it makes attendees and organisers lives much easier if people are well fed and watered.
I know I can sometimes latch on to a concrete thing to fix discomfort on, such as catering, rather than deal with anxiety around say sexuality or unstructured social time with many strangers with social rules outside the ones I usually see or my hopes for a peak life changing experience. I suspect some others may do the same so I try to be understanding of the worry rather than arguing the details of the snacks.
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