greed vs need vs over eating

Every year around Chinese New Year, I get invited to hotels for thank you dinners and lunches.  The hotels like to coincide it with Chinese New Year so that they can also welcome the new year with us.

We do a Lo Hei dinner or lunch, where we toss the salad while asking for a good year ahead ( check with Wiki HERE on the meaning of Lo Hei )

With my gluten intolerance I struggle with accepting the invitations, as all Chinese food contains some soya which contains gluten and leaves me struggling after each meal.  This year I missed a couple of dinners as I had taken time off to be with family  but I had to attend our office Lo Hei twice, one with the management team that did not bother to listen to my protests on my dietary restrictions and again on Monday at a hotel restaurant which offered a buffet lunch.
This is where you learn things about your colleagues.  I learnt that several of them were greedy and took more food than they needed and left untouched portions of chicken, vegetables, prawns and several  other bits of food.  You lose respect for people that waste food....

Anyway.....

Gluten Free menu - 7 dishes 

That same night I had a dinner invitation at one of the larger convention hotels which had said they would organise a gluten free meal for me.  I was interested to see how they pulled it off, as one earlier dinner a few weeks ago promised but never delivered the gluten free meal.

the other menu - 8 courses

 I got one less dish than the other diners on the table, and they gave me a green salad to eat with chopsticks.  I would have preferred the scallops...............

the green salad 

All in, it wasn't a bad effort on the part of the hosts but it could have been better......... maybe I should offer my services as a gluten free meal adviser?

poached chicken....was tasty!

I know, beggars cant be choosers but as a world class destination for meetings and exhibitions we definitely need world class cuisine for any dietary restrictions.  I was thrilled though that I got to eat with my colleagues and enjoy the night and not worry about having to suffer the consequences.

fish with coriander sauce

Singapore is a gourmands playground, we have all sorts of food that

Not a gluten free option.....pity

cater to all sorts of budgets.  Michelin starred chefs to the humble hawkers.  You could eat in a different restaurant or a different hawker place for a month and not repeat the same location.  Too much food........which begs the question do we really need so much......