Eating at a Meeting

While attending PCMA Convening Leaders convention, Tracy had the opportunity to attend one of the Lip Smacking Food Tours. In this episode, she chats with founder Donald Contursi on how he has become an award-winning tour company that offers unique dining experiences in Las Vegas and beyond. https://www.lipsmackingfoodietours.com/ https://www.facebook.com/LipSmackingFoodieTours https://instagram.com/lipsmackingfoodie https://twitter.com/VegasFoodieTour Connect with Tracy: facebook.com/groups/EatingataMeeting thrivemeetings.com

I first heard The Day Tripper Chet Garner speak in early 2022 at the Southwest Showcase and immediately fell in love with his love of Texas and how through his show he is sharing and teaching us all about the culture, community, people, history, and food of the Lone Star state. As the creator, host, and executive producer of the 12-time Emmy-award-winning Texas travel show which airs on PBS stations across the country, Chet explores the HUGE state to show that it only takes a day to find new experiences and get a taste of something different. Join Tracy and Chet as they talk about Texas food and beverage and how it has influenced some of the experiences he has had daytripping it across the state he loves to call home. Connect with Tracy: facebook.com/groups/EatingataMeeting thrivemeetings.com

Food Allergy Awareness Month Epsiode If you were to look at a group of people would you be able to point out the ones who have food allergies or celiac disease? Probably not. They don't look different from others standing next to them. This is great on one hand, but also a serious challenge on the other. Food allergies and celiac disease are serious INVISIBLE medical conditions that millions of people live with every day, including Gwen Smith. These medical conditions can be life-threatening, make it hard to be active, socialize, and live full and good lives, especially when there is food around. What you don't see nor does the person standing next them is the extreme diligence that goes into staying healthy and safe every single day. Listen as Tracy chats with Gwen, editor and content chief of Allergicliving.com, who is an experienced journalist with severe food allergies, about why is it so important to you to make food allergies and celiac disease more visible. Connect with Tracy: facebook.com/groups/EatingataMeeting thrivemeetings.com

A Special Food Allergy Awareness Week Episode First 30 minutes: Kyle Dine and his family love to travel. But dining out while traveling can be hard when he has allergies to peanuts, tree nuts, shellfish, egg, and mustard and his wife has celiac disease. He started his company Equal Eats after having a full-blown anaphylactic reaction in a European restaurant because the tree nut cashew got lost in translation between him and the waiter. Something that can and does easily happen every day. Tracy and Kyle talk about the what the term "Equal Eats" means to them. Learn how guests with food allergies can set themselves up for dining success and how together we can influence change in the foodservice system. Second 30 Minutes: Business coach and food allergy mom Karen Palmer, CPC, ELI-MP joins Tracy to talk about the most important thing families can do to prepare their food-allergic children to dine safely in college and a one thing people might not think to consider when considering dining options at college. She shares some very enlightening tips! Connect with Tracy: facebook.com/groups/EatingataMeeting thrivemeetings.com

Food Allergy Awareness Week Epsiode. Having a food allergy can create a heavy burden for individuals — children and adults alike — constantly having to think about and managing EVERY bite, spill and crumb because a single mistake — a morsel, a touch, or inhalation of a food protein — can be deadly. Join Tracy on Friday, May 13 as she talks with licensed clinical therapist, Lisa Rosenberg, about the BEST part of having food allergies and the advice she would give to someone who is just starting their food allergy journey? With current standards of care being 1) avoiding the allergenic foods, 2) carrying epinephrine auto-injectors, and 3) seeking emergency medical care if epinephrine is used, just worrying about having an allergic reaction "is sometimes more serious than the food allergy itself," says Charles Feng, an allergist at the Palo Alto Medical Foundation in Mountain View, California. Learn how to help reduce stress, panic attacks and the bullying some food allergic eaters have about eating out and relying on someone else to order and prepare your food. Connect with Tracy: facebook.com/groups/EatingataMeeting thrivemeetings.com

Food Allergy Awareness Week. Episode Caroline Benjamin and Jacqui McPeake are no strangers to a catering or hotel kitchen, having worked in food service for a combined 35+ years. They are also no strangers to food allergies and other dietary needs, Caroline being allergic to gluten and dairy and Jacqui a mom of a food allergic child. Together (and separately) their passion for raising awareness of food allergens and intolerance across the food industry has supported the rollout and adoption of allergen legislation in the United Kingdom, teaching about and promoting best practices for allergen management, and implementing policies and procedures that result in safe and positive dining experiences and in return, increased revenue and customer loyalty. Joining from the UK during Food Allergy Awareness Month, Jacqui and Caroline will join Tracy on Eating at a Meeting, Thursday, May 12, to discuss how food service businesses can help food allergic customers feel safe when looking for and dining at their events/venues, how to increase revenue with food allergic guests, and the importance of the "Near Miss Campaign" they've launched to help everyone. Connect with Tracy: facebook.com/groups/EatingataMeeting thrivemeetings.com

Food Allergy Awareness Week Epsiode Due to successive tick bites, Amanda Warren became allergic to all mammalian meats (meat allergy); developed a secondary allergy to milk, cheeses, animal byproducts and carrageenan, as well as airborne lipid and particle reactivity. The Alpha Gal Syndrome diagnosis upended Amanda's personal food world. As a School Nutrition Director, chef, and educator, it changed how she feeds thousands of kids every day, and brought to mind thoughtful concerns around allergy management, food labeling, and our food system. Join Tracy and Amanda during Food Allergy Awareness Week as they discuss what has been the most difficult experience after her AGS diagnosis and the priorities she thinks could make the greatest impact around alpha-gal, RIGHT NOW? Connect with Tracy: facebook.com/groups/EatingataMeeting thrivemeetings.com

Living with one or multiple life-threatening allergies is not an easy thing to do, whether it is someone you care for or yourself. You have to read labels. A lot of labels, all the time, and over and over. You have to ask a lot of questions of others about how they prepared food and what's in the food. It can be terrifying, relentless and exhausting. And, every aspect of life seems to be driven and controlled by them. Ruth Holroyd is allergic to many things — nuts, dairy, soy, wheat, latex, nickel, dust, pollen — and has been to the intensive care in the A&E (emergency room in the UK), after being served milk by a pub. For Food Allergy Awareness Week, Tracy is talking with Ruth about her Action Plan For Living with Life-Threatening Allergies. Join the conversation to learn how she manages her allergies and how you can help her and the millions of others like her when preparing and serving food to them. Connect with Tracy: facebook.com/groups/EatingataMeeting thrivemeetings.com

When a person gets diagnosed with a food allergy they often leave the office with not much more information than that diagnosis. Navigating life after the doctor's office feels overwhelming. That is where Kristin Osborne, founder of The Prioritized Group, comes in. As a trained disability advocate and mom to three boys with multiple life threatening food allergies, she gets it. With over 13 years of food allergy management and disability advocacy, she has helped her clients gain services and accommodations entitled to children in school. Listen as Tracy and Kristin discuss what it means and how to bridge the gap between diagnosis and daily life. Connect with Tracy: facebook.com/groups/EatingataMeeting thrivemeetings.com

Let's talk about food allergies and celiac disease. May is the month dedicated to learning about them even though we should be doing it all year long. In this episode Tracy talks about what food allergies and celiac disease are, things to consider when planning menus for guests with those dietary needs, and how to plan for them in meeting and event food and beverage experiences. Connect with Tracy: facebook.com/groups/EatingataMeeting thrivemeetings.com