The good people of the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre were challenged to feed four thousand hungry, sleep deprived, opinionated atheists over the three days of the Global Atheist Convention. And, despite a few grumblings from the vegans, I think they did really really well!
Welcome Reception
Kicking off the weekend, armed with a couple of glasses of wine, or a few beers, a smorgasboard of sushi rolls, oysters, rice paper rolls and mini sausages greeted us. Some struggled to find their vego options, but I just tucked into the sushi. Nom nom nom.
Live sushi making!
And so we merrily went in for an evening of comedy to kick things off!
Morning and Afternoon Teas
Morning and afternoon teas brought the usual dodgy coffee (and thus long queues for the coffee cart for proper soy lattes!), but there was a huge selection of teas on offer, and half-decent sachets of hot chocolate.
I loved the SerendipiTea chai (once they fetched more soy milk because they made the mistake of not labelling the mini soy jugs as soy and I believe many people had their first soy coffees that first morning!), and the peppermint was also as expected.
(The MCEC coffee cart was well priced and good to kick off my morning before the first talk. $4 for a large, no extra soy charge)
The gluten full home-made cookies were devoured by the masses.
Many more apples were consumed by me on the weekend than most months. No wonder I got a tummy ache!
The gluten free and vegan among the group were offered vast amounts of fruit pillows, but also melting moments, choc chip cookies (not vegan) and jam thingies. Pre-packaged, but appreciated!
There was an awesome gluten free caramel slice on the first afternoon! I didn’t eat the jam tarts. Anyone?
Lunches
The separate special needs table provided some delicious gluten free rolls, gluten free foccacia, sushi with gluten free soy sauce, and other gluten free options of awesome:
Ham was provided. You know, cos Atheists aren’t Jewish or Muslim.
Lunchtime entertainment was provided by the Christians on Saturday, and Muslims on Sunday.
If you were at the Convention, what was your foodie highlight? If not, what has been your best and worst conference food experience?
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