The chalet experience

A snowHead

I can't see this working. I've been in quite a few chalets where two vegetarians caused them issues, unless you get lucky with a decent chef you might well struggle. Plus some guests might find the weird dietary requirement a bit, erm, weird.

A snowHead

All I will say is that you need to exclusively book the chalet. I would be really unhappy if your husband turned up and the food was changed because of him. Allot of people here are comparing the requirements to those of coeliacs etc, hardly the same. We are talking about someone so unreasonable that they ate something happily until they found out it is made out of veg, and then refused to eat it. He has genuine mental health issues, perhaps, or is just ignorant

karin,
That is a great confession to awful parenting rolling eyes

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

We send by email a form to all our guests (exclusive bookings or not) asking them for some personal details (age etc) and details of any dietary requirements.
Well-run chalets like ours can cope with any kind of dietary requirements as longs as notified in advance (and even if not, usually). The arguments about small kitchens and lack of hob space don't makes sense - with a bit of imagination and forethought you could do chalet cooking on a bunsen burner.... 12 years running chalets in Les Arcs, and not one week without a dietary requirement/fussy eater, but always satisfied in the end. Yes, go for a chalet but a well-run independent one not a mass tour operator affair, is my advice.

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SkiG, no-one is saying the food should be changed for the OPs husband...just that the chalet may be able to make a separate, simple meal for him...which would not inconvenience any other guest (even one as intolerant as you appear to be)... in fact exactly what araird says immediately after you.

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Plain meat and potatoes only must be the easiest "fussy eater" requirement ever. We are slightly different from the normal set up in the way we organise meals, have a double oven + hob space and I do appreciate that the chalet hosts in standard catered chalets tend to have very small kitchens with single oven and hob space (lots still get very good reviews for their food though, which is very impressive) but alongside the main meat dish we offer vegetarian options, and different kids' options, as well as adult size portions of the kids alternatives for those who just fancy a home-made burger that night or whatever, and we don't expect everyone to eat at the same time or every night (we do ask for 24 hours' notice though because it is freshly made). We will of course also cater specially for allergies and intolerances and personal dislikes (we just really don't want to serve food to people that they don't want to eat). Of all the sorts of requests you can get, having someone say "please can I just have some plain meat and potatoes every night?" would be really simple - I know because we happily met one such request last summer.

Would be interested to see the bunsen burner menu araird!

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SkiG, You did not only say "I would be unhappy with would be if the food was changed for everyone", that was just one point that you made.

The intolerant comments (IMHO)
"All I will say is that you need to exclusively book the chalet".
"We are talking about someone so unreasonable that they ate something happily until they found out it is made out of veg, and then refused to eat it."

and rude actually, ".....or is just ignorant".

Strong assertions when not really knowing anything about the OP and her OH. Thanks for calling me ignorant BTW, so that's me and the OP's husband so far.... Ignorance is a state of being uninformed ...so perhaps you should make up the threesome.

I agree with your anecdote about the shellfish, it's up to the chalet to cater for the individual if they have been notified, not to change the whole menu to suit 1 or 2

After all it is free

I reckon most decent independent chalet companies would happily cater for you as long as you told them exactly what you eat and don't eat. It's not much different from catering for someone with allergies or intolerances...

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SkiG, it was not necessary to parse your post, its entire tone smacked of intolerance.

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Ski Basics catered chalets in Meribel were brilliant last year and I think if you were to book the whole chalet, your cook would accomodate your husband's taste alongside everyone else. Put it this way, I ordered 'special' wines for a tasting one evening and they asked what I'd like to eat with it and prepared the 3 courses accordingly. A very flexible and accomodating company (which is why we booked the same chalet for this year, woohoo, not long now).

You know it makes sense.

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

Can't quite see why this has managed to run to three pages - any chalet company will cater for assorted dietary requirements/childish food fads/real or imagined 'intolerances'. Someone who refuses to eat anything other than meat and spuds is weird, but hardly difficult.

A snowHead

I have an allergy / intolerance to eggs and cream. Thankfully I can have a small amount with no ill effect but too much triggers my asthma and causes the food to go straight through me. I have always declared them but tend to find the info does not get passed on. I prefer chalet hotels as they tend to have some choices to help me avoid too much of those foods. I did one time ask for a starter to avoid them, BUT the resulting soup was so disgusting I regretted it and would rather have just eaten half of the normal soup than the two spoonfuls I could managed of the pea soup they did me. After that experience I didn't bother asking for anything different just adjusted how much I ate to not have too much, though obviously I am lucky that I can do that.

A snowHead

Wow... this certainly did get a lot of replies. I am thankful for the helpful comments. As for changing him etc, it's a no go. I have tried in the past to encourage different eating habits for his health but he just can't do it. Unless he is willing to seek help then I don't know what else I can do.

So, back to the chalet questions.... do you get to see a menu before hand?

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

We run chalets and this sort of diet is more than easy to cater for compared to requests we get each week. As a chalet chef it is easier than doing two sittings or doing some veggie or celiac options etc. All of these things are fine though if forewarned. It would be great having a whole group like your husband - be like a week off! Anyway go for it, so chalet hostsnor chefs I know would have any problem catering for him

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v1cky24, you can ask the day before or in the morning and they will tell you but you are unlikely to get a piece of paper

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

v1cky24, we send out the menu via email beforehand.

You'll need to Register first of course.

Menus: Rarely in advance, but usually on arrival for almost all meals if we ask (sometimes a few 'steak hmm or maybe duck depending on what comes in the midweek delivery' sort of thing)

Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...

The smaller chalet companies will almost certainly be able to help, although it might be very close to the time before they finalise the menu. Some of the big tour operators will run a standard menu in all the chalets in one given resort, but may not be willing to give you that until you have booked, if even then.

After all it is free

oh god moffatross, nooooooooooooo Skullie

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If you are worried, I'd recommend a self-catering holiday then you can guarantee a certain level of freedom and savings.

It also means exploring the town, go to the local shops, practise your French/Italian and support the local economy - lots of benefits!

Plus after a day on the slopes i'm sure you'd want to eat anything!

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I appreciate the comments on this and it has certainly given me, ahem, food for thought!

I did actually show my OH it and he was very interested as well. Haha

You know it makes sense.

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

Just let the selfish booger starve or tell him to pizz off out into the resort and feed himself because it's clear he makes you miserable and will obviously do the same to everyone else in the chalet and at the table. add to that he'll probably go a long way to earning a 'thumping' . . . odds on he'd get one as anyone that childlike over food could well have a lot more irritating peccadilloes the other guests will quietly like to throttle him over.

There's a huge difference between not liking or tolerating some foods, then personally working with quiet politeness toward friends/family/functions to find the most agreeable solution/outcome . . . and . . . the griping, petulant, toy tossing toddler that you are enabling.

Just divorce the pig.

A snowHead

A snowHead

This thread reminds me one reason why we don't do chalets anymore.

But the girl running one catered chalet we stayed in years ago was brilliant: she kept of log of every guest she had ever fed and their likes/dislikes and made it a matter of pride to never serve the same meal again to any guest. Eventually she left and became a ski instructor ,,,,

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

NeddySkiGoon, Humbug . . . he's taught himself to be sick. How may years of negative self reinforcement . . . and with obvious enabling all along the way? rolling eyes

Supertaster? As sure as s**t stinks he falls outside the box as (a) it's mostly American quasi-medical bullѕhіt and (b) in case you hadn't noticed, fruit and veg have quite a variation in taste and texture across all the taste sensations including Umami. There are ranges/genotypes of veg that some people will find distasteful, like the Coriandrum family that taste like soap to some, others like the Brasicas that can be incredibly bitter. Asparagus makes some people's pee smell and not others.

This is clearly a child that spat something out and has been indulged ever since and if he's too self indulgent or selfish to explore his own issues and forces all around him to acquiesce to his tantrums . . . then yes, divorce the pig, it's not going to get any better and age will make it worse.

He could of course go and do the right thing and explore his predilection and not force the people who might genuinely love him and the many who probably loath his company, to just kiss his (given his diet) probably ailing ring.

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if I recall correctly someone (allegedly educated) wrote that when you wean children onto food that it can take no less than fourteen times for said child to establish that they like something. My cousins kids hated broccoli but their mum used to mix it with yoghurt and they'd eat it then gradually remove the yoghurt until low and behold they ate and enjoyed broccoli. Too many kids have their every taste pandered to at a young age. What ever happened to there's your dinner, if you are hungry eat it or go hungry. May be the OP's partner was allowed to be a fussy eater as a child. Can't be doing with it myself. I have yet to discover a single food which I have encountered on planet earth I have refused to eat or at least moderately enjoyed. Just how I was brought up in a family where money and food was a precious commodity.

Masque, has a point, unsubtle though it may be