Eating at a Meeting

If your food pantry's shelves don't reflect the needs of 21 million gluten-free Americans—or you assume guests will 'just figure it out'—it's time for a reality check. This episode reveals why transparency, education, and intentional sourcing are the keys to serving every member of your community safely and affordably. Carla Carter, Director of Education & Programs at the National Celiac Associati...

Here's the truth most event professionals don't want to say out loud: we often treat food allergy requests as a nuisance instead of a responsibility. This week — Food Allergy Awareness Week — I'm bringing a conversation to Eating at a Meeting LIVE that I believe every meeting planner, caterer, hotel F&B team, and event organizer needs to hear. I'm sitting down with Karen O'Connor, Executive Chef a...

Food allergies aren't just a dietary preference. For millions of people, they are a daily negotiation with risk, anxiety, and belonging. This week is Food Allergy Awareness Week, and for Day 3 of Eating at a Meeting LIVE, I'm sitting down with someone who has been in the trenches of this conversation for years — Lindiwe Lewis, allergy advocate and host of the Behind the Allergy podcast. Lindi has...

A label on a buffet card is not a safety plan. And if you're relying on one to protect your guests with food allergies, this episode is for you. For Day 2 of Food Allergy Awareness Week, I'm bringing Executive Chef Jay Varga of The JDK Group Catering & Events on Eating at a Meeting LIVE — and we are getting into what food allergy safety actually requires in an off-premise catering environment. Jay...

Here's something that doesn't get said enough: the biggest food allergy risk at your event doesn't start in the kitchen. It starts the moment your registration form goes live. To kick off Food Allergy Awareness Week, I'm getting into exactly that — and I've got the right people at the table. The UK events industry just launched something the sector has needed for a long time: the ABPCO Managing Di...

May is extra special for me—it's not only Food Allergy Awareness Month and Celiac Disease Awareness Month, but it also marks the 16th anniversary of thrive! meetings & events and the start of Eating at a Meeting's seventh year! This episode is a solo one, and I'm taking the mic to reflect on why I started my business and this show: making safe, inclusive dining part of every event experience. In t...

If you think serving one gluten-free vegan dish covers all your guests' needs—or that "nut-free" labeling is enough to keep diners safe—think again. This episode dives deep into the most persistent myths and mistakes surrounding event food and beverage, from confusing labels and registration oversights to the real cost of ignoring dietary needs. Host Speaker A shares hard-earned lessons from 30+ y...

What does it really mean to source "Pacific salmon"? Kim Brigham-Campbell and Terrie Brigham are sisters, members of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, and co-owners of Brigham Fish Market—a Native-owned, family-run business on the banks of the Columbia River in Cascade Locks, Oregon. Since 2014, they've been catching wild Columbia River salmon, sturgeon, and steelhead fro...

Anamaria Gutiérrez is 23 seasons into running Este Garden, a women-powered, one-third-acre urban farm in East Austin growing vegetables, herbs, edible flowers, and fruit and nut trees for four restaurants: Suerte, Este, Bar Toti, and Nixta Taqueria. Her path to the garden ran through a UT Austin business degree, a farmers market coordinator role, a farm fellowship, her own market food business, an...

It started as a kitchen garden. Nine acres. A favor from her husband. Today, Green Door Gourmet is 350 acres of certified organic farmland on the Cumberland River — one of the largest organic operations in Tennessee — growing 80 kinds of fruits and vegetables, 80 flower varieties, and 25 specialty herbs, including Southern heirloom varieties that most event menus have never seen. Sylvia Harrelson...

What does it actually take to grow the food that ends up on a hotel banquet table or a farm-to-table dinner menu? Lauren Palmer has spent 17 years answering that question one harvest at a time. Lauren is the owner and farmer behind Bloomsbury Farm, a USDA Certified Organic operation on more than 400 acres outside Nashville, Tennessee. She grows vegetables, fruits, sprouts, microgreens, mushrooms,...

What if the most interesting ingredient at your next event was already growing just outside the venue? I've been thinking about this lately — and then Lotta Giesenfeld Boman introduced me to Lisen Sundgren, and honestly, she made it impossible to think about anything else. Lisen is my guest this week on Eating at a Meeting Podcast LIVE — and she is the perfect person to kick off Women's HERstory M...

What if your event menu was the most powerful branding tool your destination has? In this episode, Tracy is joined by Erik Wolf, Founder and Executive Director of the World Food Travel Association and the pioneer behind the global "Taste of Place" movement. We talk about why food and beverage should no longer be treated as a banquet line item—but as the way destinations, hotels, and convention cen...

What does it mean to truly belong at the table — as a guest and as the one designing the experience? This Black History Month, I'm hosting an Eating at a Meeting Podcast LIVE conversation with two extraordinary Black women leaders in the events industry: Zoe Moore (Grow with Zomo) and Diane R. Brown, MBA (Derby Brown Productions). We'll explore how to design events that honor Black history, cultur...

Dry January always gets me thinking about how poorly the event industry still does when it comes to inclusive beverage experiences. At one event where I was speaking about inclusive dining, everyone at the table was served sake at dinner that night. One guest quietly pulled me aside and said, "This is exactly what you were talking about." He doesn't drink. Neither do I. And in that moment, we were...

If your event bar still treats non-alcoholic drinks as an afterthought, we need to talk. I'm sitting down LIVE with Kevin Morgan, Global Head of Tempo by Hilton and a 24-year hospitality veteran who has worked his way through Hilton from front desk agent to brand leadership. Kevin also helped lead Hilton's global CleanStay response—so when he talks about safety, execution, and systems, he's lived...

When you're in Philly for PCMA Convening Leaders, you don't just grab a cheesesteak and call it a day. You pay attention to the food culture, the people behind it, and the stories that shape the city. And I couldn't leave town without sitting down with one of the catering chefs doing exactly that. This week on Eating at a Meeting Podcast LIVE, I'm talking with Chef Adam DeLosso, Executive Chef and...

Imagine sitting down at an event, ready to enjoy dessert… and realizing the kitchen can't tell you what's in it. Tracy is joined by internationally recognized vegan pastry chef, cookbook author, and culinary educator Fran Costigan to talk about what should be one of the easiest wins in event food and beverage: designing menus that respect both people and ingredients. Fran has spent decades teachin...

Last year, Les Dames NC selected Food Connection as one of three beneficiaries of our annual holiday cookie sale—and this conversation is exactly why. This is the third interview in my series spotlighting organizations that are feeding our communities with food that already exists… including food coming straight from events, catering kitchens, and conference centers. I'm sitting down with Marisha...

When I first toured the Javits Center rooftop farm back in October 2022, I walked past rows of lettuce, herbs, and apple trees on top of a convention center, tasted apples the chef had just brought down from the orchard, and went home with honey from the hives above the show floor. That visit completely changed how I think about what event food can do. Now I'll be talking with Yashi Dadhich, Direc...

When Kerry Washington recently shared on Jimmy Kimmel Live that she often eats in bathrooms at high-profile events because her food allergies aren't taken seriously, the allergy community felt it. And when FARE posted that clip, Jo Frost — who lives with life-threatening anaphylaxis herself — commented, "hear you and see you @kerrywashington DITTO." That one word — DITTO — carried decades of lived...

As 2025 closed, Tracy dedicated three episodes to something that matters deeply: the organizations feeding people who need it most. And we're starting with one that's rewriting what community feeding can look like in Florida. When the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, FL shared that one of the larger food donation charities they work with was The Freedom Tour, I knew the story would be p...

When your food allergy becomes the reason you have to walk out of your own professional presentation, something is deeply broken. That's exactly what happened to Christina LiPuma, MPH, RDN, CDCES, when she had a severe allergic reaction at a national nutrition conference. The culprit? A mislabeled "curry bowl" and a series of "I don't think so" answers that should never have been good enough. You...

Imagine a world where every guest at your event—or every diner at a restaurant—can open a menu and instantly see what's safe for them to eat. No guessing. No anxiety. No risk. That's the world Dylan McDonnell, founder and CEO of Foodini , is helping to build. Diagnosed with celiac disease at age 10, Dylan knows firsthand what it feels like to sit at a table and wonder if what's being served will m...

What happens when hospitality stops being about service—and starts being about care?  That's the question I'm exploring this week on Eating at a Meeting Podcast LIVE with Lindsay Martin-Bilbrey, CMP, CEO of Nifty Method Marketing + Events and longtime event strategist, chef, and hashtag#eventprof who's worn just about every hat in the business. From executive kitchens to corporate boardrooms, Lind...