You are excited to embark on a Rotary Friendship Exchange in another country, organized by your district, and are looking forward to immersing yourself in the local culture. Once you arrive, you find out that your host team has prepared a surprise welcome dinner of local delicacies. You want to be respectful and show appreciation for the food that they have cooked for you, but you are a strict vegetarian and don’t see any options that you can eat. What would you do?
Service in Action 
There supposed to have been correspondences on the by the exchange Rotarian with his contact, but based on the case study, I will take water and other smaller portion of whatever I could from the Buffet Dinner and strive to achieve a win-win relationship/friendship.
I would take a small plate of whatever is on offer and then not eat it, claiming that the journey has left me so exhausted I have lost my appetite. The following day I would take the organiser aside and ask if I could have salads or something similar.
It’s happened to me on business trips. I just forgo the meal saying that I have some stomach issues going on.
A good host would have asked about food preferences although I accept it was a surprise dinner and they may not have been aware of what the team would provide.
Similarly as a strict vegetarian you should have made your diet clear in correspondence. But here you are faced with lamb beef and fish so you have to think of a rather lame excuse or just pick out the salad and veg and be honest about the situation.