I don't get why they don't do beaks between talks. It creates so much stress and noise because there will always be people leaving early to get to the next talk.

Even just a 10-15 minute break would help a lot.

Then you've got a lot of potentially dead time for people staying in the same room. I'm not going this year but the last once or twice I went, I mostly picked a room and hung there for a good chunk of the day. If there was something else I really wanted to see, there's always video. I found that made the experience much less chaotic.

For my personal account of FOSDEMs past, including beer, food vans, beer, and talks then I've written a diary that might be an amusing read:

https://marquisdegeek.com/words_fosdem

Might not help decide whether to take your own sandwiches, but it's something to do on the trip there! :)

Getting sandwiches from the FOSDEM crew or snacks outside was never a problem for me during my visits back in the day. Just took like half an hour or so and could nicely be combined with a kriek. Has it gotten much more crowded or something?

>How to survive FOSDEM? Food.

OK, let's not be ridiculous here.

FOSDEM is a weekend deal.

If you need food to survive a weekend, there must be very serious issues with your health to begin with.

I can’t tell if this is sarcasm. The article says not to waste time getting food at the event, and to just bring something with you. Seems like decent advice.

Its' one of those rare instances where it is both because it is technically correct, while not being practically correct.

As I'm sure you're aware, "How to survive X" is very common shorthand for how to have the best experience at X. No one actually thinks you're going to die at FOSDEM if you stand in a food truck line, c an't get into a session, or don't stay near the city center.

I eat three time a day. Am I addict?

The withdrawal symptoms tend to get quite brutal.

If you avoid doing any snacking at all, you're doing better than most.

Still, keep the risk of developing insulin resistance in mind.

I think you're taking the "survive" part of this too literally.

half-half. I'm also a fan of intermittent fasting. Couldn't help myself.

In practice, I would recommend a reasonable amount of eating when travelling or otherwise doing else than normal.

Fasting is best done within your usual routine, a relatively controlled scenario.

You don’t want to only drink beer the weekend long. ;)