With that in mind, here are some tips on how you could approach this situation.
Reframe the Problem Around Surveillance, Not Food.
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- Key Focus: The real issue isn’t the ban on food — it’s that HR installed cameras to monitor people while they eat.
- Action: Document the cameras and raise privacy concerns. Frame your objection as, “This feels like a maximum-security prison, not an office.”
- Impact: This shifts the narrative away from “Evelyn and her burger” to a universal workplace concern that others can sympathize with
Expose the Impossible Scope of the Ban.
Make a complaint to HR that the smell of salad (or kale, or whatever you co-worker eats) bothers you. Basically force them to ban ALL food consumption in the office–word will get around as to who is really to blame. If they refuse, you can file a discrimination suit again HR for unequal treatment. Then, as another poster suggested, eat somewhere else. Doesn’t your office have a break room?
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