Steven Weissman
Comments
Please wait...
Comments are closed.
Commenting on this item is available only to members of the site. You can sign in here or create an account here.
is a proud member of the
media network
media network
All contents © Index Newspapers LLC
800 Maynard Ave S, Suite 200, Seattle, WA 98134
800 Maynard Ave S, Suite 200, Seattle, WA 98134
"Welcome to Baskin Robbins what would you like"
"I'd like a sugar-free, lactose-free sundae with shade grown organic walnuts"
"Fuck off"
Yes, it moved freely from the freezer to the refrigerator, then freely to the range.
Or ask me if the beef is hormone-free. Sure, we throw the hormones in for free.
If you want purity, grow your own food and eat it straight from the ground. If you go to a restaurant the only thing you're sure to get is answers that will make you buy our food.
I feel sorry for the ones who are allergic and get in serious pain due to accidental ingestion.
I really hate the "food allergy" ones who went through the food allergy diet and detected it that way. They make the most noise about it, and are the least affected by it. Many say it makes them cranky.
Peanuts are nature's little blessing. They are the top nut in the nut kingdom.
If I could eat wheat tomorrow I would lock myself in the essential bakery and not come out for a week. I don't have a choice. I was diagnosed ten years ago. It's genetic. Multiple members of my family have it, and it SUCKS. I have permanent, embarrassing health problems because I wasn't diagnosed until my late twenties.
I don't expect you to have gluten-free products, I know the flours are expensive and it's a pain in the ass to make 'em. But honestly, when I find places that do have gluten-free options I'm so, so grateful.
A couple of months ago I had my first real burger that I didn't make myself in years and it was tremendous. If you make GF stuff you get all of my business, and eateries in Seattle who have included that option get a HUGE uptick in business because not many places do GF. Most days I eat at home.
Now those vegans, don't get me started.
I'm one of those whiners, diagnosed with celiac disease at 6 months. I've spent my entire life living dangerously every time I eat out.
I tend to skip the awkward questions in restaurants, and just pick carefully. Up until recently, noone even understood what I was asking. "Yeah, there's no wheat in it, the package just says flour, that should be okay". And now, people might assume I'm one of THOSE people :p
And gawd, I hate vegans too. Idiots with their self-imposed little food religion.
You're an asshole.
You're wondering if those "real medical issues" are overstated?
When I was in the first grade, I didn't grow for the entire year because I had undiagnosed Celiac Disease and my body wasn't able to absorb any nutrients because of how screwed up my intestines were. Are you seriously comparing that to play dates and ADD?
Go fuck yourself.
Hmm, maybe waitstaff should give customers the benefit of the doubt on this one? I should know, I am a waiter.
On the flip side, if you're a server, and someone tells you they have an allergy, don't act like they're lying. Maybe they are (and they just don't like whatever food they're talking about), but some of us have food allergies that will make us throw up on your shoes and then not be able to leave the bathroom for 3 hours. Just sayin'.
sure the celiac thing is 'trendy' for some people but just shut the f*** up about it. and if you don't have any gluten free stuff, just say you don't have it. and you know what? gluten free food is not even that hard to make. maybe suggest that you start making it.
a plague on both your houses - you for not having enough sense to understand what customer service is, and your customers for being too stupid to realise a crepe has wheat flour in it.
And to all the oldsters who say "When I was a kid...", you need to remember that you were a kid, so you probably weren't all that tuned in to the troubles that other people had. I remember a few friends who had peanut allergies back when I was young (30+ years ago), so it's not like it didn't exist. Maybe it just wasn't as well publicized.
I'm happy for those of you who don't have to educate yourself on every alternative flour (rice, amaranth, teff, tapioca, etc., etc.), but I do and they didn't build an entire Gluten Free aisle at Whole Foods for my daughter, they built it for all the "health nuts".
I don't care who they built it for, but I thank my lucky stars that those "health nuts" spend a lot of money and have that kind of power over merchandising. Many restaurants carry GF options, but my daughter has so many food allergies (milk, egg, peanuts, wheat, soy and walnut) that I just bring special food with us when we go out.
I do not feel "entitled" to any special menu items, and I can understand your frustration with people with bad attitudes, but it seems like you don't have much of a shining disposition, yourself. Remember that you are working for a business and those "yuppies" are paying customers. I don't think they should be rude or mean to you, but if they are just asking a simple question about ingredients, you should just see it as a "product inquiry" from customer to provider. If you don't have what they want, they will go elsewhere and that's how business works.
I do think that "more" people have allergies there days, because it's easier to diagnose, now. Before, we would have had to do a painful trial and error process and may never have known about my daughter's peanut allergy. Luckily for her, I never even offered her anything with peanuts, because we are more educated now. If I had given her a PB&J after she turned 1, I shudder to think of the consequences. I agree that you just have to assume that people are asking for legitimate health reasons.
Dairy makes me deathly ill, so because I don't eat meat I'm vegan. It's easier to call it an allergy than explain everything, and my food had better be free of the things I asked it to be free of.
People's dietary choices are your fucking job accommodate; it doesn't really matter whether or not you agree with them. If your cafe has that many gluten free customers, then maybe it's time to reconsider the menu.
When a lot of retaurants advertise dairy-free or gluten-free items, and you are a competing restaurant, you should expect that customers are going to ask if you have dairy-free or gluten-free items. If you don't, then you're not a very savvy business owner. That being said, customers can and should be polite about it.
When I was a kid, I was the one "special" kid in the entire school that couldn't eat from the school cafeteria. Maybe there was a kid like that in your school, and you didn't notice them. My childhood was a series of constant reminders on a daily basis that I could be made deathly sick at any time. Couldn't eat anything that the other kids ate whereever I went. Nothing was ever simple. My mum tried so hard, must've made a million disgusting sammiches made from inedible fake "bread".
I'm not bitter, made me the man I am today etc, but I feel glad that kids with celiac disease today get treated a little better. Change is for the good, asshole :)
People like Anon get frustrated waiting on these people because as they rudely gesture to you to make their point about how they CANT have gluten at any cost because of their severe allergy they are stuffing a roll in their mouth with their other fist.
In my kitchen, if a guest has an allergy the chef has to stop everything they are doing to speak to the guest so their food is cooked safely. I did have someone lie once and identified themselves as allergic when it was just a preference. They ordered an entree which contained the offending ingredient, but the chef refused to make it saying "well, you said you were allergic, I can't in good conscience serve you this food ..." That bitch was so mad ... served her right ...
Because of you, there are many restaurants and cafes in Seattle that I can go into without having to worry about leaving hungry and creating an awkward situation for my friends and family. Only a few short years ago, I hadn't met a waiter who knew what gluten-free meant. Now, I can count at least a half-dozen places where I have a LIST of menu items to choose from. For someone with celiac, that is a triumph.
So, if you have to put up with picky health nuts who ask for wheat-free foods, so be it. Their "whiny" voices enable me, and others like me, that little piece of joy and normalcy that comes from being able to pair a social life with food and the ability to leave the kitchen once in awhile.
Yes, things *have* changed. The sheer amount of pollution, chemicals and other toxins that we are surrounded w/ have altered our chemical make-up. Food allergies & intolerances have skyrocketed. There's very little reason to look for specific causes & effects, if it's the toxic fumes from plastics or pesticides/herbicides, it's a cascade effect, which is reflected in our bodies' unhealth.
I think it's evolution in action: humans are vastly overpopulating the planet, and we're making it increasingly difficult for our species to survive. Remember: global climate change won't affect the planet any. It just means that a lot of humans (and sadly, many other species) will die off. If only it could be selective and kill of the conservatives & fundamentalists.
I don't understand why more restaurants won't offer things in wheat varieties. They are healthier, taste BETTER, and digest faster. Wheat tortillas for example -- how does Taco Del Mar offer this but not a nice restaurant?
As for this cafe, you SHOULD sell wheat scones (otherwise the same -- sugary, blueberry, cranberry almond, whatever) and other varieties. You'd make more money from people like me, who will return and return because I can get something that tastes good and is relatively healthier.
Thanks for pointing this out. I've been through some mentally unstable times and generally tuffed it out and tried to sort things out as a strong person instead of blaming society, taking self pity, or my least favorite option, medicating.
When I learned that wheat might contribute in any small way toward how I felt, I saw the possibility that abstaining from this prolific part of our western diet as a particularly un-pussy like way to help myself cope. As it turns out, it has helped me focus, be less despondent and less irritable. I used to put down a baguette like nobodies business. I couldn't imagine not eating wheat. Worshiped it practically.
So.... I'll try to abstain from judging what I think makes you a pussy and you can lay off what makes people feel better about themselves and be better people to be around. thanks.
Yes, if you don't want wheat, don't go to a bakery that doesn't advertize that it is gluten free, don't go to a butcher shop if you're a vegan.... and if you want a job where people don't ask what's in the food they are about to put in their bodies, DON'T WORK AS FUCKING WAITER OR WAITRESS, YOU BITCHY LOSER!!!!
Anyway, regarding the I Anon, I'm perfectly able to consume gluten, but my mother and younger sister have Celiac and will become EXTREMELY ill if they have even the slightest bit of gluten. The worst part of this? My mother is a gigantic hippie, so she has a ton of friends who are on gluten free diets for idiotic reasons, and every single one of them contributes to her being taken less seriously about her actual autoimmune problems.
On the plus side I guess there are more gluten free products available thanks to those jackasses, but sadly my mother lives in a very small town where basically none of those things are available.
But really, co-opting a serious food allergy or intolerance for a dietary choice is very dangerous, because it can lead to things like servers being nonchalant about whether those items are actually in food or not. At least the person who wrote this I Anon seems to understand the difference.
Its a bit like looking for a diabetic lunch in a candy store. Perhaps, just perhaps, one should try the 'easier' options? Including those shops likely to have gluten free food? Or with a sign suggesting that gluten free bread is available?
And having a faddish 'gluten intolerance' instead of the real deal, and then going to a sandwich shop and demanding gluten free is bound to raise some hackles. It belittles those for whom gluten is a life threatening deal. A little common sense would solve the problem- if you cant eat gluten, dont go to a sandwich shop. There. problem solved.
Now, IF YOU HAVE ALLERGIES: Well, first you avoid places full of potential allergens. Gluten/wheat allergy? Avoid bakeries and sandwich shops (unless you know they have alternative types of bread/flour). Dairy? Don't go to fucking Dairy Queen. But, it is VERY important to ask common questions such as 'do you use peanut oil'...'does this product contain/made with dairy?'...and restaurants should also educate their staff on the basics of allergens in the food. I know someone DEATHLY allergic to eggs. She asked for a sandwich with NO MAYO--I'm deathly allergic to eggs. After a couple bites, she felt ill...there was 'secret sauce' on the sandwich, which they found out was made with mayo...the idiot behind the counter had no idea mayo was made with EGGS. Or that 'no mayo' means in ANY FORM.
as far as seattle attitude and posture, fuck you all. you little cunts play life. live the fucker already. and if you can't afford to tip well, you can't afford to go out! now where's my belt? get back over here you little ....
Your annoyance at having to deal with people with food problems is far, far less than my annoyance at never being able to eat a donut again, to have to go hungry in meetings when everyone else is snarfing down the free sandwich, to have to ask for something special cooked when I go to someone's house, and to have to nix restaurant plans because, as I've said 30 times, I can't eat freaking pizza.
Preach it!
It's not that I don't think everyone has every right to make their own dietary choices, nor am I unsympathetic to those with food allergies... BUT...
If your choices are outside the mainstream- whether that means you won't eat carbs, have chosen veganism or can't/won't eat anything not gluten free/organic/locally sourced/whatever- then you MUST choose your eateries and grocers accordingly and it IS outrageously pretentious and annoying to go to a sandwich shop, crepery or combo of these niches and get huffy because a place that runs on flour can't offer you a big selection of gluten-free foods... it's like an observant Jew going to a joint called "The Crab Shack" and getting bent that the menu offers nothing kosher or a strict vegan going to a southern BBQ and asking for tofu and sprouts.
T.C.
So sorry other people's health concerns are such an inconvenience to you while working in a food service industry. Maybe it is you that should be seeking out someplace else... to work. Someplace where you don't have to deal with the human race. Waste collection perhaps?
The IA writer is not working at a nice little U-District vegetarian mecca and complaining about people's dietary habits, s/he is working at a place that RUNS on wheat and dairy.
The vegan/gluten free customers are bound to be disappointed in the menu but should have known that just by the name or signs.
99% of the people who think they have an allergy don't really have one.
99% of those people have NO IDEA of the immunologlogical mechanism of an allergic reaction.
But I've never understood why people get so offended by a vegan person. I'm the only person in my family to still have my gall bladder and MS runs in my family, so two of my uncles (with MS) are vegan and I'm vegetarian with vegan leanings (can't have too much dairy without being sick but eggs are fine). I know some vegans can be entitled flakes, but the majority of vegans assume no one is going to cater to them and eat 90% of meals at home.
What's fucked up is when I go to in-laws and they spend the whole week of Christmas (or whatever) bitching about how my being vegan (and making my own food etc) somehow ruins their pig barbecue. I'm NOT one of those people who tries to "convert." It's a health thing. I don't want MS and I don't want to go through gall stones that almost killed my sister and led to a hospital stay for my mom.
I think, though, that I shouldn't have to justify my diet to someone. People can ask questions about where things come from or what's in the food they're about to eat, right? At least, more people should.
But if I have some that I'm not expecting, I may have to call in sick to work the next day, cause I can't go more than ten feet from the toilet. So, yeah, I'm going to ask if you have any gluten-free options. But I'm also not going to go into a sammich/crepe place unless I know they've got something for me.
Point is: yeah, I know I don't have a true allergy. But there's a lot of in-between in terms of sensitivites.
Dr. J
And where is the love for the greatest nut of all - I'm looking at you pistachio.
Or, wait, maybe people didn't say that when you were growing up, or you didn't hear them say it, so you can't understand it or don't believe in it? Try this:
Ride to the hospital with your two-year-old son who's just starting to breathe freely again after the massive dose of epinephrine the paramedics pumped into his system to treat the anaphylactic shock from having eaten a single peanut, and you can talk.
That said, you should stick to fruits and vegetables anyway. Muffins and Cupcakes are fat-n-sugar bombs.
"Sorry, I just wanted to ask before we were seated, do you have any-wheat free options? It's just that I get really sick if I eat even a little bit of wheat, I'm not trying to be a pain, or anything! *smile*"
as opposed to waiting for everyone else to order and then accusing "um...it doesn't look like you have any wheat free option. Are you telling me you don't carry soy bread?!? Well I DO NOT EAT WHEAT, so what do you suggest I do?!?! Sorry guys, we have to go, these douchebags want me to eat wheat and die. *shoots waiter a death glare*"
It's the self important attitude everyone hates, not the allergy. I have an allergy to raw mangoes/papayas (the anaphylactic throat closing legit allergy), and people always LEAVE IT OFF THE MENU. I have to specifically ask if there is mango in any smoothies, salad, or dessert, but I'm never a heinous bitch about it.
Carry your own food and don't force your morals on everyone else....that goes for vegans, freegans, 'anything with a face', low-carbers, whatever.
And it's never the people with a serious medical condition. People with epi-pens in their pockets always seem to be really nice about it. Funny, that.
I'm not allergic, I'm not going to die, but it turns out avoiding wheat is one of the few things that keeps me from having horribly painful acid reflux much of the time. I went to many practitioners -- traditional western and otherwise, before finding what works. As a side effect, it also turns out that a wheat free diet is one way to manage my depression without the side effects of medication.
But I don't necessarily want to explain all of this to a cranky waitress who thinks it is her job to determine whether my diet is justified. And you can be sure that most of the people whom you dismiss as trendy and stupid -- for no reason other than YOU don't know why they are wheat free -- have some story for how they came to be so, that they really don't feel like offering up for your approval.
Also, @86, about that quote..
"Do you think anybody in Ethiopia is lactose intollerant" - Chris Rock
Holy fucking hell what a stupid thought!
It took me about a minute on ol' Google to find these here quotes:
Milk intolerance, lactose intolerance and non-ulcer dyspepsia are common among Ethiopians.
&
The incidence of lactose malabsorption amongst Ethiopian children was found to be 80%, being 61.5% in the under 1 year age group and 89.7% in the older children (7–13 years).
Also, I get annoyed when MD's say old people can't eat salt. The eggs always need some salt!
WE WERE BORN FROM SALT! eatsalt.
This is the waitress's way of saying "If you don't claim an allergy, we won't be too careful about lying to you about food content."
Geez. I'm vegetarian, for religious reasons. I don't criticise people for not having a veggie option. BUT DO NOT FUCKING LIE TO ME JUST BECAUSE I DON'T HAVE AN ALLERGY AND THEREFORE YOU THINK IT DOESN'T MATTER.
I feel better now.
You are allergic because you are unfit to live. Nature is trying to improve the human race by killing you sad shits off. You are not wanted by man or God.
It's up to your sorry, sad asses to feed yourself. Don't go into a bakery and whine about the lack of styrofoam options for you to eat. Don't piss about your unwelcome child's peanut allergies or their inability to process sugar or air or love or whatever. Read Darwin and you'll get a better idea of your place in the pecking order. Accept your fate and sit down to a big serving of your worst fears.
And when you're gone I'll park in the space your "Green" SUV currently occupies.
It's pretty simple... If you are in a service industry, it doesn't make sense to get so pissy when someone expects... I dunno... *service*.
If you don't want to deal with the special needs of your customer, there is always someone else who will... and that is money out of YOUR pocket. Something to think about before you roll your eyes at that next customer who may or may not be a celiac.
Diagnosing them is their doctor's job. Taking their ORDER is yours.