To my dear friend, who I like and respect in every way but this one: You do not have a gluten allergy. You just think you do. Neither does your child. I have gone along with all of your various life-changing fads-of-the-moment (remember the Atkins diet?), but this one has gone too far. I am sure you think you feel drastically different now that you have eliminated wheat from your diet. It’s called a placebo effect. Look it up. And it’s not just you. So many other people I consider(ed) intelligent have told me their naturopath “diagnosed” them as gluten intolerant. Now there is a whole section in QFC for gluten-free products. Now your child shows up at birthday parties with her own gluten-free cupcake. She can’t eat birthday cake with the others. That’s almost cruel. Who the hell diagnoses a 3-year-old as gluten intolerant? We are all born intolerant to everything but mother’s milk. Somehow we get used to it all along the way. I was once intolerant to wine. That sure changed. Anyway, it’s your life. Just don’t expect me to provide gluten-free food at a party. And let’s just let the conversation move to something other than your gluten intolerance after half an hour. It’s really not that interesting.
—Anonymous
@80: There are several flaws with your argument, and several things that you may not understand about having Celiac disease:
1. Specialized “gluten free food” is incredibly expensive. So much so, that the government allows you to write it off. Example: you can buy a loaf of regular bread for 2.99. The cheapest loaf of gluten free bread at the grocery store is on average, 6 dollars. Same goes for “gluten free food” at specialized cafes. The meals are more expensive than their gluten-filled counterparts. Given that not everyone who has Celiac disease also makes a lot of money, we have to do what we can to eat items that are naturally gluten-free, without breaking the bank. We also have jobs, small lunch breaks, etc. and are entitled to the same fast service that anyone else can get at a local burrito joint. That said, it’s not like all of us freak out and make a ton of demands. You might ask for no tomatoes or cilantro on your burrito. I ask that you put a piece of foil down, put my corn tortilla on top, and change your gloves. That takes about 30 seconds to say. Just like it takes you 30 seconds to substitute some items. I would hardly call that high-maintenance, or problematic. It should barely cause a blip in the daily service of the restaurant. In fact, any subsequent disturbances would have more to do with the theatrics and eyeball-rolling on the part of the server/burrito maker, than on the part of the customer. And again, I will reiterate that working in food is working in service/food hospitality. This request falls within the reasonable bounds of said service, even at a little burrito place.
@81:
You clearly misread post #71 wherein I stated (and I quote):
hat said, sometimes when I am at a restaurant that doesn’t market whether something is “gluten-free” or not, I tell people that I am allergic to wheat, or intolerant even though this is inaccurate. Why? Because when I say “I have Celiac disease” I am often met with a blank, foreboding stare that generally precedes a gluten-contaminated meal. People tend to take my disease much more seriously when I tell them that I will go into anaphylaxis and DIE if they give it to me.
If you will re-read this section, with attention to detail, you will note that I DO NOT go into anaphylaxis. I have Celiac, not an allergy. However, I have found that the majority of people don’t understand what Celiac disease is. Furthermore, there are those who, even understanding what it is, don’t know what gluten is, or where it might be found. Example: soy sauce. Unless you get gluten-free tamari, it is commonly made from wheat which most people wouldn’t expect. So, I tell people I have a deadly wheat allergy so that they actually pay attention to my problem if the mention of “Celiac disease” brings about that glassy-eyed look. I won’t die if I eat gluten. But it is very bad for me. And I don’t say any of this in a dramatic way at a restaurant. People in food service tend to understand the potentially lethal effects of food allergies. It is just an easier, and faster way of explaining my needs.
@87:
1. efficiency: performing or functioning in the best possible manner with the least waste of time and effort; having and using requisite knowledge, skill, and industry.
Of course, efficiency is specific to the task at hand. If the task at hand is making a gluten-free burrito, it is then up to you to develop the appropriate efficient mechanisms and systems to do so.
In other words: You are trained to be efficient at creating the burrito that the customer asks for. If you know that some people will come in with specific requests, it would be efficient of you to have a system in place to efficiently deal with said customers. You seem like a smart person, surely you can figure that one out?
2. Contrary to your post, it does not take me 5 to 10 minutes to complete my “special request”. In fact, I assert that it takes me less than 30 seconds to say “I have Celiac disease. Could you please put down foil on the counter, then use a corn tortilla and if you could pretty please use new gloves, that would be great”. Subsequently, I can’t imagine that it would take you much more than 30-45 seconds to change your gloves, and put down the foil. Heck, you probably already put down foil in the first place. Now personally, I don’t ask to have the scoops changed. So, really, this should barely affect your job unless you decide to have a shitty attitude about it, and whine about something something very simple, and appropriate.
3. I do care that other people are hungry. I am hungry, or I wouldn’t be there. But that doesn’t trump my need for safety in the food I eat. As for gluten-free places, they don’t always exist. Furthermore, specially made “gluten-free” foods tend to be more extravagantly priced than their gluten-filled counterparts. Thus, I try to eat things that are naturally gluten-free because I’m not made of money.
As for your statement that you wouldn’t eat out, you are speaking out of turn, and without being realistic. Until you have a severe food allergy, or unless you develop Celiac or something with similar GI distress symptoms (Crohn’s, colitis, etc) you don’t really know what you are talking about. Think of all the fun things that require restaurants: business lunches, parties, dinner parties, birthdays, etc. It happens. And when it does, I shouldn’t have to worry about grumbly food service workers getting in a snit over me asking for something as simple as new gloves and foil.
14 & 33 couldn’t have said it better. Having an allergy is one thing. Attempting to drag others into your attention-hungry victimhood specialness is really another. Smile, nod, offer vegan-spelt-rock-cakes, do not engage.
The Red wine thing: had nothing to do (for the other 99%) with sulfites, which do exist in dried fruits and yes, more in white wines…and more to do with histamines, which are in much higher concentrations in red wines than white.
I dunno about the headaches, but most reds makes me sneeze and my eyes get watery (like someone rubbed a cat in my face, lol), some chiantis being the exception (blended).
@103: What this comes down to is that I am unable to see things from your perspective (I don’t have a food allergy nor do I have any close friends who do) and you are unable to see things from mine (I can’t convince you that it actually is a pain in the ass to help certain gluten-free customers, or that some of them are downright rude about it, thus squashing any sympathy I might have for them).
I’ll try to be more understanding towards this if you also try to see why people might get annoyed with the new wave of gluten-intolerance folks. Also, you have a legitimate disease. There are many people who are self-diagnosed or just trying it out for funsies, and when they get up on a high horse about it, it comes across as self-absorbed and pseudoscientific. I think that’s what anon was getting at.
I made the burritos every time the way they asked, no matter how busy it was, but I am within my rights to be irritated especially when I *know* the custie does not have Celiac. Even if they do, it’s still annoying to do special accommodations when it’s busy because it interrupts the entire flow of a kitchen/burrito line. It’s annoying even when you think it shouldn’t be annoying because you think my job is to do what every customer asks of me with a smile and not have any thoughts or opinions about it. That’s food service, though: some customers are annoying, and sometimes it’s because they can’t (or they say they can’t) eat gluten. And that’s why I’m in college.
@100: I take a Vitamin B complex, and D3 and Calcium supplements, plus a lot of C. Why?
@106: Your post makes sense to me.
@24 Gluten is formed in the bread making process, regardless if you add vital wheat gluten or not.
What an ignorant, insufferable lot…
This from the father who rushed his dying 5 yr old daughter to the ER 21 years ago and was blessed with the happenstance meeting of a visiting intern who diagnosed her condition immediately, biopsied and confirmed two days later, and immediately reversed what two years of medical and public ignorance contributed to the decline.
But hey, you know what you are talking about, right?
A gluten free chick shares her thoughts
http://washuta.net/blog/?p=519
a gluten free chick shares her thoughts on this subject
http://washuta.net/blog/?p=519
@94 I have dietary restrictions for personal reasons. Which is why I politely decline every dinner invitation at someone’s house. This is so people are never tired of my presence in their own home, especially regarding meals, and I’m not compelled to
How about a little hard science into the equation: Biesiekierski et. al. (2011). Gluten Causes Gastrointestinal Symptoms in Subjects Without Celiac Disease: A Double-Blind Randomized Placebo-Controlled Trial. Am J Gastroenterol. 2011 Jan 11. (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21224&hellip😉
and
Sapone et. al. (2011). Divergence of gut permeability and mucosal immune gene expression in two gluten-associated conditions: celiac disease and gluten sensitivity. BMC Med. 2011 Mar 9;9(1):23. (http://www.biomedcentral.com/1741-7015/9&hellip😉 – Best quote: “An emerging problem is the clinical characterization of a group of gluten-reactive patients, accounting for roughly 10% of the general population, presenting with symptoms similar to CD but with negative CD serology and histopathology.” (CD = Celiac Disease.
It is so annoying when people feel the need to express their strong opinions when they are deeply ignorant of the subject. This is America so you are free to do so, but wouldn’t it be better if we just said “I don’t know” when we are ignorant of the facts?
How about a little hard science into the equation: Biesiekierski et. al. (2011). Gluten Causes Gastrointestinal Symptoms in Subjects Without Celiac Disease: A Double-Blind Randomized Placebo-Controlled Trial. Am J Gastroenterol. 2011 Jan 11. (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21224…)
and
Sapone et. al. (2011). Divergence of gut permeability and mucosal immune gene expression in two gluten-associated conditions: celiac disease and gluten sensitivity. BMC Med. 2011 Mar 9;9(1):23. (http://www.biomedcentral.com/1741-7015/9…) – Best quote: “An emerging problem is the clinical characterization of a group of gluten-reactive patients, accounting for roughly 10% of the general population, presenting with symptoms similar to CD but with negative CD serology and histopathology.” (CD = Celiac Disease.
It is so annoying when people feel the need to express their strong opinions when they are deeply ignorant of the subject. This is America so you are free to do so, but wouldn’t it be better if we just said “I don’t know” when we are ignorant of the facts?
All of you people are selfish, attention grubbing whores. Get real, eat some bread. If you need to lose weight, exercise!!!!! Get a clue people.
Your intolerance for other people’s choices about their food intake is intolerable. Everyone gets to pick what they eat and don’t…and if something they eat makes them feel shitty, they have a right to not eat it and not be bullied into eating it by whining anonymous complainers.
Allergy Parade!
@56 & @ 103
One time a server decided that I was “cutsie” and just being a drama queen when I told them that I was allergic to tomatoes, so please in addition to putting no tomatoes in the food could he please ask the cook to use a clean knife that hadn’t even touched tomatoes when making my food?
Naturally I ended up with a dish chock-full of tomatoes. Stupid me, I didn’t check it first and bit into the damn thing. My tongue and lips swelled so much I had to use my epi-pen.
Yes, there are idiots out there who crave the attention that a supposed food allegy brings. But it is best to err on the side of caution. As I told the manager, it would have been really bad publicity to have an ambulance parked outside of their front door while the EMT teamed worked on me. They were lucky it wasn’t my sister, too; she’s much more allegic than I.
@21, I read recently that there’s actually a gene for whether you hate cilantro! But hate =/= allergic to, and telling a waiter you’re allergic to something when you’re not is low. You know that restaurants feel they’re liable for illness if you tell them you’re allergic to something, right? Like, you’re not asking them politely to keep it off your plate, you’re implying that they’re setting themselves up for a lawsuit, particularly if the allergy is CILANTRO and you’re in a MEXICAN RESTAURANT. Here’s an idea, if you don’t like a prominent flavor in a cultural cuisine, don’t go to restaurants that serve that cuisine. Genetic or not, it’s not a MEXICAN RESTAURANT’S responsibility to cater to your dislike of a prominent flavor in their cuisine.
And, I have a very restricted diet, by choice and for my health. There are many restaurants that I can eat a little something in, but many others in which nothing on the menu meets my own, self-imposed dietary requirements. When I find myself in the latter (I do not insist that my friends skip their favorite restaurants because of my personal decision) I simply decline to eat anything, and eat at home earlier/later. When I meet new people, sure, they think this is weird, but the fact that I don’t dwell on my lack of eating, engage in conversation, and generally have a good time despite not eating (and throw down a few bucks tip if the service is good, even though I just had water) gets them over it quickly. The “awkward” part literally involves me saying “nothing for me, thanks” with a smile; if someone who doesn’t know me well questions me I’ll just say that I had a late lunch/ate dinner before I knew there were plans and am full. That’s it…not that hard! I even go to bars and drink water while people drink alcohol (and also tip good bartenders for keeping me in water)! And I still have friends and am not even viewed as pompous! I made a personal decision to severely limit what I can eat and drink, a decision that my friends should not suffer for, either by being preached/bitched at or by missing my company. My choice, my burden, and that includes minimizing the awkwardness of it all.
“I was once intolerant to wine. That sure changed.” HA!
It makes me really sad reading posts and comments that say food allergies are a myth. Yes, some people are hypochondriacs, and yes, they’re really, really annoying. But that is also not the case for a lot of people.
Celiac disease is real.
Gluten intolerance is real.
Soy allergies are real.
Nut allergies are real.
Dairy allergies are real (and yes, there is often a difference between fresh dairy and processed).
I have an allergy to amines that makes me an irritating dinner guest. I *LOVE* having dinner parties, but can’t afford to have dinners anymore, because I can’t ask anyone to bring anything but money, and they often forget that… and I certainly can’t eat food they prepare. Potlucks? Out of the question.
I end up cooking at home most all the time, and even started a blog to help others with an amine allergy (http://aminerecipes.com).
My food allergies ruined my life for over 5 years, debilitating me for 2 of them. I’ve already had one surgery to fix the damage that was done.
I don’t appreciate hearing others mock food allergies, when for some of us, it’s a very real deal. How about this? How about you try having them for a few months and see how you feel? Fair? Yeah, thought you wouldn’t care for that. So quit your bitching. We’re the ones that have to deal with reading every single label, packing food wherever we go, carefully planning dinners, lunches, breakfasts, dinner parties (especially with people who still thing food allergies are a myth), and planning two or more meals ahead.
Food allergies are not awesome, I don’t enjoy it, and if you’d please stop making it harder on me and other allergic folks, we’d all really appreciate it.
And I don’t eat baked goods because I break out in fat…
@ 56 –
Yes, cilantro intolerance is a real genetic “thing”. It’s not an allergy, but an issue with taste receptors. I have a “thing” with lemongrass myself, although I don’t know if that’s genetic too; it tastes like disgustingly strong dish soap to me. It took me awhile to isolate the offending flavor; I’d go out for Thai food with my fiance all the time and say, “It has that nasty soap thing in it again!” Then he’d taste it and pronounce it delicious. Who knows.
I don’t get why there’s an argument in the comments about this issue.
1) YES, there are people with severe, even life-threatening allergies to certain foods.
2) YES, there are hypersensitive drama queens who like to pretend to be “intolerant” to this and that.
Can’t both types of people exist in the same world? And as a former food service worker and current dinner party thrower, when a person pronounces themselves allergic/intolerant to something, my general rule is to err on the side of believing them since I don’t want to fuck up and accidentally kill someone.
@124: I avoid high fructose corn syrup for the same reason!
While Celiac disease is real, I feel that the I-Anon is mostly annoyed at this person for inflicting a special diet on their child who probably doesn’t need it. The “life-changing fads-of-the-moment (remember the Atkins diet?)” remark tells me that this person has probably tried all sorts of obnoxious fad diets and the gluten-free thing is only the latest.
@127 for the win!!
I can honestly understand those who say they are allergic to certain foods when they really aren’t in restaurants. I really can.
I have an intolerance to sulfur. I don’t say this to excuse red wine giving me a headache or any such bullshit, I say this because onion and eggs make me want to throw up, and garlic (and certain alcoholic beverages) burn my intestines, in addition to the nausea. (In addition, so do mushrooms, cucumbers, and green peppers.) I’ve also got currently unexplained joint inflammation (working on a diagnosis) that my doc thinks might be food related (I don’t, but we’re seeing).
So when I go out to eat, it’s always “hold the tomatoes and onions” (I… just don’t like raw tomatoes, pure and simple.) Half the time, they don’t. I’ve actually had to say I’m allergic before to get my food request taken seriously, so I could fucking eat it. Especially with onions, as if there’s even residue from the onion left over from taking them off, I can’t eat it because it will still make me want to throw up. Violently.
It seems that a lot of people in the food service industry do not take care with special requests -unless- you say “hey, I have an allergy.”
…So yeah, I can definitely understand those that pull that to make sure their food is right.
The majority of the REST of the comments are horrible and you all should feel horrible, though.
@129: You have my honest sympathy. Honest-to-God allergies and bad reactions to foods of any kind suck.
I was agreeing with @127’s point that some people deliberately make up allergies to foods they might not like, or insist on special orders or accommodations in restaurants and in other people’s homes just because it’s the big new fad.
If, like you, I had legitimate allergies to food and witnessed some overprotective mom escorting her little daughter to a birthday party with a specially made gluten-free cupcake, making a dramatized issue over what her child could and couldn’t eat–not due to gluten intolerance, but only because living gluten-free was the latest edgy trend, I’d be pissed like ANON, too.
@ 58,
What the anti-vaccers don’t seem to realize is that the Amish may never have been diagnosed as having autism because they believe in “Gottes Wille”. Birth defects and retardation are the “will of God” and must simply be borne. They typically also don’t have insurance although do participate in Church Aide. Beginning in the 1990’s local hospitals began reaching out to them to provide them with medical care. Previously, Amish parents would have to leave the community to seek treatment for their sick kids which would lead to shunning. So maybe Amish kids aren’t diagnosed with Autism (although this is highly doubtful), it certainly doesn’t mean they don’t have it.
I don’t have celiac disease. However, I do have a very, very severe intolerance to gluten. The slightest amount of cross-contamination will have me in the loo within 20 minutes, and the sickness will last for about 3 days.
Trust me, I always feel like a big pain in the backside. People (friends, family) bend over backward to accommodate me, and sometimes it overwhelms me but I always appreciate it. Eating out at restaurants is a nightmare, because jackass servers who think you’re being a drama queen sometimes “forget” to tell the kitchen about the no-gluten. Truthfully, there are about 4 restaurants in my city I’m willing to eat in, and I live in a huge, diverse city.
Go ahead and think I’m being picky. Hate on me for not wanting to eat your food, because god knows what’s on your counters or on your cutting boards. Roll your eyes when I have to speak to the manager at a restaurant before actually ordering my food. In exchange, if you gluten me, I’ll make sure to save my gluten-poo for your toilet.
Regarding the multi-diets: I admit it seems kind of odd, but has anyone considered that perhaps trying these different diets was this woman’s way of narrowing down *something* that was wrong? I was sick for 2 years before we figured out about gluten, and believe me, my doctor and I tried a lot of other remedies first, before getting to that point. It’s not as simple as you might think.
I don’t have celiac disease. However, I do have a very, very severe intolerance to gluten. The slightest amount of cross-contamination will have me in the loo within 20 minutes, and the sickness will last for about 3 days.
Trust me, I always feel like a big pain in the backside. People (friends, family) bend over backward to accommodate me, and sometimes it overwhelms me but I always appreciate it. Eating out at restaurants is a nightmare, because jackass servers who think you’re being a drama queen sometimes “forget” to tell the kitchen about the no-gluten. Truthfully, there are about 4 restaurants in my city I’m willing to eat in, and I live in a huge, diverse city.
Go ahead and think I’m being picky. Hate on me for not wanting to eat your food, because god knows what’s on your counters or on your cutting boards. Roll your eyes when I have to speak to the manager at a restaurant before actually ordering my food. In exchange, if you gluten me, I’ll make sure to save my gluten-poo for your toilet.
Regarding the multi-diets: I admit it seems kind of odd, but has anyone considered that perhaps trying these different diets was this woman’s way of narrowing down *something* that was wrong? I was sick for 2 years before we figured out about gluten, and believe me, my doctor and I tried a lot of other remedies first, before getting to that point. It’s not as simple as you might think.