Population stats aren’t overly relevant to an individual’s lived experience. Wait staff have basically one job, and remembering who ordered what is central to that. As much as I loathe tip-my-staff-because-I-can’t-be-arsed-to-actually-pay-them as a system, this is a pretty prominent example of where a low tip would be appropriate.
Edit: Several years ago I had a conversation with dad about the rise and prevalence of allergies. He was bemoaning it in a “back in my day” way, with a subtext that I was being too tolerant in general and too careful with my kids. So I asked him if he remembers all the kids at his school who had allergies. Naturally, he said no, to which I responded “No, of course you don’t. That’s because they’re all dead. We try to take a bit more care about that these days.”
We haven’t had to have that conversation again since.
Yes, supermarkets having whole “free from” sections (much more common here in UK now - market demand speaks volumes of money) is a bonus. It even makes it easier for hosts to accommodate their guests’ genuine allergies. That’s the silver lining. But there remains a ‘wolf-crying boy’ effect. Especially when eating out. Fortunately there is now more awareness in eateries now too, so more silver lining. But that does not mean my comment to Quori was not valid. People with genuine coeliac disease DO find it more difficult to be taken seriously, sometimes, as a result.
What I’ve noticed, especially over the last year or three, is that places really don’t care WHY you want to avoid eating something. They’d much rather you had a memorably good time than try convince you your needs or preferences are wrong. So, almost all menus have G, V and GV options, and a note at the bottom plainly stating that the kitchen is happy to modify menu items.
Well, that’s true at least of the places I go back to.
uh. I said what I meant…I find it hard to believe there is a large subset of people claiming an allergy for the fun of it.
Does that mean no one is doing it? no. Does it disregard that there are people with say Munchausen syndrome but not the actual allergy? no.
But do I even need to explain that? I mean my comment was in that the asshat trying to dismiss people with real allergies as faking it and annoying was in fact an asshat sort of holds some water there, no?
Additionally, let’s be reasonable people and for a moment take any “allergy/dietary” requests as reasonable as well…like, “Hey. no mushrooms”…it isn’t difficult nor unreasonable to accommodate them is it?
Gluten sensitivity is not celiac. Non Celiac Gluten Sensitivity was a proposed new disorder that was supposed to explain certain digestive disturbances and other symptoms that took on a life of its own as an explanation for all sorts of supposed problems. It was later disproven by the same people who proposed it in the first place. After years of noone being able to replicate their research.
Celiac is not an allergy. Its a genetic autoimmune disease where the presence of gluten causes the immune system to attack the lining of the intestines. The mechanism, like most autoimmune disorders, operates outside the allergy mechanism. I’ve heard the symptoms described as most similar to Crohn’s.
Likewise its not “celiac sensitive persons”. These people are not sensitive to celiac. They have Coeliac Disease. People with celiac/Coeliac. Though I’ve seen “celiacs” used.
From what my friends with celiac tell me they have many more options. But because many of the newer gluten free options are intended for dieters or the gluten phobic, who do not have a real medical need to avoid gluten. Many, if not most gluten free labeled products these days do not meet the medical standard for gluten free. They have too many ppm of gluten, often from cross contamination, to be safe for most celiac patients.
So while it is easier to find what they need, they are actually getting sick more often due to labeling problems and lack of adherence to the medical standard.
That does stink, i asked because where i work there’s a good portion of people that are out on the field relatively often and there’s only so much you can do to avoid chiggers, ticks, poison ivy, etc etc etc. At some point something’s gunna get to you.
Well, that is something I may grant - the “for the fun of it” part. But I do not find it hard to believe there is a large subset of people claiming an allergy who do not have one.
Well, Celiac isn’t an allergy, so anyone claiming they have a gluten allergy is probably lying. But as someone who has Celiac, but also has a friend who has to be GF because of non-celiac gluten sensitivity who’s response is worse than mine, it really doesn’t matter. I will not go into anaphylaxis if you sneak me some gluten. I’ll just get a migraine, have really bad ”intestinal upset,” and have a slightly increased risk of eventual cancer. My friend will puke and have brain fog and total body inflammation and pain for days and poop her guts out. Either way, not believing us damages us. I wouldn’t call either of us enthusiasts.
At first I got really angry about your comment. And in truth I think it was a total overreaction for you to come out with gun blazing like this, but I kind of see where you’re coming from. That’s not what I’m doing at all. I recently had a conversation in which I and another person remarked that while we know lots of people with diagnosed celiac disease, we didn’t know very many men with it (me one, my friend none.) We looked it up, and found out that it disproportionately affects women. My comment was me inartfully stating that.
Celiac disease and gluten sensitivity are two different conditions, but both are real medical issues. Seriously, look it up. Estimates are that 10% - 13% of the population has some sensitivity to gluten. I am one of those people, and the difference on and off gluten is night and day. Trust me, it’s a real thing and the only way to tell for sure is to go off gluten for a while. So please, allow people to experiment with their diets without all the judgement. It’s silly.
(And I speak as someone with another auto-immune disease, and who was wrongly diagnosed as gluten-sensitive and lactose-sensitive before it became clear it was something else.)
For sure there are more woman with every kind of autoimmune disease. Re: women/diets, my husband has a desk job, I sometimes spend a work day chainsawing, splitting, and stacking wood. So sometimes we go out to eat and he orders a salad with grilled chicken breast, I order a bacon cheeseburger (on a gf bun,) and invariably the waiter gives me the salad. Shrug.
However, whether or not women are more likely to have that diagnosis really doesn’t have anything to do with what @manybellsdown said, which was about her experiences and the condescending assumption that the “diet” dish MUST be for a woman. Both the statistical fact and condescending attitudes towards women’s food choices can exist at the same time, and she was discussing one and not the other.
I was not fully aware of this. I knew it was still imperative to read ingredients carefully but subconsciously assumed this - availabiliity of many more ‘free-from’ food choices - made things better for those with coeliac disease (and other genuine needs to avoid certain foods). I guess @jerwin’s comment may not be as true as I thought and my response (‘it makes it easier to accommodate people’s genuine needs’) may not be correct.
