by AnnieMay » Fri Sep 26, 2014 9:33 am
While I understand completely that dealing with food allergies as a restaurant is frustrating, I have to say that it is becoming less and less safe for people diagnosed with food allergies to dine out. Three years ago, when I presented my food allergies to waiters/chefs, they took it very seriously and I rarely got sick. Now, because it is "trendy," waiters are asking me if I really have Celiac disease or if I'm just sensitive. As someone who has been properly diagnosed, that is like a kick to the gut. When I'm asked that, I want to immediately leave the restaurant in fear. When you have actual food allergies and are invited out by friends, co-workers, and family members to eat at a restaurant, it is terrifying. The thought of death from my ridiculous parsley allergy (yes, I know) keeps me from dining out a lot. The shame felt when someone questions one of my ten food allergies is also very real. There is nothing I can do to reverse food allergies as an adult, so please don't question me about them.
Now, as someone who owns a bakery for people specifically with gluten issues and multiple food allergies, I will say, we get "trendy" people in all of the time. They stop in a few times to get cupcakes because we are "healthy." Nothing about a cupcake is healthy, gluten or gluten free. But there is a lot of misinformation out there. Eventually, the trend will pass and the remaining 16% of the population that has been properly diagnosed with food allergies will continue to eat this way out of necessity.
No one asks for food allergies. We get diagnosed after years and years of sickness and life threatening anaphylactic events. Typically, it takes ten years for a proper Celiac disease diagnosis. In those ten years, we have been told by doctors that we have anxiety, IBS, lactose intolerance, stress, thyroid issues, and mental illness. Then, you get a diagnosis, cut out gluten, and you get your life back only to be the butt of a joke or a snide comment about how "high maintenance" you are now. If I could eat like a normal person, I would. At this point, it's been so long since I have eaten delicious pizza that Domino's is starting to look good. We have to actually mourn the loss of food, like a death. So long, Nord's doughnuts, so long fried chicken (yep, I can't have poultry), and so long any good pizza ever again (especially deep dish).
So I ask you, as restaurant owners and food workers, please hang in there for a while and deal with the trendy people just a little bit longer. Those of us with a real fear of food and death would like to live a life like the non-allergic people, but we need you take it seriously.