I love a good rant as much as any other cranky geek. Especially – as in this instance – when I agree with it so thoroughly.
An example: like a lot of old farts, I have gradually developed a lactose intolerance over the last couple of decades. It’s measurable, verifiable. It never keeps me from enjoying the couple of pounds of mozzarella and provolone I consume every week. And it shouldn’t. There ain’t especially any lactose in cheese!
But, living in a community which leads the world in fear of chemtrails and Karma, I can especially appreciate Rayner’s rant on full-time food nazis.
We are living in the age of the food excluders. And it really, really pisses me off. Every week new, thrilling and exotic ingredients become available in Britain and every week someone announces they are intolerant to it or allergic to it; that it brings them out in hives, gives them cystitis, interferes with their energy levels or makes them grouchy. When the truth is they were, all of them, neurotic, needy pricks in the first place and what they had for dinner last night had nothing to do with it….
Where has this trend come from? My suspicion is that today’s food excluders were yesterday’s picky eaters, the tiresome little brats who, as children, spat out everything put their way with a shout of ‘I don’t like it!’ Now they have grown up but their palates haven’t. In this ego-centred age, they have been given license to come up with a bunch of excuses, wrapped in the language of pseudo science, excused by pompous and spurious claims to the moral, religious or ethical high ground, when really all they are actually saying is: ‘I still don’t like it!’…
Of course any lactose-intolerant, peanut-allergic, kosher-keeping, food-combining, coeliac vegetarians who want to debate this with me are most welcome to do so (if they’ve got the energy). One thing is certain though: we’re not going to be doing it over dinner.
#59 OFTLO – I must have gotten that habit from you back in the Boy Scouts……
😉
To everyone who took this food intolerance rant seriously, Dvorak is flame-baiting you, Everybody knows peanut allergies can be quite deadly even in trace amounts. Every now&then John pulls a stunt like this, Just look back in the archives.
I have the lousy allergies that won’t let me have any fun at all.. I’m allergic to alcohol and tobacco..
#64 – What about firearms?
#62 – Haahahahaha 🙂
#60 – Thanks man… Sometimes, I try to roll too.
#65
I’m waiting for ray guns to be commercially available.
O’m a celiac vegetarian…I don’t ask for any special consideration (other than “will this dish kill me?), but this guy couldn’t be more of a prick.
#61, the peanut allergies are a special case. Somne are so very allergic they can die after ingesting the tiniest amount. Unlike a hospital, a school is not a controlled environment. If your hospital were allowing six year olds to administer penicillin, you just might feel differently.
>>this guy couldn’t be more of a prick.
How do you reconcile that with your former contention that “Tolerance of the views and beliefs of others is the first step toward understanding; understanding is the first step toward peace. Tolerance does not mean accepting another person’s beliefs, but accepting their right to have those beliefs.” Hmm?
After 9 years of random parts of my body swelling up including feet, hands, eyes, tongue, lips, cheek – and eventually including my throat, sending me to the ER – the allergist confirmed that I have a delayed allergic reaction to almonds. After eliminating almonds, genuine almond flavoring, and almond oils, life is far better. I now carry 3 meds including an epi-pen with me at all times. And yes, I’ve had to use the meds because some idiot in the food industry thought it funny, I guess, not to disclose that they contain almonds – a food that the government requires to be disclosed to the consumer.
An severe allergic reaction to foods is not something to kid about. We have had students killed locally when the school food service stupidly served food that did not obviously contain peanuts to students allergic to peanuts.
It is a shame that there are such childish people in the world as GregA who see food allergies as a source of amusement for his very small mind. Similarly to FUALL – serving those with food allergies without disclosing at least the 8 most common allergens can be catastrophic. I do not have a choice in being allergic or not – all I ask is that the allergens be disclosed.
For smaller children, the problem is more complex. Unfortunately, they CAN NOT be trusted to screen their own food (and as an adult, we often cannot determine the food content either). As adults (I’m unsure that GregA and FUALL are adults), it is indeed our responsibility to protect them.
Food intolerance – which is not the same as food allergy – is fairly common, typically causing stomach gas, burping or diarrhea – but are completely different that the potentially life threatening nature of true allergies.
The greatest problem today is that we no longer have “simple foods”. My grocery store contains 9 varieties of granola cereal – and all of them contain almonds now. Almond production has doubled in the past 10 years and is expected to increase by 50% in the next 5 years. This is why food allergies are encountered more frequently today – EVERYTHING is now a mash up of numerous “natural flavorings”. There are other issues including cross reactions to similar allergens (e.g. a large portion of people allergic to birch pollen are also allergic to almond, and many people allergic to birch pollen, and to inulin, a food additive used in some yogurts to create a smoothy texture.)
An estimated 2+% of the population is believed to have bona fide food allergies. We do know that with the 8 critical allergens being stuffed into an ever widening variety of foods that we will likely encounter more reports of allergic reactions to food. The problem is not that more people are necessarily allergic – the problem is that the allergens are being more spread so that all of those 2+% now encounter their allergens on a frequent basis.
#59, OhForTheLoveOf
I never wash my hands and haven’t owned a toothbrush in years. I got caught in the rain in April so I figure I’m good until at least March before I wash my clothes. This is what I attribute my strong mental status to.
Don’t be silly, Mr Mustard. Tolerance of others’ belief systems and religious practices does not require one to be a doormat or to endure churlish behavior.
#34 Esteban – So you are stating that:
– if the author is successful in his efforts to delabel allergen content in food, or repress people who ask for a food’s ingredients,
– and someone dies as a result of his efforts (which would happen if the author was successful)
– then God willing, that person who dies better be some stranger who is unknown to the author
– because the author’s family and friends are off limits.
Is that what you are saying?
Well Sir, I, most strongly, take the contrary position.