Quinoa. How do people eat (and enjoy) that? I've tried it several times and don't see what people like about it other than that it's healthy.

I still come across Krispy Kreme boxes once in a while at East Asian airports. In this US, definitely don't hear about 'em anymore.

I didn't go into much detail, so my post about demonization of foods/groups of foods may not have been clear. People with diabetes and celiac disease have been tested by medical professionals who have determined that they have very specific dietary needs. They must deal with their dietary needs in whatever way they see fit.

However, there is also a trend of picking a "food/food group du jour" that is demonized in the media as "bad" for everybody, whether they have health problems related to those foods or not. It is this practice I find objectionable.

It is incredibly common in my area (perhaps not in yours) for people to jump on the "bad food" bandwagon and stop eating <food du jour> because they read an article that misinterpreted the results of some study involving 6 people that says sensitivity to <food du jour> can cause back pain, sleeplessness, lack of energy, headaches, congestion, and mild indigestion. (What other common cause do these have? Stress.) These same people will not only stop eating <food du jour>, but tsk at their "unenlightened" friends. For example: someone (not a medical professional) tried to tell me the seasonal allergies I've had since I was a child would magically clear up if I would just stop eating dairy--clearly, I'm lactose-intolerant! (I, the product of two long lines of serious cheese-eating cultures, am very much not.)

There are many perfectly good reasons to ask questions about ingredients/prep, starting with "the description on the menu is unclear." From the restaurant's standpoint, I understand "no substitutions" or the concept of "compromising the chef's vision." However, asking about ingredients is your chance in those cases to find out you need to order something else!

I don't think it's the question-asking that bothers people so much as askers who are suffering not from a medical condition, ethical quandary, simple curiosity, etc., but from "delicate flowerism." I am, however, speculating based on other posts in the thread.

I can't speak for the people you're responding to but as I have at least two relatives in each of the categories you've listed-- plus quite a few food allergies/intolerances you did not list-- I do not make light of people choosing foods based on real concerns. Imaginary concerns are different, though. It really all comes down to this:

This may well be true in your personal experience, but in mine there are significant numbers of people requesting gluten-free foods out of a belief it is "healthier for you" than the alternative.

The difference in our experiences is partly regional. I live in a part of the country where people tend to glom on to the latest fads in health and nutrition. And gluten-free is merely the latest buzzword these people have seized upon. Out here it's a fashion statement to be against some kind of food, whatever food it's fashionable to bash this year.

As someone who is gluten-intolerant but thankfully not coeliac, I find it frustrating [that there are those] who think it's great fun paying 50% more for your food and not being able to be relaxed about what you eat and where you eat it. [Removed overly personalized remark]

Ones that I hope are on the way out:

Conveyor belt pizza ovens.
Describing animal-derived products as "proteins".
Replacing the proper protein in a dish with turkey--this is more of a prepared foods/ office cafeteria thing than a restaurant thing.

Italian food. Nothing worse. It's bland, boring, generic and while cheap to make there's a lot better cuisine out there.

The brioche buns and the cupcakes can go. The cider and the kale can stay. And can people please stop putting mushrooms in everything.

i suppose you havent been exposed to italian food in italy

i grew up in norcal from early 90s through to tech bust. denser asian population than socal.

bubble tea never got on the radar until turn of millenium. thats when it really sprouted

Pizza Hut has been using conveyor belt ovens for several decades now. It's a reasonable way to ensure consistently cooked food. I don't see it going away anytime soon.

The last few times I've been out to eat with people who are 'gluten intolerant', 'allergic to nuts,' 'allergic to shellfish'. And on two occasions someone from the kitchen has come out and asked them, "is it an allergy or a preference?" When they say "preference" the kitchen informs them that they will not go to the extraordinary measures that they do when someone is allergic. The fact that people peddle the fact that they are 'allergic' or 'intolerant' to be 'trendy' boggles the mind, especially when those things can mean something very serious for others...

The look on the face of the people who had been preaching 'intolerance' and having to vocally state it was a preference was priceless... :D

Hey guys I apologize for ruffling some feathers, I was just reading that daily mail article about that San Francisco restaurant owner that flipped out at people being hard to please with their dietary requirements, and got all worked up and channeled him a bit in my post. :D After all we on flyertalk love going on rants and chewing the fat with our flyertalk buddies so I just went with it. ^

But really though, my grandma was incredibly allergic to a lot of food, so much so in her later years she had to eat specially bought organic food, and had to take allergy shots. Naturally she didn't eat in restaurants because it would have been impossible to get something she could eat.

My mom is allergic to a few things, but still can go out to eat at restaurants since her allergies are really just simple requests. No eggs, no pork, etc.

Luckily it seems to have stopped with me as I have no food allergies. Not hating on people who really can't eat gluten, or MSG, it just annoys me how suddenly we are seeing so many gluten free options magically pop up due to a large number of people who think they are allergic, or think it is bad for them. Restaurants unless it is a simple request are in business to serve the majority. I can understand how that SFO owner flipped out having to keep track of every dietary requirement. Basically flipped out to the point of saying something like if you have those dietary requirements go to a place that will cater to your dietary need. Its just business.


Which makes me curious. Our species has been eating grains and barley for a good 6,000 years now ever since we discovered agriculture. Peanuts perhaps just as long, or perhaps for even thousands, even hundreds of thousands of years before that, assuming peanuts and grains grew naturally in the grasslands our ancestors inhabited.

So for something we have been eating for thousands of years, how come just in the last few years the topics of gluten intolerance and peanut allergies have come up and become such a huge deal?

Dadaluma83,
Nobody knows the answer with any certainty. However, one of the more compelling explanations (or part explanations) is this study:
http://sciencenordic.com/c-section-i...-good-microbes

It points at the increase in C sections as well as the advice to feed children milk exclusively for six months. Add to this all the other efforts we take to limit exposure of infants to bacteria and combine with the toxins we pollute our world with. The variables that might affect us enough to cause us to develop allergies are endless.

Another factor is the way food is prepared instantly. We've been eating wheat for centuries, but we've been eating bread that has had a chance to ferment over a period of time. Now with the chorleywood process and other methods for making and then refining wheat into food quickly wheat just isn't broken down in the same way. This isn't universal, but the gluten in a traditional sourdough loaf seems to have less of a negative effect on many of those who have a gluten intolerance than a standard white, sliced wonderloaf.