Food Allergies - Enough!

[Minnesota!]

A note on the food allergy explosion:

In the mid to late 90's it became standard practice to routinely test and treat women for group b strep. The treatment involves I antibiotics during labor, which cross the placenta and go into the amniotic fluid and dose the baby too. After birth, any baby with any symptoms whatsoever are also treated with IV antibiotics. In recent years, researchers tested those antibiotics and found they destroy the natural gut Flora that helps digest certain proteins. Treating mice with the antibiotics made a large portion of the mice allergic to peanuts. It can be inferred that the heavy use of antibiotics in group b positive women might be contributing to the rise in food allergies. Of course, not treating the Group B strep can be more devastating than a food allergy, so it's the lesser of 2 evils

Very interesting! I had Group B Strep with both of my kids. Neither has any "allergies", but my younger one has much more sensitive skin than anyone I have ever personally know

 

[Goofy_Disney_Dad]

Ok I like Ree Drumond and her show. Have used many of her receipes over the years but Pioneer women is a misnomer. I meam come on how many Pioneer Women live in a house that size and then have a "cook house" that is larger than most peoples main living spaces. Oh an not to mention those Ovens and stoves she uses. If that is being a Pioneer sign me up.

Do you always take titles and names so literally or is it just this case?

 

[hsmamato2]

I don't have allergies to food per say, but with something I am going through I have to be careful of what I eat now. If not my poor old body goes back to being inflamed. Ouch. My poor diet consists of quite a bit of not having enough to choose from the menu anymore. I mean I would not have the chef come out, so I just usually go with a salad or something with a sandwich, and by pass the bread. You just learn to see what it is you can have and don't eat what you can't have from ordering it. I probably get weird looks, and am sure the waitress scratches her head. LOL at myself..

This is me also...and I suspect it's fairly common now..... but to make a big fuss and demand things is just....annoying and I myself get tired of people yakking about it....just know what you can eat and order it people! I can't eat a lot of things that I previously had no problems with.... but I tend to keep it to myself unless I have a specific question....FWIW, I raised a son with a SEVERE lifelong allergy,and he learned while still very young to be responsible for his own food,and not to make it anyone elses business or problem.

 

[hsmamato2]

Unfortunately it is people like your friend who make it harder for people with real true life threatening food allergies. Who, by the way, can eat out at a restaurant and not make a huge ordeal and spectacle of themselves like it sounds like she did.

Oh so true

 

[hsmamato2]

And don't even get me started on the gluten thing! I totally understand celiac and REAL gluten intolerance. But it's just the latest fad. In a few years, it won't even be a "thing" anymore. All those people will be miraculously cured--and on to the next disease fad.

This is what my DS who has grown up with a life threatening wheat allergy says all the time!But I tell him to be thankful for all the hype,it's now really easy to buy wheat free items everywhere b/c of the hype!

 

[snapppyd]

If you ask her she is allergic to processed sodium. She is also allergic to raw veggies, all things of the ocean and if peanuts are in the same 100 mile radius she will spontaneously explode.

Sorry, but this made me LOL!

 

[hsmamato2]

I believe allergies are considered a disability under the ADA

See...this is how I have always felt too.... raising a kid like this (yes,deadly,and before it was 'popular') I didn't want him thinking that an allergy meant disability,not to focus on what he couldn't have to but to always be clear about what he COULD have. Kept him safe,and sane throughout his childhood.

 

[kamik86]

I know someone that does have a sensitivity to raw veggies. It isn't an allergy but it does make him sick.

He is living with a vegetarian so they almost always have slightly different food.

Mostly it just means he can't have salad though, pretty much everything else you just cook so he is fine.

 

[Rhombus]

It's a shame, the way the allergy thing seems to have blown up over the past several years. The people I hear complaining most seem to have sensitivities & not allergies, and their symptoms are not life threatening.

It's sad, because there are actually people out there with true & true dangerous food allergies, and they seem to get downplayed or ridiculed because the others have made such a big deal about their less severe ones.

Those that complain the loudest either have slight sensitivities or they're just plain fakers, jumping from one trendy ailment to the next to get attention. It appears the OP's friend fits one or both of these. My cousin was the same way. As a teen, she supposedly had several allergies and got shots for them regularly. As soon as she got married and Mommy and Daddy didn't pay for them anymore, she was miraculously cured. But she's suffered from one fad disease/ailment after another ever since. I haven't seen her in about 10 years, but I wouldn't doubt she's gluten intolerant these days.

Yes, there are people with genuine allergies, but it's people like the OP's friend and my cousin who lead me to the default opinion that the majority of overly vocal allergy sufferers are faking it. It's the same for those with emotional support animals and those who ride ECVs in Disneyland or Walmart.

Most of the Chefs I've dealt with consider their food a form of art. So it's almost insulting to request modifications. Most of the high-end or trendy restaurants we visit are to sample what the Chef has created. I want to try their food as they intended.

Some chefs' egos are inversely proportional to their talents. About 5 years ago, my sisters and I and our spouses/partners went to try a new restaurant that had opened a few months prior. It was a Saturday night about 7pm and we were surprised that only three or four other tables were occupied. One sister asked to have pasta as a side dish instead of the fancy potato and froufrou vegetable listed on the menu. There were pasta dishes on the menu, it's not like she was requesting something extraordinary. The waitress sheepishly said something like, "sorry, the chef doesn't tolerate deviations. He said he won't compromise his culinary integrity" or some such BS. Then she rolled her eyes.

We were somewhat taken aback over this ridiculous statement, so she said she'll give us a few more minutes to choose something else. We decided, "screw this," and walked out. Whenever I passed this place after that I noticed there were very few cars in the parking lot. I think it went out of business in less than a year.

I couldn't care less about chef's inflated egos. I'm paying for the food and I'll insult the chef by asking for modifications if I want to. They can decide what's more important to them, their "art" or pleasing paying customers.

 

[BSmithington]

I couldn't care less about chef's inflated egos. I'm paying for the food and I'll insult the chef by asking for modifications if I want to. They can decide what's more important to them, their "art" or pleasing paying customers.

I do think it takes away from what the chef was trying to create by essentially requesting a new dish. And I'm not talking about 50's Prime Time Cafe. I can't even fathom asking Thomas Keller not to substitute but to create something off-menu for me. I trust a James Beard award winning chef.

 

[Cadiewampus]

Do you always take titles and names so literally or is it just this case?

Ok explain to me what she is trying to convey with the title pioneer ?

 

[Rhombus]

I do think it takes away from what the chef was trying to create by essentially requesting a new dish. And I'm not talking about 50's Prime Time Cafe. I can't even fathom asking Thomas Keller not to substitute but to create something off-menu for me. I trust a James Beard award winning chef.

Oh, I wouldn't request an entirely new entrée not on the menu , but a simple substitution for a side dish from ingredients already on hand shouldn't offend the ego of the chef or be considered an insult, like it was in that restaurant I encountered.

 

[Dizlvr]

Oh, I wouldn't request an entirely new entrée not on the menu , but a simple substitution for a side dish from ingredients already on hand shouldn't offend the ego of the chef or be considered an insult, like it was in that restaurant I encountered.

Was your friend requesting one of those pasta dishes as her side, or did she want her pasta prepared in a different way? If its the latter then that is like asking for entirely new menu item and I can understand the chef not preparing it. They aren' personal chefs, they create a menu, if you don't like what is on the menu don't eat there.

 

[minnie mum]

5 pages into an allergy thread and Disfan07 hasn't weighed in yet???? What's going on?

 

[Dancind]

Deleted. My comment made no sense because I don't know how to Quote anymore.

But to add to the discussion, do a search for table salt vs sea salt. If you read a bit about it, you will also be asking for no salt on your food.

 

[bethy]

Unfortunately it is people like your friend who make it harder for people with real true life threatening food allergies. Who, by the way, can eat out at a restaurant and not make a huge ordeal and spectacle of themselves like it sounds like she did.

Isn't that the truth.

Plus, sometimes a person simply can't eat out. My DH avoids eating out whenever possible because 50% of the time he has some sort of allergic reaction. I make everything from scratch. ANY processed food is a risk - even things like canned tomatoes and ground turkey.

DH does have to eat out for work approx. once per week with clients - it's a part of his job. And for that he always eats something safe from home ahead of time and orders a salad with no dressing and with a discreet discussion with the server about his limitations. Also, he tries his best to steer the clients to restaurants where he's had good luck before. Typically expensive restaurants are best because they make everything onsite and from scratch and they are big into good customer services

 

[Goofy_Disney_Dad]

Ok explain to me what she is trying to convey with the title pioneer ?

I really don't know but I certainly didn't expect Ma and Laura Ingalls to be cooking with her. Maybe she explains it on her site. I personally really never worried about the name so I haven't spent any time worrying about its intent.

 

[Christine]

I really don't know but I certainly didn't expect Ma and Laura Ingalls to be cooking with her. Maybe she explains it on her site. I personally really never worried about the name so I haven't spent any time worrying about its intent.

Agree. I didn't take it that she was some poor woman in a wood shack on the prairie. Her website states that she lives on a working cattle ranch and I assume it's in the mid to western part of the U.S. I can see where she thought naming her blog "Pioneer Woman" would seem cute.

 

[disykat]

A note on the food allergy explosion:

In the mid to late 90's it became standard practice to routinely test and treat women for group b strep. The treatment involves I antibiotics during labor, which cross the placenta and go into the amniotic fluid and dose the baby too. After birth, any baby with any symptoms whatsoever are also treated with IV antibiotics. In recent years, researchers tested those antibiotics and found they destroy the natural gut Flora that helps digest certain proteins. Treating mice with the antibiotics made a large portion of the mice allergic to peanuts. It can be inferred that the heavy use of antibiotics in group b positive women might be contributing to the rise in food allergies. Of course, not treating the Group B strep can be more devastating than a food allergy, so it's the lesser of 2 evils

Interesting! My son was born in 92 and was a bit before the curve with his peanut allergies. I had developed an infection during labor and was on IV antibiotics.

 

[Dancind]

To the OP: I would suggest you drop this woman from your list of social partners. It's clear that you intensely dislike her. I'm sure she won't miss you, and who can afford to eat at one of Thomas Keller's restaurants all the time, anyway?

DD and I both have pretty significant gluten intolerance, but our reactions are different. She gets migraines and gets very spacey, I get really bad joint pain. We both get the stomach bloating and pain. I used to be one of those people that would say "to hell with it, I'm on vacation" at WDW. Until one memorable Food and Wine trip about four years ago. After a few meals that included bread and dessert, I looked about 7 months pregnant and could no longer walk due to hip pain. I'm much more careful now.

I do react to other things too, vegetables with bug spray on them, non-organic dairy and corn, food cooked in vegetable oils (especially rancid vegetable oils). Going out to eat is a challenge, but once a week or so I get sick of cooking. We have a short list of restaurants that serve quality food, a couple that are even farm to table. They are more expensive but worth it to me. And yes, I always ask and sometimes even ask for substitutions. It's not that big a deal to the servers/chefs, they are pretty well versed, and it's quick. I put up with symptoms occasionally, to get a break from cooking. But if I have a strong reaction, that place is off my list. And I don't go to prix fixe events, that's just a bit too much to ask of a chef.

Really envy those on the West Coast. I've never had a problem at restaurants when we visit Northern CA (Napa, Sonoma, San Francisco). And recently visited DD in Portland and had some amazing food. We ate at food carts and restaurants a couple of times a day, and only had a reaction once! And I didn't meet up with a single ego driven chef!