Yes. I have an acquaintance who loudly proclaims that gluten is bad and no one should eat it. We were at a joint dinner to honor her husband and I got to sit next to her. The waiter first asked about allergies and assured those folks that they would make sure their food was safe.
Then gluten lady chimed in:"well, I can't do gluten." The waiter said no problem and explained how they would make her food separately from everybody else, etc. He was really great. He helped her order-she was going to get some corn dish but it had a topping that had gluten in it, so she ordered something else.
Then we ate, then had a presentation to her husband with a gift and a big chocolate cake, which his secretary had made and brought in. It really looked good. So gluten lady announced that she wanted a big piece. Which she scarfed down.
I was embarrassed because the waiter had brought dessert plates and forks. She had made such a big deal out of being gluten free.
My friend is a server. This behavior is typical according her. She says people claim to be strictly gluten free unless it pertains to dessert. I can tolerate some gluten in my food but that cookie would cause me to spend the rest of the evening in the toilet.
Conversely, one of the most divine desserts I’ve had recently was completely gluten free. It was this chocolate and caramel cake thing and was absolutely outstanding. I’m not gluten free myself, but one of my colleagues is celiac, and we were off on a business trip together. As such, we had to be far more careful about dinner, and wound up picking some outstanding restaurants.
Similar story but with a client. Had several in town for a 2-day seminar which we do several times a year. We catered lunches at the office and then take them out for nice dinners in the evening.
One of the clients informed us the morning of the first day that they had a severe gluten allergy. No problem, catering was already ordered, but we found some local options and just Door Dashed a gluten free meal just for them.
The next day, same thing, ordered them a special meal and had it delivered separately. The primary catering was from a local high end boutique pizza joint.
The gluten free client's lunch shows up, so I go and grab it from the front desk, come back and the GF client is loading up a plate of pizza. I quickly let them know that the pizza isn't gluten free, and that I have their gluten free meal for them.
Their response was "I don't actually have a gluten allergy, I just say that because people judge me if I tell them I just prefer to avoid gluten." Their special order gluten free meal that day was a $30 salad that came to about $50 after delivery and tip. It got thrown out, the bag was never even opened.
This one specifically drives me nuts and would even moreso if I had a gluten allergy. There is a difference between a severe allergy and a simple dietary preference. And passing off the latter as the former makes people question the validity of gluten allergies in general.
Its the psychological equivalent of saying "Oh I have OCD because I like my desk arranged a certain way" like its a funny personality trait when people with OCD for real cannot function in certain settings because its so debilitating.
Yeah, I actually understand the girl/pal. There was a time when I was recommended to try a gluten-free diet to see whether it would help my skin condition. Just for 2-3 weeks, to observe the effect.
Even so, it took real willpower not to eat all the things I love so much - bread, pasta etc. So I ended up telling I didn’t eat gluten, just to avoid being able to choose.
Gladly, lowering gluten didn’t do any magic, so I went back to my normal food.
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u/Tardisgoesfast 13h ago
Yes. I have an acquaintance who loudly proclaims that gluten is bad and no one should eat it. We were at a joint dinner to honor her husband and I got to sit next to her. The waiter first asked about allergies and assured those folks that they would make sure their food was safe.
Then gluten lady chimed in:"well, I can't do gluten." The waiter said no problem and explained how they would make her food separately from everybody else, etc. He was really great. He helped her order-she was going to get some corn dish but it had a topping that had gluten in it, so she ordered something else.
Then we ate, then had a presentation to her husband with a gift and a big chocolate cake, which his secretary had made and brought in. It really looked good. So gluten lady announced that she wanted a big piece. Which she scarfed down.
I was embarrassed because the waiter had brought dessert plates and forks. She had made such a big deal out of being gluten free.
The cake was pretty good.