First, there were low-fat diets, then the Atkins, South Beach, low-carb, paleo, and one of the more recent diet fads, gluten-free. In the past few years, it seems that everyone has a friend or relative that is now gluten-free. While some of these people may actually have celiac disease, which prohibits them from eating gluten, many restaurateurs suspect that requests for gluten-free meals are a dietary choice and are not a result of debilitating allergies.
The Boston Globe reported last week on one such dubious restaurateur at the White Moose Cafe in Dublin. The owner Paul Stenson will now require people to provide a doctor’s note if they want to eat a gluten-free meal.
According to the Globe, Stenson posted this message on Facebook after a patron asked for gluten-free pancakes without even knowing what celiac disease was: “From now on, guests who demand gluten-free food are required to produce a doctor’s note which states that you suffer from coeliac [the spelling used in Ireland] disease. Guests following a gluten-free fad, who don’t even know what gluten is, can cop the [expletive] on and eat regular food like everybody else.”
“This is a chef opening the window and saying I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take it anymore at various diners coming in because of faddish reasons,” said senior editor at The Atlantic and food critic Corby Kummer on Boston Public Radio Monday.
Kummer was happy to see a chef finally stand up to the many people who fake food allergies in restaurants. “This is one of my favorite stories in a long time. It is a chef who said I am sick of catering to people’s imaginary needs,” Kummer said.
Chefs have begun to take people’s allergies, specifically gluten intolerance, less seriously because so many people are faking their allergies, Kummer says. “I do think a lot of people jump on fads and don’t actually have gluten intolerance. I know a lot of people that do and it's serious business for them. Because so many people have jumped on a fad, more and more chefs aren’t taking it seriously,” he said.
Kummer doesn’t believe that a doctor's note is a feasible solution to allergy fakers, but he does think that restaurants should still accommodate people who claim they have allergies despite the growing gluten-free fad.
