ARE YOU ALLERGIC? THEN GO AWAY!

You may have noticed an intolerance toward food-pretentious folks on this site at times, and I will gladly admit that after working in the restaurant business years ago I have no patience whatsoever with people who claim allergies and sensitivities which they do not actually have.
Never-the-less, I know that some individuals are indeed allergic. Fortunately I do not eat with them -- hardly know any -- so I never need worry about whatever is in my food or on my plate.

The only things to which I do not react well are bananas, opiates, penicillin and all of its relatives, and vasoconstrictors in anesthetics.
Most of which are not part of my diet.
All of which. Not.

The banana was the fruit which the serpent gave to Eve.
She probably ended up itchy all over.
Scratched furiously.

No wonder she needed to cover up her nakedness.
Red welts on several private parts.
A bit embarrassing.

She should have cooked the damned thing.
It's far more tolerable then.


Anyhow, it looks like the Europeans are going all neurotic Californian batshit on the food allergy thing.

Per a recent BBC article:

Restaurants and takeaways across Europe will be required by law to tell customers if their food contains ingredients known to trigger allergies.
------
Under the new legislation (EU FIC Food Information for Consumers Regulation), customers must be told if their food contains any of the following:

Celery - including any found in stock cubes and soup.
Cereals containing gluten - including spelt, wheat, rye, barley.
Crustaceans - eg crabs, lobster, prawns and shrimp paste.
Eggs - including food glazed with egg.
Fish.
Lupin - can be found in some types of bread, pastries, pasta.
Milk.
Molluscs - mussels, land snails, squid, also found in oyster sauce.
Mustard.
Nuts - for example almonds, hazelnuts, walnuts, macadamia.
Peanuts - also found in groundnut oil.
Sesame seeds - found in some bread, houmous, tahini.
Soya - found in beancurd, edamame beans, tofu.
Sulphur dioxide - used as a preservative in dried fruit, meat products, soft drinks, vegetables, alcohol.

Source: http://www.bbc.com/news/health-30395142.


I've ingested most of these things within the last week. As far as I'm concerned the list simply highlights how unforgivably ignorant most people are of food. Chinese, South-East Asian, and Indian cuisine should be off-limits to anyone who doesn't have a clue.

If you don't educate yourself, don't eat.

At some point, someone will be incredibly indignant that he or she wasn't informed of certain ingredients in his or her own language while travelling in a part of Europe where another vernacular is common, or when eating at a restaurant staffed by people who do not speak whatever the local lingua franca might be as fluently and idiomatically as the natives.

After their imagined medical crisis, they will take matters to court.
And put sincere hard-working people out of business.


Perhaps the only way many eateries can protect themselves is by inventing dishes that contain most of these ingredients -- all, if possible -- and posting a large sign in nearly a hundred languages saying "you cannot eat here, we will kill you".



==========================================================================
NOTE: Readers may contact me directly:
LETTER BOX.
All correspondence will be kept in confidence.
==========================================================================