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Downtown Crossing gets new gluten-free option
By adamg on Wed, 07/20/2016 - 9:07am
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Comments
It's all good
That sign makes just as much sense as half of the food products that OF COURSE are gluten free, but make a point of promoting their freeness to folks who blindly think anything gluten free is awesome.
Cross-contaminiation is no joke
For people with celiac, cross-contamination is a serious issue. If there's cross-contamination (i.e., corn flakes processed on the same machinery that handles wheat, or the like), they can get a severe reaction to very low levels of gluten contamination. So while you may snicker at the "gluten-free" oatmeal and think it goes without saying, it doesn't.
I used to laugh at Gluten
I used to laugh at Gluten Free guacamole and gluten free hummus until a friend pointed out that while it may seem obvious that if you look at the labels there are lots of random fillers added to things. Apparently some cheap hummus brands do toss in random fillers. I don't personally avoid gluten but if I am buying hummus I would rather it not have filler in it.
As for jewelry, I guess I would prefer my bracelets not be made out of bread.
Agreed, but..
Coming from a highly allergic family, I understand the need for people with celiac disease and true allergies to be aware of cross-contamination and fillers that may contain foods that are harmless to the general public, but dangerously life-threatening to those who are allergic.
What pisses me off, and what a lot of people make fun of (which is what I think is going on here), are the people who are jumping on the gluten-free bandwagon because it's the latest health buzzword. They don't really understand what it means, but they see the words "gluten-free" everywhere, so they jump right on in, without understanding why.
Also rage-worthy are the people who claim allergies, when the truth is the just don't like a particular ingredient...and think it's perfectly ok to make the restaurant staff put everything away, scrub and sanitize all tools and cooking surfaces and make a fresh burger (for example) without any hint of tomato being in the room...then go and smother the thing in ketchup (main ingredient: tomato).
It's perfectly ok to ask restaurant/kitchen staff to please not use any (whatever ingredient) because you just don't like the taste or texture...but it's morally wrong to claim an allergy that you don't really have.
I also have family members
I also have family members who have random allergies and I would disagree with being mad at people who jump on the bandwagon. I have a second cousin who is a celiac , he came to visit in the late 90's and I was the only one home (I was 17) so he offered to take me to lunch. I quickly found out how hard it was find a suitable place to eat, we looked at menu after menu and I learned quite a bit. Oh so you can't have gluten, um ok so no bread, oh I know how about PASTA!!! No, um ok... fried chicken? How about a wrap? My mother had an equally hard time navigating that passage. I was in the kitchen when she made a salad and went to toss croutons in, I grabbed the box "noooooo what are you doing!!!" I imagine life would have been much easier if there were little "gluten free" stars everywhere.
Obviously it is a jewelry store
Not a restaurant.
No sane person would mistake a jewelry store for a restaurant.
If you can't find humor in poking fun at people who use serious health issues to justify their latest diet fad I feel bad for you.
The sign is a joke
Meant to poke fun of people that jump on every bandwagon.
What is no joke
Due to many families hailing from particularly predisposed regions of the world, our area has a not-funny prevalence of Celiac.
Travel in Western Ireland and every menu has explicit descriptions of gluten free items and how they are cooked/ingredients.
What is funny in California isn't funny in Massachusetts.
Its a jewelry store
What the hell does a jewelry store have to do with anything in Ireland?
I bet you are fun at parties!