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Food Allergies Are Not “Food Fetishes”
Because an Epi-Pen won’t stop the hives that break out on my body when I eat foods I’m allergic to, that’s selfish of me to pretend I have allergies? Uh, no.
Joy Pullmann of The Federalist (who I really like, by the way, despite my firm disagreement with her latest article) attacks people with food sensitivities and food allergies and people who make dietary choices that restrict their willingness to consume certain foods that hurt them (but don’t result in instant anaphylaxis) as “selfish.”
Referring to any non-EpiPen-allergy as “food fetishes,” Pullmann harangues people she believes are not “actually allergic to gluten” and says “picky diets” and “food choices are a way of virtue signaling.”
Whew. Pullmann continues by saying, “Thankfully most allergy sufferers are considerate about other people.”
I’m glad my cross to bear doesn’t send any splinters your way, Ms. Pullmann. Not to worry, I carry Benedryl in my own purse.
Anyway, where to start? Oh, that’s right. I’m allergic to just about every major allergen (peanuts, eggs, milk, soy, wheat, yeast, etc.) some of which result in instant physical reactions, others which yield smaller but no less painful or dangerous consequences. I would never dream of behaving like Rachel Koy (demanding the government put her on welfare because she can’t find a job that will accommodate her allergies), but I do have empathy for her.
This should go without saying (but it clearly doesn’t, so I’ll say it): Koy is the exception to the rule, a girl with food allergies behaving like an entitled brat, not a valid anecdote for Pullmann to stereotype every person who doesn’t fall into her nicely linked articles telling me what I should do with my health.
But let’s pretend for a second that Rachel Koy wasn’t an entitled kid in a relatively isolated example. You’re right, Joy, people are rude about their lifestyle.
Maybe you ran into somebody who was inconsiderate about the burden of allergies they bear – and believe me, in our gluttonous society where we can’t seem to socialize without glorifying excessive amounts of food and posting pictures of foods that don’t nourish our bodies but cause us obesity and ill health… having a multitude of food allergies that preclude me from eating at McDonald’s on my way home from a long day of work and force me to explain for the umpteenth time why I’m not drinking (no, I’m not a prude, I’m allergic to yeast), it is a burden.
Maybe that inconsiderate person foisted the responsibilities of their dietary choices on you (yes, some people who aren’t allergic simply choose to eat clean and healthy, and yes, that’s fine too). If that happened and somebody expected you to go to extra trouble to accommodate them, that was rude. I’d be annoyed too.
Let me clarify: I’d be annoyed at that person. Not at every single person in our country who suffers from food allergies or food sensitivities or follows a diet they choose to support their health!
That doesn’t mean all people with food allergies are fakers, as you insinuate by posting a statistic like this: “…the third of Americans who limit gluten intake (although only 1 percent are celiacs)…”
What point are you trying to make other than insinuating that anybody who isn’t celiac is faking?
I’m disappointed Joy Pullman is taking such a snobby, condescending I-know-your-medical-problems-better-than-you stance. I’ve liked Pullman’s work in the past (full disclosure: I’m an avid, obsessive reader of The Federalist!), but in this article, Pullman sounds like a liberal telling me what I should and shouldn’t do. This is so disappointing.
This is an issue where Pullman and many other conservatives get it wrong: giving blanket acceptance to all the “studies” issued (or funded) by Big Pharma and politicians bought off by Big Pharma (who obviously have an agenda), and then shooting down anything alternative or unknown. Since when did conservatives believe in government so blindly? Since when did conservatives believe we know everything about medicine or science, no questions asked? (PSA: We conservatives are not Al Gore, we don’t believe every person who questions science – or pseudo-science – should be silenced.)
Remember, at one point in our not too distant history, doctors thought blood-sucking leeches were a viable medical treatment that helped cure patients. So, forgive me if I won’t ridicule people who forgo eating gluten because they know their own bodies (and the impacts gluten has on their bodies) better than a study claiming these people are wrong. Doctors are wrong too. And more often than that, doctors are echoing what they’re told by insurance companies and Pharma reps, whose goal is to peddle their products and profit from that sale.
Sound cynical? Turn on your TV on any given night. You’ll see 10 ads for the newest innovative medication, backed by evidence based studies, yadda, yadda, yadda. Turn on your TV six months later and you can join the class action lawsuit against that same med for causing a myriad of horrifying medical injuries up to and including death.
Modern medicine is great. It’s saved millions of lives (including my own). But it’s not infallible and neither are the people who run the industry.
Listen, we conservatives have spent the past eight years railing against Obamacare and liberals who think they know better about our healthcare than we the people do. Don’t be like those liberals! Even in a circumstance where somebody chooses to follow the Whole30 or chooses to be Vegan, since when do we conservatives believe in socially ostracizing people for making health choices that they believe are best for them? Spoiler: if you do, I hear Elizabeth Warren is offering a dandy single payer government run plan that might interest you. If you need a referral for more information on what that kind of system will look like for you and your family, see Charlie Gard.
“Let’s be real here.” Pullman writes, “Many moms groan inwardly when our playgroup or classroom goes nut-free for everyone because one kid out of 50 has an allergy.”
Listen, Pullman is right: it’s normal to feel annoyed when you have to go out of your way to be kind to somebody. That feeling is normal because we as human beings are prone to selfish behavior. We’re sinful, and selfishness is a sin rampant in our nation of wealth and prosperity. But it’s our responsibility to fight that natural urge to sin in order to put others first. Of course, we’re not required to do that, but it’s the nice thing to do.
Pullman continues, “The hallmark of politeness used to be putting other people’s needs and desires before our own. Self-sacrifice was the hallmark of a real gentleman or lady, as well as a person of high character.”
She’s right. I would never dream of sending my friends a list of foods I can’t eat and demanding they cook for me. (That’s laughably rude.) I eat salads at restaurants more often than not, not because I like salad (I am not a rabbit), but because main entrees typically include foods I’m allergic to. It’s a pain. But better me than somebody else, since I would never let Pullmann’s food-shaming impact what’s healthy for my body.
Oh, and by the by, when I invite friends without allergies to dinner, I cook foods I can’t eat because I know they enjoy those foods. And I don’t make them feel like social burdens for it.
Published in General
I am allergic to salt. It’s very hard to stay from it. It’s everywhere. Not only do people like its taste it’s cheap.
I don’t find her article that unreasonable. It seemed that her ire was more directed at the fad dieters and those who go out of their way to inconvenience others so they don’t have to be inconvenienced.
I think you’re giving the column a serious misreading. The focus of her piece appears to be on people who don’t actually have food allergies, but are unnecessarily picky and virtue signalling with their food choices. People who have, in her words, “some weird food thing they’re doing.” People “who eat special diets for lifestyle reasons, and therefore ask fellow eaters to make special arrangements to accommodate their preferences.” The title of the column makes it clear: “Pretend Allergies and Faddish Diet Preferences.”
I recommend reading it again with a little more grace.
That’s kind of my take. I mean, I am nearly 39 years old. When I was a kid I didn’t know anyone with the gluten allergen (what is it silly-ack disease?). Now you can’t talk to person without them listing off all of their “allergens.” Either Americans are becoming genetically weaker or there is something else going on here. I’m not a doctor, and, if you tell me you have the allergen, then I have to take you at face value, but, in general terms, I have to throw the nonsense flag.
After a century of academic, scientific, governmental and industrial research on food and sex, we’ve really gained a solid understanding of these two central topics, haven’t we?
I suspect a perceptive medieval nun knew just as much, perhaps more.
One of those things apparently going on was advice from Doctors to keep your kids away from peanuts until they were three years old. It’s thought that by not exposing kids to peanuts when they were infants they develop an allergy to them. So now they’re suggesting you expose them at six months or earlier.
Seems quite reasonable to me.
Probably applies to a lot more than just peanuts, too.
There’s also this:
We’re All Guinea Pigs in a Failed Decades-Long Diet Experiment
I blame the obesity epidemic entirely on the faulty advice given by government “experts.”
When I look at pictures of people from the 60s and 70s, I’m always shocked to see how relatively thin everyone is compared to today. Even the “fat” people weren’t as fat.
You mean, like, dirt?
Somehow, I think this (sorry paywall– I haven’t even read it) is related.
Can you imagine telling your kids to go outside and play in the mud — for health reasons? And yet . . .
Not playing in the dirt enough when they (we) were kids. Immune systems that don’t have enough challenges tend to get hyper-active and make up things to react against that they really don’t need to. (I hated getting dirty as a child and read books instead. Had I known…)
As for celiac disease, you didn’t necessarily hear about it, but it was there.
Why was Marat in his bathtub receiving guests when he was killed? Because he was almost always soaking in his bath. One of the side effects of celiac disease is a sort of blistering that can be very painful, ugly, and cause many problems. The guy lived in Eighteenth Century France. All they ate was bread. He soaked in a solution that helped his blisters, so used his tub as his office.
Another factor with celiac disease is that smoking can mask the symptoms. I suspect my father may be celiac, for instance, but he has always smoked since at least his time in the service. Smoking rates are down, which may unmask cases of celiac disease.
Some people have allergies. Some have dietary restrictions. Some choose to be vegetarians.
All that is fine and should be respected.
However, it does not mean that every restaurant, airplane, dinner party, you name it has to cater to those specific needs. It is your duty to know what you can eat, and nobody else’s. If you are allergic to peanuts, and can’t be exposed to anything that has ever been exposed to peanuts, my heart goes out to you for issue. But it doesn’t mean that I should ban peanuts from my life in the off chance it may inconvenience you. It doesn’t mean the whole school has to ban peanut butter sandwiches on the off chance your kid might be exposed. It’s on you… If those allergies are so dangerous that your kid can’t be exposed, you should consider special accommodations for your kid, not the whole school.
So if you are a strict vegetarian, and you can not eat food that has been prepared alongside non veg foods, then you have to make your own accommodations.
If you are a diabetic, (like I am) and can’t eat rice, bread, potatoes, etc, then you have to be the one who does not put those things in your mouth.
The reason people are annoyed is not because some other people have allergies and or dietary restrictions. It’s because those people with allergies think the 98% without allergies should be accommodating their specific needs. It doesn’t work like that.
Liz, you’ve been “pullmaned”. It’s happened to me a few times. You’ve had an exaggerated personal concern subjected to fair, thoughtful dissection with the knife of common sense.
Watch your adjectives, Liz (that’s where I fail repeatedly). When you are labelling Pullman the “snob” (especially within this universe of folks she’s addressing) you’re probably missing the point.
Not to go off on a tangent, but this, of course, is just one example of how our whole society now bows before the tyranny of the minority. Less than one percent of the populace claims to be transgender, and yet look how it’s become the cause célèbre of the elite?
My sons would have obeyed without complaint … and then insisted that not showering was clearly a healthy habit too!
If that is the list of things you are allergic to, I really feel sorry for you because of what you are missing. I also understand that it is real since I have a nephew who is allergic to many of the things on your list and when he would swell up after eating an egg, I’m certain he wasn’t faking it. Fortunately gluten is not on his list. The eliminates so many things.
I thought the complaint of the chef was ridiculous though. (Was that soup nazi?) I ask that tweaks to basic recipes be made all the time at restaurants – I don’t like the taste of bean sprouts. So I ask them to be left out. No allergies involved. I just don’t like them. I love onions and garlic and ask for extra all the time. If the chef has a problem, I go somewhere else. I have yet for one to have a problem.
Another ridiculous line was about having one beer and it won’t hurt you. She obviously doesn’t know any alcoholics.
Then according to Wheeler Yer “selfish,” “sinful,” and it’s Yer “responsibility to fight that natural urge to sin in order to put others first.”
Oh, and I think She stated that someone else was “food-shaming.”
There is at least one gentleman scientist who agrees. He says the soap removes the healthy bacteria (that can be gained back from a nice dry dirt bath.) He has also bottled a solution of the healthy bacteria. He says the unhealthy bacteria cause the odors. Here is one of many related articles.
I don’t doubt it is a real thing. I doubt that it is as prevalent in people as it seems. Like I said, I can go to DC right now, do a man on the street type interview, and find probably 6 out of 10 say they are allergic to gluten. I just find that hard to believe. There is no way that something that man has been eating for thousands of years has all of a sudden become such a widespread allergen to people. Evolution cannot simply operate that way. What’s next, an allergy to water?
Right!! I can recall my mom having to ask me if I used soap!! Maybe it’s a perk of living in a rural area. I have no allergies.
Yes, that would be. I think someone quoted about a 1% rate above of actual celiac disease. There may be another one per cent with allergic reactions to wheat that are not CD.
Fun fact: all of those people who are restricting wheat and other grains when they do not have to are putting themselves at risk of other diseases. I definitely wouldn’t recommend restricting the diet for those who don’t have real problems. On the other hand, for those with CD, don’t fool with it. People with CD who continue to eat gluten are at risk for several other diseases because the small intestine stops absorbing nutrients like calcium, magnesium, iodine, and others, resulting in osteoporosis, thyroid problems, and other issues.
This is a mischaracterization. Early in the piece, the author writes,
She certainly allows for legitimate allergies but notes that
In view of these disclaimers, the central complaint in the OP seems, well, grossly exaggerated. Given that, I can’t help but wonder if there are other exaggerations.
Thank you @Lizwheeler for your post. Having a celiac daughter and 2 of her children celiac, and another daughter who has to carry an Epi-Pen with her, and having a friend lose his 7 year old grandson one year ago to a peanut allergy, I become annoyed by people like Joy Pullmann. I am sitting here with my body covered with a Whey Protein induced rash. I am miserable and the Benadryl doesn’t touch it. Celiac people are lactose intolerant, as well as gluten intolerant which actually destroys the Villi in the small intestine that lets you absorb the food you eat.
I am not celiac but am lactose intolerant. I bought a Whey Protein drink that stated “no lactose” and guess what? I read up on these protein drinks and they can really be nasty. So they lied or deliberately misled. Soy triggers migraine headaches for me that put me in a hospital. Soy is used in almost everything, and I have to read the fine print on every package of food I buy. If I am invited to someone’s house for dinner, I always ask if they cook with soy oil. I always ask my guests if they have any food allergies and will do my best to accommodate them.
My friend who lost his grandson last year brought him to Bigfork at age 2 to visit, and I cooked an entire delicious meal the child could eat of everything. He died from an ice cream cone that contained peanuts of some sort.
Tell you what, I am a selfish person, as the exact meaning and dictionary definition of the word “selfishness” is: concern with one’s own interests. It is in my best interest to be concerned with my food intake, and all the rest of you who have no problem with food, you are the selfish people who have no concern for the problems of others who do have allergies or other side effects with what they ingest.
I don’t think most people can grasp disabilities or conditions in others that they can’t see.
This is also why some of us wind up cooking almost all of our meals ourselves and only use ingredients where we know what is in them, rather than more complex cooking additives.
Also fun is oral allergy syndrome. It is a condition where a person has to be sensitized by pollen, and then they become allergic to certain foods. At times of the year when that specific pollen is not in the year, no problems. Birch pollen does this for some folks, for instance. I know there are times of the year when I can eat strawberries and cashews without effects. Other times of the year? Bad things happen.
I think you misunderstand both most of the comments here and the point of her article. What I read was that people who pretend to have allergies as a fad are dangerous for the people who have real allergies. And also those who try to make the world bend over backwards just for them.
It’s not the place of the servers or cooks to question (or God forbid, test) this, but the incredible silliness of fad allergies creates a complacency that is dangerous for actual sufferers.
Okay, this is necessary:
That is very interesting…
Come on, it’s us against the world, conservatives. We attempt to eat the world. The world doesn’t wish to be eaten. Sure there are cooperative, adaptive, manipulative strategies. But the assumption that the consumption, digestion and excretion of the world should occur without inconvenience is progressive.
Eating is Hobbesian.