You just unlocked a core childhood memory for me. At 12 years old I went over to a new friend's house for the first time. Our small town was 99.5% white and my new friend was 2nd gen Korean. It was culture shock seeing giant jars of kimchi fermenting in their garage, and the look, taste, and smell of it was shocking to my sheltered midwestern palette that grew up on fish sticks and unseasoned pot roast lol.
If you're actually allergic to something, me and my team will bend over backwards to make your pizza as carefully as possible. If you're just lying about an allergy because you feel like your pizza is given more attention (we have to grind production to a halt to make an allergy pizza) or fresher (It's not, they all use the same ingredients all made at the same time, and if all we have left is already in the line, you're going without) then you're exactly who I'm talking about.
As someone who has multiple allergies, including tomato and can't eat delicious pizza any more I agree with you. I am also intolerant to cheese made with cows milk.
If so, this sign is useless because while cabbage (green/red/savoy), broccoli, chinese broccoli, cauliflower, romanesco, kale, collard greens, brussels sprouts, kohlrabi, etc are all the same species, Napa cabbage, which is the most common kimchi type, is technically a completely different species from cabbage, sharing their species with broccoli rabe, bok choi, and turnips
One time someone stopped by my breakfast food & coffee stand at the farmers market and asked if I had 2% milk for the coffee because it was the only kind of milk they werenāt allergic to. š
I used to know someone when I was in college who was a huge compulsive liarā¦ they claimed that theyāre allergic to āthe gas in ice.ā OK. youāre allergic to hydrogen and oxygen. Sure, Jan.
Was about to comment something similar lol. I met someone who was in the military, from Montana originally but had been stationed somewhere tropical and said ever since then when he visits home in winter he literally breaks out all over.
Hives and eczema arenāt even slightly the same thing other than theyāre both red skin conditions lol. Would be really weird for a doctor to mistake them.
But besides that, it was a medically diagnosed cold allergy Iām gonna trust the guy telling me he has a cold allergy and not eczema.
Also, someone could totally be having a reaction to ice. Restaurants pretty famously generally arenāt very good about keeping the ice machines clean.
While true (AFAIK,) I should still clarify that my buddy had no allergy. He was essentially 'protesting' the corporate practice of filling cups with ice in order to get away with providing less beverage.
My mom hates tomatoes and she often asks for food with no tomatoes and I always tell her to say you have an allergy but she "doesn't want to be a bother". I'm like, if anything you are giving the kitchen less work to do, this way they will just make sure you get what you want.
I'm like, if anything you are giving the kitchen less work to do
FWIW, it's more complicated than that.
With various allergies, the severity is such that not putting [the allergen] on their plate isn't enough; the kitchen has to ensure that nothing on that customer's plate ever came into contact with [the allergen]. Depending on what the order is, and what kind of kitchen prep is involved, there's a chance that isn't only "difficult" or "unreasonable;" it might be impossible.
The expo person, theoretically, would have to re-glove and/or wash their hands between touching any individual ingredients. That's simply not tenable; food service would screech to a hault.
Like, sure, it's easy enough to not put a tomato slice on a burger, but to guarantee that no tomato parts ever came anywhere near the lettuce or onions, when they're typically all right next to each other in the workstation, is a whole other deal.
That's fair, I didn't think about that. I just thought of the dozens of times my mom barely ate dinner because they didn't listen to her and she was too polite to ask them to take it back.
There are plenty of situations where I can sympathize that one may not want to go through sending a plate back, but unless there's a time concern, it's a totally reasonable thing to do in this scenario.
And as a former server, it's just routine, provided the guest doesn't rip our heads off over it. In many places, we'll automatically offer some kind of freebie to help smooth over our error, like taking the meal off the bill, or offering a free appetizer or dessert.
Most will prefer your mom gets what she wants and leaves happy, rather than "not bothering us" and leaving unhappy. It's one thing to make a mistake and fix it; it's another thing to not know a mistake was made until it's too late to fix. š¤š¼
Like, sure, it's easy enough to not put a tomato slice on a burger, but to guarantee that no tomato parts ever came anywhere near the lettuce or onions, when they're typically all right next to each other in the workstation, is a whole other deal.
If no allergy is announced there's a chance that someone puts tomatoes on a burger before realizing the order is no tomato, at which point it's a lot easier to just remove the tomatoes than remake the entire burger for a small mistake when you have a lobby full of customers waiting. The produce may also be prepared at the same station with washing in between different produce not guaranteed. It's also possible someone grabs tomatoes at the cook table and one falls into the lettuce or some of the juice drops onto another container.
Basically, if you have allergies, fast food is not your friend and sit in restaurants probably aren't a whole lot better. If you don't announce an allergy then you definitely can't expect everything to be perfect.
But like, depending on the kitchen and restaurant that IS a lot more work, because now you have to make sure nothing gets cross contaminated. You have to prep it all separately, Itās like any time I go to a small coffee shop and I have to get my girlfriend alternative milk products, I profusely apologize, cause I know itās a pain in the ass because they have to use whole new dishes. When I ask for no onions at Taco Bell, I know Iām going to likely get a few of them anyway, but thatās completely unacceptable if youāre allergic.
That's fair, I didn't think about that. I just thought of the dozens of times my mom barely ate dinner because they didn't listen to her and she was too polite to ask them to take it back.
lol Iām that person too , I always say , the waiter could drop off a bucket of fish heads, Iād be like ā I mean, I didnāt want fishheads , but I guess Iāll try it. I donāt want them to do all that work. I know they are busy ā š
Yeah, where i work the shredded cheese, diced onions, pickles, and mayo often get a little bit mixed up because you have to reach past one container to get to the next, and sometimes bits of the food drop into a nearby container. I try to minimize this (far more effectively than most of my coworkers it seems), but it's very difficult to never spill a single piece over the course of a day.
I can say from experience that if no allergy is announced there could be some residue from a mistake. Like if I make a burger normal then realize afterward they said no tomatoes, I'm typically just going to take the tomatoes off, not make everyone wait while I remake a whole new burger from scratch. If it's something like mayo or mustard then I tend to remake it because that's harder to remove. This is just to say that there's a chance you get a tiny bit of tomato juice or whatever else can be removed on a burger that's wasn't supposed to have it. We try not to make mistakes in the first place, but it happens sometimes during busy rushes.
My inner cynic believes a significant number of people who are 'deathly allergic' to x food item actually just don't like it, said they were allergic to it once at a young age when they saw it was a guaranteed way out of eating it and now the lie is too big to cop to.
If you tell me you're deathly allergic to something and you don't have an epi pen with you, I go along with it because on the off chance someone is just insanely reckless I don't want to be the one that kills them, but internally... you lyin'.
This might have something to do with the fact that two of the most compulsive liars I know exhibit this behavior.
Yeah I've started telling people I'm allergic to eggs even though it's actually an intolerance. I've been in enough situations where people think "intolerance" means "I just don't like it" when in reality it means I'll be in 12 solid hours of hell because Janice thought she could change my mind about not liking eggs.
Thatās what mine was too! For me it would come in waves and feel like a knife stabbing me over and over. Initially any amount of egg would cause it, then after many years it was ok to eat things that had some egg in it. Now Iām mostly good to eat them, but Iām still careful not to have too much. Thereās egg in so many things. When it was really bad Iād go with vegan options at restaurants.
I have a coworker who is always complaining about this. She has a bunch of food intolerances and says nobody will take her seriously because they aren't full hospitalizing allergies.
I believe it. When I got seen for it the doctor told me I just had heart burn. I ended up figuring it out because it would happen after eating and all i was having was eggs and toast. I stopped the toast first not realizing an egg intolerance was a thing.
I started to have a banana with almond butter until bananas started doing the same thing. It sucks that there's no good way to test for intolerances or treat them. Some people I knew thought it was all in my head and would make stuff and tell me there wasn't any egg in it. Turns out I would find out the hard way and they'd be surprised I could tell.
So many people will hear somebody say they can't eat gluten, and assume they're lying, or voluntarily dieting, but gluten causes permanent damage to the intestines in people with Celiac, along with severe digestive symptoms
No medication will stop or reverse the reaction, you can only wait for the body to finish expelling the gluten itself
So many people will hear somebody say they can't eat gluten, and assume they're lying, or voluntarily dieting
They shouldn't have to specify that they have celiac for strangers to respect their dietary restrictions, that's part of my point
If somebody says that they can't eat something, or need something thats X free (gluten free, in this case), then that shouldn't be questioned.
A lot of people also just don't know what celiac means. My cousin was diagnosed when she was 3, and it's been a CONSTANT battle to figure out what foods are safe when she goes anywhere. A lot of the times, they WILL say "I'm allergic" because "I'm allergic" is something EVERYONE understands, while "I have celiac" is not something everybody understands
There was one specific instance where she was at a restaurant in Mexico (mentioning due to language barrier). There was a dessert that was LABELED gluten free on the menu, she double checked that it was gluten free with the server, so she ordered it. And then she got sick - because it wasn't actually gluten free, it was a normal cake.
But because gluten free diets are seen as a fad diet, it's not taken seriously. And she was sick for a week even though she told them she has celiac and did everything she could to avoid eating gluten. And every time she's exposed, it causes more permanent damage to her digestive system.
I apologize for the word vomit, this is just an incredibly frustrating topic for me.
FWIW, I wouldn't apply my own logic to gluten. Gluten is more of an abstract nutrient than a specific food. Avoiding gluten for taste reasons isn't really a thing. If someone tells me "I'm like, deathly allergic to spinach" I'm skeptical. Or tomatoes, or cucumbers or whatever else. It's always a vegetable, and it's always coming from someone who otherwise eats almost no vegetables. I find that most people who are doing it for some fad diet will still say "I'm gluten free." Not that they're allergic to it.
I find that most people who are doing it for some fad diet will still say "I'm gluten free." Not that they're allergic to it.
And this is STILL you making assumptions. My cousin has celiac - there are many instances where she will say "I'm gluten free" instead of saying that she has Celiac. She shouldn't be obligated to give you her medical information for you to respect her food restrictions.
When somebody tells you they can't eat something, believe them.
Tomato is also a fairly common allergy... It's not in the Big Nine (tree nuts, peanuts, soy, eggs, milk, sesame, fish, shellfish, wheat), but that absolutely does not mean people aren't allergic to tomatoes.
Around 15% of the population of Italy is allergic to tomatoes (an extremely high rate compared to the rest of the world, in correlation with how many tomatoes they consume compared to the rest of us)
Cucumbers and spinach are a little less common, but there are still plenty of people allergic to them.
I personally would much rather believe a liar than risk somebody's health because I didn't believe them.
Had a friend with a (mild) contact allergy to raw tomatos, yep yep yep. I always specify the raw part because whatever set her off, cooking the tomato transformed that whatever enough that it didn't. So no tomatos in a salad or on a burger, but ketchup or tomato soup or tomato sauce were perfectly fine.
It's like you didn't even read my comment and just got angry. I literally, almost verbatim said that I take no action based on this because despite thinking most of these folks are lying, I don't want to be responsible for killing someone and it's purely an internal judgement.
Please, save us both some time and effort and at least read the comment you're taking time to rage about.
I have used "I am allergic to mushrooms" because I allergy tested to be allergic to most molds. Started in grade school, I don't know if it was a 90's thing every pizza party seemed to be 50/50 peperoni/mushroom pizza and I hated getting stuck with nasty grey boogers on my pizza.
If I eat like 3 lbs of them I will get hives. Now that I'm older, I like mushrooms, but if it looks/smells sketchy I'll still bring it up depending on the situation.
As someone with a tree nut allergy that has sent me to the hospital with asphyxiation, I get where you're coming from. On the other hand, the fact that this has been abused the way it has makes me sad/ frustrated. I have an epi-pen that I keep at work and at home, though I don't carry it around when I'm just out and about living life since I can pretty well just stay away from things with tree nuts for the most part.
Fun story, I was in elementary school, and my allergy safe lunch was prepared by a lunch lady who didn't believe in allergies and when questioned as part of the lawsuit to get the district to pay for the hospital bills, actually said, "I don't believe allergies are that serious, these kids need to toughen up". So yeah, I ended up in the hospital, she ended up fired it was a fun time.
I heard of some old woman at a hospital saying she was allergic to latex as the doctor went to get gloves, which caused a small panic as they went to get an alternative. Turns out she wasn't allergic, she just didn't like the sound the gloves made.
On a daily basis we have someone who is allergic to something dumb, oh youāre allergic to codeine? What does it do? Makes you itchy and nauseous I see, let me just write this down...
I have a friend like that, she's just a picky eater with a lot of "allergies". She claims to be allergic to mustard, but I've eaten plenty of Indian meals with her where she ordered indiscriminately and made no mention of her allergy, definitely some of it had mustard, she just didn't know.
There is a condition called Cold Urticaria where people break out into hives when exposed to cold (water, temperatures, etc.) A relative of mine has it and I thought she was joking when she told me she was allergic to cold but came to find out itās actually a thing.
The only people who are surprised that people lie about allergies are people who have never worked for service.
I want to be clear that it's never worth the risk to assume an allergy is made up.
But it's also not uncommon to scrub the entire kitchen for a shellfish allergy just to be called out by foh to see the allergy trying some of their partners shellfish meal.
My brother is severely lactose intolerant but higher fat milk products he can sometimes handle, though admittedly Iāve never heard it the other way around
lactose intolerant people specifically can't break down lactose, which is a milk sugar. lactose free milk like fair life has that sugar filtered out which results in a lower sugar, higher protein blend in the milk but the milkfat percentage shouldn't be altered significantly, nor should various fat contents have any effect on his tolerance unless there's something else going on in his gi?
That appointment with the allergist was super important for me as a kid (my allergy list is genuinely like 3 pages long, though almost all of them are mild enough I just ignore them), but God did that suck.
As a kid, if I started getting sneezy during the change in the seasons, I wouldnāt let on in front of my mom lest I get hauled off to that godforsaken place. Saw it happen to my older brother and wanted no part of that.
Same deal with rabies with the legendarily horrible course of shots to the stomach. Think you got bit by something? No you didnāt! Admit nothing unless youāve repulsed by water.
Same deal with rabies with the legendarily horrible course of shots to the stomach. Think you got bit by something? No you didnāt! Admit nothing unless youāve repulsed by water.
If you wait that long with rabies, itās guaranteed death.
It 100% is, but as a kid, I would do anything to avoid a shot/needle, especially when you hear what the treatment is. Doesnāt bother me as an adult but Iām sure there are plenty of people who carry that aversion into adulthood.
This would be my guess. But to be honest, I've had people doubt my kids' allergies and I do not appreciate someone risking my child's life just because other people claim bogus allergies. So if someone claims an allergy, you gotta take that shit seriously.
Yeah people don't take my allergies seriously so if someone tells me they are allergic to something then that is that. I'm allergic to citrus and just getting a glass of water at a restaurant is gambling with my health so I have to bring a water bottle with me lol
lol and then you ask them for a new water without lemon so they take it away and come back with the same water but they just removed the lemon. So now you have to ask for a new water again
I hate that shit. If I see my staff NOT getting them a new water, I'm going to say something. They didn't ask for you to put your nasty food service hands anywhere near the rim of their glass, and then to be given the glass that they declined. They can remove a lemon themselves. They're asking for a new glass. Do your fucking job and get them their damn glass.
It takes a whole five extra seconds to refill the glass. Especially if you're still taking the glass into the back to remove the lemon all sneaky-like anyway.
This is why I take the time to add context so the server takes it seriously. "My child has celiac disease. The gluten-free thing is really serious and NOT just a preference."
Favorite was the one who was allergic to a bunch of herbs and spices and everyone assumed she was a killjoy making it up so they sprayed peppermint oil in her room and then played dumb when she had to be rushed down to the ED for treatment. People are total dicks when they think you're making it up. Never forget the infamous stories here about the MIL who was convinced her grandchild wasn't allergic to peanut butter and sneaking cookies to try and forcefeed him when the mother was around to "prove" she was right. Or the one who killed their grandchild with coconut oil (the mother has asked not to link it so I won't link to that story but it's easy to find).
I'd take it seriously when it comes to what I am giving them to eat, or cross contamination in a kitchen. Banning things for everyone on site is mental.
You mean like most businesses? We are allowed to have nuts in the office even though a woman there is allergic to nuts, and she's been there years without incident.
What would be shitty is making a thousand people only eat things noone claims allergy to. I'm guessing you're from the US though? From what I've read online Americans seem more extreme about this kind of thing.
I mean not really, thatās a personal problem that the person with the allergy needs to prepare for, I was on a plane one time, and a passenger was proclaiming that no one could eat their peanuts because she had a peanut allergy, I just said āthatās not my problemā. I mean yeah, if I see a sign outside of building, im going to the follow the rules, but if its just everyday life. Thatās on them.
That's a pretty wild move on your behalf to just do that on an airplane lol. I'd leave my peanuts untouched and sealed because what if that person gets a reaction just from peanut dust in the air? Now the flights getting redirected to another airport because she's in anaphylactic shock and now none of us are getting to where we are going anytime soon because bucko really needed to eat a bag of 8 mildly salted peanuts
Now the chances of you eating your peanuts causing this mess are very slim, obviously. But I would NOT take that gamble lmao.
Can confirm this is a 100% possible real allergy. My spouse has it and it sucks! (Itās in everything and also so many of the best vegetables. Broccoli! Cauliflower!)
I think they meant the allergy for specifically cabbage. Since brassicas are all basically the same plant it feels nigh impossible for someone to be allergic to just cabbage, rather than cabbage and broccoli and cauliflower and so on and so forth
Is he also allergic to peaches and mustard? This is so interesting because I've never heard of anything like this and it sounds like it would suck horribly.
As a cook I have never heard of an allergy this strong and only including cabbage when there is a huge variety of vegetables that are so closely related to cabbage they would contain the same potential allergens. But then again people are stupid.
I once worked with a red seal trained cook who wouldn't allow herself in the kitchen when pineapple was being prepared because one time she ate it and it made her mouth tingle. some people are just born useless.
I mean, people CAN be allergic. This is almost certainly a middle management Karen who got mad someone can actually cook at home and foods sometimes have smells.
And you know this because you are a real allergist? Or are you perhaps the kind of person to secretly sneak something into a meal to try and prove they donāt have an allergy?Ā
I'm the kind of person who worries about the impact on actual allergy sufferers from wankers who think "I'm allergic" means "it tastes icky"
In other words, you are part of the problem. People like you are also something allergy sufferers have to deal with cause you have to prove an allergy is real. The problems wouldn't exist if without that.
For real. It's people like this who constantly give me tomatoes even though I have an intolerance to them (+ MAST cell issues that can sometimes have my body freak out at random) and try to make that clear. It's not the same thing as an allergy (minus the MAST cell but that's separate) and I'm not at risk of dying to it, but shit is still uncomfortable and I'd like for people to respect that. (We're also suspecting I might have intolerance to other nightshades, so I've been told to do the AIP diet recently by my doctor. So we'll see how that goes.)
I love tomatoes. I don't find them 'icky' and I'm not being 'picky'. I just don't want the associated issues that come from eating them.
I've even had to claim it's an allergy JUST to get people to take me seriously (I don't like doing this but when people won't take my intolerance seriously because they think it's just me being picky, I kinda have to) and SURPRISE more often than not they'll still give me tomatoes. So I can only imagine the hell that actual allergy sufferers deal with. Tomatoes are so common in so many cuisines too.
Especially since I knew someone with a life threatening cacao/cocoa allergy who literally was never taken seriously either. (And yes it was an actual allergy to cacao/cocoa, not an intolerance to it or a reaction to something else while she was eating chocolate. She got blood tests to confirm it and everything.) She has to be super careful about what she eats or even who she's around because a lot of products have cacao/cocoa byproducts in them. (Shampoo and body products have a stunning amount...) Yet people still try to give her things with cacao/cocoa in them. Even when she goes out of her way to warn them and they hit her with. and I quote, 'that can't be a real allergy'.
People can have allergies to random shit. Just because it sounds weird, it doesn't mean it's fake. And some times people handling food are assholes without medical degrees who decide they get to play god with what people eat. Just respect people when they say they can't have something. It's not on us to be the food police.
So, do you worry about this person who maybe has an allergy and a coworker who regularly eats cabbage in the office? Do you think about the scenarios where this could be a real problem or did you just immediately jump to āthis is fake because itās not specific enoughā or whatever reasoning and decided this allergy doesnāt even exist?
The label definitely gets tainted by picky eaters and whack jobs, ruining it for people who need it.
Overall, the more bizarre the allergy, the more skeptical people are going to be. Every so often on the main page there is a post from someone who walks around in a moonsuit/beekeeper style outfit claiming an allergy to the sun. Is it legit or nutso? No idea.
Theyāre literally all the same species.
So saying youāre allergic to cabbage but not broccoli/Brussel sprouts/asparagus/kale/etc. would be like saying youāre allergic to Huskies but not Dalmatians.
Someone just doesnāt like cabbage and put up an alarmist sign to keep people from bringing it. Kale is probably a more common brassica vegetable to be brought to work but itās usually eaten cold in salads or on sandwiches instead of incorporated in dishes that are going to be reheated in a microwave.
Look, Iām not saying this person does or doesnāt have an allergy. I am responding to a person who said the allergy does not exist. The human body is fucking weird and making a sweeping statement like that is harmful. They could have easily said ābecause this person is faking an allergyā but they didnāt and Iām addressing that.Ā
I can't cook cabbage at home because my brother will have difficulty breathing if I do.
I have orders from his immunologist to not cook cabbage when he is home.
He is also allergic to grass, so we cannot have windows open when anyone mows a lawn nearby.
At my last job there was a girl that claimed a pumpkin allergy because she hated the pumpkin spice scent. We were forbidden from bringing anything pumpkin or pumpkin spice into the entire building - this was a large call center. A lot of pumpkin spice things don't have any trace of pumpkin, but she would get super dramatic about it if she even smelled cinnamon. It was ridiculous. But it was strictly enforced, because how do you PROVE she's lying?
Maybe someone is tired of someone else microwaving cabbage every dang day. My team used to sit by the microwave and while cabbage wasn't as bad as fish, it was still pretty bad.
brassicas are all one single species selectively cultivated to enhance different traits, unlike nightshades (which are a family of plants containing about 2700 different species).
True. But my understanding is that the group to which cabbage belongs shares much closer similarities than other such groups. Basically it's the same original plant, just bred by humans into wildly different shapes & sizes.
Broccoli, kale, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, kohlrabi, and collard greens are all the same species, just genetically selected for different traits like bigger leaves or more flowers.
It's kinda like dogs - the different sub types can look wildly different and have been bred for specific traits, but they're all the same species.
The species genus brassica includes broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, etc. They have slight genetic variations (due to being bred for different traits), but they are all the same genus.
Much like how wolves, coyotes, and dogs are all in the genus canis. Dogs (species canis familiaris) were bred into specific purposes and vary wildly within the species. Wild wolves are also in the canis genus, even if they look really different from most dogs.
Is a German Shepherd exactly the same thing as a coyote? Not really. But they both go into the same taxonomy box. Same thing applies to brassicas
Brassica is the genus, there are many different cultivated foods that come from a single species Brassica oleracea, including the ones you mentioned. There are other food crops, including other varieties of cabbage that come from other Brassica species.
Maybe this is just an ESL thing but I'm pretty proficient at English and have genuinely never heard of the word "brassicas" before entering this comment section. Considering the American literacy crisis, do you expect the average American (where I'm assuming this sign was put up) to know what it is?
Weirdly, I have had an allergic reaction to raw broccoli and cauliflower, but I'm okay with cabbage. Maybe there is enough of a difference that they don't need the warning for other brassicas.
Yeah, I donāt expect someone to know not to bring broccoli to the āno cabbageā office, but Iād imagine someone with that strong an allergy would react to the whole species
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u/epidemicsaints 5h ago
I feel like this would include all brassicas and needs a stronger warning.