This question came about over a discussion my brother and I had about whether dogs should be on leashes when outside. We both agreed that yes, they should, for several reasons, but that’s not the point.
Let’s use a hypothetical to better illustrate the question. Imagine that there’s a perfume - vanilla, for example - that doesn’t bother you at all (you don’t like nor dislike it), but that is very upsetting to some people, and can even cause some adverse reactions (allergies or something). In this hypothetical, based on the negative effects, you agree that vanilla perfumes should be banned. Currently, however, they are allowed.
You’re walking down the street, and randomly smell someone passing you by and they’re wearing a vanilla perfume.
Would that upset you? Why, or why not?
My answer is yes, without a doubt. Even though the smell itself doesn’t bother me, the fact someone would wear that perfume and not only potentially upset others, but put them in danger, is upsetting.
My brother, however, would say no! He couldn’t explain his reasoning to me.
I know this is a little convoluted, but I hope I got my question across.
Would you do the same for someone eating gluten and getting it everywhere?
Correct me if I’m missing information, but I was the head chef at a restaurant that did gluten free stuff years before it became a common menu option. Additionally, I lived with a celiac for a few years. Admittedly, I’ve been out of the industry for a long time.
As far as I know, gluten allergies are only related to injestion, if people can have fatal responses to airborne particles, that was never a part of our food safety protocols. With celiacs, which behaves a bit differently from an allergy - they can have an extremely painful response to even small amounts of gluten, but it has to be injested. I mean, I baked bread with my roommate and he’d be fine, but he would have a reaction if he accidentally used my butter after I cut it with the same knife I used for bread.
For me, I get blisters on my skin if I even touch gluten residues. Sometimes even after a bench has been wiped down after flour has been used.
Being near a kitchen makes me sick due to airbourne flour particles, if flour is being used. Most annoyingly it ends up on the floor, and tracked around the house where I’ll randomly be exposed. Ends up on door handles and cupboard handles. Infuriating and always have to be on high alert
Interesting, I’ve heard that was a wheat allergy, if you react to flours in general. Since gluten is present in wheat flour, but a wheat allergy may include other grains that don’t contain gluten.
Regardless, I’d find it so difficult it wouldn’t be doable to cater to that allergy in a restaurant or store that serves wheat products. There are gluten free production kitchens out there, but they might use other flours that share proteins with wheat, that could trigger an allergic reaction. So yeah, sounds tough as hell.
To answer your question, to cater to all allergies, we could introduce regulations around opening packaged foods in places that -only- sell packaged products, and I would support it.
People just shouldn’t be eating shit with their hands and touching stuff at the same time anyway, I’m more likely to admonish someone for that.
I don’t even have half an idea what all foods do or don’t contain gluten, but I am still almost equally inclined to call out people just plain out being nasty, especially in a public space where they’re about to exchange paper cash.
Like shit, I totally respect paper cash, but FFS, try to make sure your hands are clean when handling or exchanging money. And definitely don’t be literally eating food with your bare hands right at the register before even paying for it.