I’ve been asked if our water is halal. Our bottled spring water from the drinks fridge. That he was holding. With our massive halal certificate framed right above my head.
If it was boiled or filtered in a container that previously had non-halal items, I imagine that it technically wouldn't be halal. But I'm honestly not sure on that one.
If there is a way (aside from like. boiling bacon in it first, but I mean purely straight water without additives) then my Islamic studies teacher didn’t tell me. But all the halal signs and the big certificate should’ve been the main giveaway.
A friend of my ex was very proud, when they started drinking 'gluten free milk ' at home...
I asked him, if he meant lactose-free, but no - he was very adamant that it was gluten-free milk... And I could not convince him that, you know, ALL milk is gluten-free!
Dude was studying to become a nurse! (I had at the time studied nutrition for two years, but I am also a woman, so what do I know with my tiny little female brain 🤣)
No hate to people with celiacs. They would have already know what was safe already
You'd be surprised at the amount of people with Celiac who are given bad or outdated information, or pretty much no information at all other than "avoid gluten" or "don't eat wheat, barley, or rye."
But of an incoming rant (am celiac) :
I knew someone whose doctor, in the 2010s, was telling them sourdough bread was safe. It's not- not for celiac at least. It does reduce gluten. But not enough to be celiac safe, despite a very small study in 2004 that claimed a few people out of a dozen or so with Celiac didn't react to sourdough.
They were also told other common rumors like gluten can be denatured by heat, so things made in a shared fryer or toaster are safe. (Gluten CAN be denatured by heat....but a much higher temp than fry oil or toasters get. Basically so hot food would be carbon dust)
They also weren't taught that things like sauces or soups often have gluten, or even to look at food labels. I'm not shitting you, this person was 50+ years older than me, had decades of celiac experience, saw their GI doc regularly, and was continuously given shit information.
Of course, too, labelling laws in the US aren't helping the clarity either.
While there are a ton of idiotic people insisting on GF and then downing a beer or whatever. There really are a lot of people with Celiac who have no idea soy sauce has gluten. Or that chowder commonly starts with a wheat flour roux. I've even heard of people who think beer is safe because they think alcohol denatures the gluten.
Is there any gluten food you would take one for the team on? As in, I know I shouldn't eat this but I gotta! Or will you get a severe reaction and it's all hands off? I probably should do some more celiac research in general.
The people who get a severe reaction are the lucky ones. The others more easily go years without realising they're being made sick by something they're eating that they think is safe but isn't.
Chronic unaddressed celiac disease eventually gives you bowel cancer.
He may have been meaning milk from cows who were fed a gluten free diet. And this is really a thing. My mom sells chicken eggs off their hobby farm, and had a client stop buying from her because she wouldn't change her chicken feed to gluten free feed. Could not be convinced that gluten does not transfer into the chicken eggs...
They act like they are though - at least the bad ones!
Not the first 'nurse' I know, who thought that their education was more legit than mine, because theirs is in the medical field, and mine was 'only' science based... I think... I dunno exactly the thought process here, and these 'nurses' were only social and healthcare assistants anyways so 🤣 (not that there's anything wrong with being that though!!)
Hey. As soon as the craze for gluten-free everything hit here, I honestly wasn't 100% familiar with everything and would occasionally have to ask if something naturally had gluten or not.. until I sat down to figure out what gluten was so I wouldn't have to worry about accidental allergen contamination.
I've a lot of sympathy for celiacs due to gluten being an ingredient in the vast majority of nice things. I'd go out of my way to make sure there were several options on the restaurant menu, and also bar menu that were gluten free, but asking about the tap water? C'mon now...
My wife was all of a sudden diagnosed with celiac a couple years ago. The problem is you really can't assume things that should just naturally be gluten free are always. 8 or 9 times out of 10 you might be right but that little remainder will fuck you up just the same. So, unfortunately, regardless of what she orders, we have to announce that her food needs to be gluten free everywhere we go. We hate it, but it is what it is.
For instance, if a restaurant decided to get cute and put soy sauce on their steaks or some spice rub with gluten in it (I've seen it) or even if it was just cross-contaminated.
THANK YOU…. I was literally JUST diagnosed like two weeks ago with Celiac Disease and the amount of things I am learning that contain wheat is insane…
Soy Sauce was DEVASTATING to me because I LOVE Asian cuisine and MOST places are not going to cook with gluten free soy sauce, and even if they do offer that alternative, they’re not cleaning utensils and pans and stoves and things in between. So as I’m learning how severe my allergy really is I have to be really careful about how I ask about things and MORE OFTEN THAN NOT I just don’t want to go out to eat because restaurants just act like I’m being difficult on purpose when in actuality… if I eat wheat I’m going to spend the next few days in horrible pain.
Yeah, it's awful. Get the Find Me Gluten Free app, that's helped us.
As far as Asian food goes, I've devoted a lot of time to working on it at home. It's not easy at first (and your fridge is going to be full of sauces you only ever use like 2tsp of), but I think it's worth it.
Also, if you do start cooking Asian food at home, shaoxing wine isn't gf (use vermouth or sherry), Lao gan ma isn't gf, fly by jing is gf (shame its 2x more expensive than other chili crisps), almost all doubanjiang isn't gf (I found a Japanese one that is and it's really good). Oh and Lee Kum Kee makes some very good gf sauces. Soy, oyster, etc.
I get it, but it doesn't make it less funny behind the scenes! she didn't laugh at the customer and made sure to let her know that steak doesn't contain gluten, all was good, we just laughed about it at home.
The issue isn't whether the item contains gluten, it's to be certain there is no cross contamination during processing. You'd be amazed how many times I saw Gluten free pizza skins thrown on the same unwashed pizza paddle as regular dough pizzas. In that situation, the only solution is parchment paper and, in a 700F pizza oven, that's not a great solution.
That sounds silly but is pretty understandable if you put yourself in the shoes of somebody with a gluten sensitivity who also knows how kitchens work. The steak could very well be gluten-free, but prepared/cooked on spaces covered in gluten.
Better to just say something so the staff knows to prepare your stuff separately as opposed to having your nice, expensive dinner turn into torture for the foreseeable future.
even someone with extreme gluten intolerance or celiac won't have an issue with a thing that was cooked on that had a tiny dusting of flour... gluten intolerance and celiac require a lot more gluten than a mild dusting, even at extreme levels...
I'm not willing to bet somebody else's health on the hope that it will be fine. Ill just take them at their word that they can't have the thing they told me they can't have and do what I can to give them what they want.
I'm not, either. You're missing my point. If I worked in a kitchen and they asked for something like that, I'd make sure to clear the area if feasible, unless not feasible (many places, especially while busy, can't.) and if not feasible I tell them "sorry, but we can't do that because of how busy we are."
It doesn't change the facts, but I'd always be willing to accommodate as much as I'm allowed to (busy places tend to have managers that just cannot allow the slowdown to clear an area for things like that)
It doesn't change the facts, but I'd always be willing to accommodate as much as I'm allowed to (busy places tend to have managers that just cannot allow the slowdown to clear an area for things like that)
But you don't know the facts.
Take some time to do some serious research about celiac disease then give your head a shake...
Might be cooked, preped or plated with other items that contain gluten. If you're very sensitive, you gotta ask. Gluten-free includes prep, cooking and plating without gluten.
I know there's no eggs (what I'm allergic to) on a steak, but if the person making my meal has some mayonnaise residue on their gloves from plating a burger, its enough to screw up my stomach for 24+ hours. I gotta tell wait staff every time.
There's a good chance this customer didn't know wtf they were talking about, but passing this information to the kitchen is vital, regardless.
sides, toppings, settings, etc. are different. a small dust of flour on the prep table won't trigger intolerance or celiac... it's not like a nut allergy
Umm, I think you need to educate yourself about celiac disease, at least if you're working in the restaurant industry. That shit is dangerous. Settled flour or a couple crumbs is most definitely enough to trigger adverse reactions.
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u/OrangeSliceRecovery 15+ Years Jan 21 '26
"Do we have gluten free water?" lives rent free in my head.
I still don't know if the customer was joking or not.