Comments on: Don’t laugh. More food allergies than you’ll ever believe

By: Paalo

Paalo — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 10:56:40 +0000

I think anna is correct, we are talking about 3 or 4 different things. Allergies, Dislikes and Intolerances (real and psychosomatic).

To be simplistic, allergies will result in symptoms such as swelling and rashes and can be life threatening. An intolerance will probably produce queasiness, bloating, vomiting and/or diarrhea. A dislike will produce any of these depending on the psych, usually verbal diarrhea.

I could also say that we all have dislikes, most of us have at least one intolerance and a unlucky few have allergies. I am one of the unlucky ones who have all three, luckily it’s a very rare allergy so easy to avoid while eating out, and a very common intolerance, so also easy to manage.

By: anna

anna — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 01:07:44 +0000

i think it is because most people don’t actually know what an allergy is, they think it is just something that makes you a bit queasy (which can be psychosomatic) but an allergy is actually an immune response.

By: Brian Whelan

Brian Whelan — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 08:58:35 +0000

Hi from the other side of the world!
Food allergies are alive and well and living in Ireland too but the most people claiming food allergies coming to Ireland are Americans who have changed the way Irish cater to culinary needs.

By: martha

martha — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 05:45:29 +0000

Really Interesting…

By: Lu

Lu — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 02:40:11 +0000

I have serious food allergies to peanuts and seafood (I have anaphylactic reactions and have to carry and EpiPen everywhere I go). As jeanie just mentioned – “inconsiderate people who claim to have food allergies to cover up the fact that they simply dont like the taste of something that gives genuinely affected patrons a bad name” – I couldnt have said it better myself! I hardly every eat out because I’ve had some bad experiences by people who just have no idea how bad it really is (life or death) and pass me off as a “fussy eater”!

By: Barf

Barf — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 13:21:00 +0000

…and it all played out with a tedious inevitability.

By: jeanie

jeanie — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 09:20:14 +0000

its the inconsiderate people who claim to have food allergies to cover up the face that they simply dont like the taste of something that gives genuinely affected patrons a bad name… so as long as you pick an easily recognizable allergy to have then you should be fine! (end sarcasm)

By: Jen@Palate

Jen@Palate — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 05:04:59 +0000

Interesting. Must remind my 2 year-old whenever he barfs after drinking cow’s milk that it’s all mind over matter..

By: Anon

Anon — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 09:06:46 +0000

The food reviewer with many intolerances is not a joke, even this persons co-editor I think is unaware of the full extent of it but most Melbourne restaurateurs do.
So how do you review desserts if you don’t eat sugar?
Review by proxy?

By: Ed

Ed — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 07:06:54 +0000

Alex, everyone knows hangovers are really caused by red wine.

AOF/Paalo, forgive my laziness in what I wrote and I’ve updated the post. Paalo is correct.I’ve just dug up my note book. He was talking about food preferences at the time and that they are decided pre -pubety. He also said as people age with very few exceptions they become allergic to certain foods.