One of the newest series on
Netflix is:
ROTTEN a discussion series that focuses on food production, imports/export history, falsification, trends and more. Each episode discusses a different food from chicken to honey to garlic...etc. I first heard of the series because
ALLERGIC LIVING posted an article about one of the episodes.
The episode that has recently sparked interest is "The Peanut Problem." It starts off describing (or some would say accusing) the recent plummet in peanut (and tree-nut because YES they are different) sales due to the increasing rise of people with food-based allergies. They also are quick to show some people's opinion that allergies have only began over the past several years.. which in my opinion IS completely WRONG!
First of all, there has always been allergies, there has always been viruses and diseases - the thing people don't think about while they are complaining is that have we ALWAYS known what they were? NO! Have we always known what to call them or how to cure them? NO!
I may not be a scientist but I can assure you things like Chickenpox or the Flu or even minor/major allergic reactions have been around FAR MORE than just the recent years they have increased. Way back in the 1600's or even the 1300's way before modern medical technology I'm sure they had illnesses..etc that people would suffer and die from. But back then they probably didn't label or call them anything other than a plague or the work of God(s). Back then people didn't talk and research about the things that killed them to the extent that we do now. I'm sure even back in our parents day there WERE people who had food (or any other type of trigger) based allergies but they possible assumed the symptoms were a cold, or the flu, or just a 24 hour bug they caught from someone else.. It's true the rise of fatal allergies is quite alarming, and I'm sure over the past several years most allergies were not as fatal.
So yes I do personally believe something is happening in our food or biology that is making allergies more severe. But no I do not believe that they have just magically shown up in the past 40 years to mock and torture anyone in the food & farming industries.
Although the episode does spend a great deal of time talking about some incidental deaths in the UK caused by negligent/ignorant restaurant owners who CLEARLY used peanuts & tree nuts in their food but told customers otherwise, I think people are missing the bigger point of why they mentioned it in the episode in the first place..
“If you don’t know what’s in your food, get out of the business – today,” - Chef Ming Tsai, American restaurateur, television personality, and celebrity chef.
Tsai is completely right! If you cannot take the time to care for the people you are responsible for serving, if you cannot take the time to properly know what is in the food you are serving - and make sure your staff do also.. YOU DO NOT DESERVE NOR SHOULD YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO HAVE ANY TYPE OF FOOD SERVING ESTABLISHMENT! The same way that venues are responsible as the last point of contact for someone drunk when they leave, you are responsible for the food you serve.
This also emphasizes a point I make constantly that people are ignorant or lazy to the fact peanuts ARE in a different family than tree nuts. They think people that are allergic to peanuts are fine to eat tree nuts or vise-versa. So it must be fine to just tell them there are no peanuts in the food, even though there are tree nuts (or again vise-versa.) This is NOT always the case!? Some people are allergic to peanuts, some tree nuts, SOME ARE ALLERGIC TO BOTH! Some people stay away from ALL NUTS because they do not want to risk their life in order to eat a pine nut but not a cashew.
My point being, if you can take the time and commitment to open a restaurant in the first place, you can take the time to protect the people who are trusting you to serve them. It is NOT anyone's fault that they are born or grow into a food-based allergy. It is NOT the family's fault that for once they want to take their children out to dinner to feel like a normal average party of society when all they do is read ingredients lists and hide at home because they feel no one is considerate or cares enough about food allergies. I cannot keep track of how many restaurants or cafe's I have been to and had to leave because the servers or cooks when asked about the oils they cook with, or if they have cross-contamination with ANY nut products say "I don't know."
Tsai points out that it is very easy to make your information known for employees AND customers; all you need is a binder or book with a chart of the most known allergens, list all your food products and simply check of the boxes of what contains what. SIMPLE! Everyone can refer to the book! I can't tell you how many times I have been told "I'm sorry I don't know BUT please hold on while I get the book, if you don't mind looking through it." OF COURSE I don't mind! That shows that even if they don't know my answers they know enough to let me look through the book and make a decision based on my own comfort level. GOOD SERVICE!
There are other points I could talk about from the episode, but I'd rather not turn my blog into an essay (haha) but I will make this a two-part post and cover more of my opinions. In the meantime you can click here to read the
ALLERGIC LIVING article. And please comment if you'd like me to discuss my opinion on the other episodes, or any other allergy trend/topics right now.
