SC - Allergy rant
Chris Adler
Chris.Adler at westgroup.com
Fri May 8 13:33:00 PDT 1998
I have to politely agree with Clarissa - please, please post a list of
ingredients outside your kitchens. There are those of us who are
genuinely allergic to certain things and sometimes we don't know we're
going to an event until the day before, so we can't always call the
feastocrat ahead of time.
I recently went to an out-of-area event and went into the kitchen to
help out. The feastocrats were great people (and I learned a lot from
them!). Their computer had exploded or something, so they didn't have
their recipes or ingredients with them. I can't metabolize *any*
alcohol, so I simply asked them which dishes contained alcohol, which
the cooks promptly and politely told me. I had fun for the rest of the
day chopping veggies and washing dishes, and I sat down to a delicious
feast.
Unfortunately, I blithely chomped into the salad and got a mouthful of
pickled onions. The salad was *not* one of the two dishes which they
told me contained alcohol, so I had thought everything else was safe.
I think that the cooks couldn't find boiling onions when they went
shopping the day before the feast, so they substituted bottled martini
onions... which are floating in vermouth.
So, I had severe stomach cramps that evening as my body attempted to
metabolize what to me is a poison. Not fun.
The cooks were extremely competent, talented people, who I understand
have cooked professionally mundanely as well as SCAdianly for many
years. It was, in my opinoin, an unfortunate but understandable
oversight whilst in the throes of the last hectic 24 hours of
pre-feast preparation. They had made a great effort to balance the
menu so that carnivores, vegetarians, and lactose-intolerant people
could all go home stuffed. They *had* made accomodations for allergic
folks.
I truly enjoyed working in this couple's kitchen, and hey, I only
swallowed enough to feel like hell, not to pass out for 18 hours like
I normally do when alcohol finds its way into my food. It was just
unpleasant to cap off a great day of learning and fun with physical
pain.
If any of you cooks have a secret recipe, would you at least post what
commonly potential allergens it contains? (ie. "contains dairy
products") I respect your desire to protect your creation and not give
out your recipe/ingredients. I just politely ask that you make
reasonable accomodations for responsible allergic people.
Katja
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