[Sca-cooks] Article: Feasting with Food Allergies

[jenne at fiedlerfamily.net]

>Double dipping ladles, spoons, fingers. Not washing cutting boards
> between raw meat and veggies.

Actually, the tricky thing is expectation that knives and cutting boards
are washed between DIFFERENT SORTS of veggies-- mushrooms, onions,
scallions. While the places my brothers worked were careful about mixing
raw meats, seafood, veggies, they didn't treat all veggies to their own
separate clean cutting board, or use the same cutting board for just the
veggies that would go into one dish.

> We're not saying thet you're a liar, we're saying that there are very
> specific questions that need to be asked.

Then perhaps not saying 'cooks will lie to you' might be a good idea,
ain't? I'm not bothering posting back to the original author simply
because I've found that when people are calling other people liars, there
is no point trying to talk to them.

The other problem with the article is that the person is mixing together
issues of food allergies and food sensitivities, and treating them all as
if they were life-threatening will-stop-my-breathing-with-one-bite
histamine reactions.

They are also writing in such a way as to encourage people with allergies
to be cross-examining the cook AFTER THE FOOD IS COOKED, i.e. during
serving. While they say not to do this, the question of 'did you handle x
while preparing this' can't very well be answered until the food is
prepared.

> Giving people their money back, hmmm.... Well, I think if they know they have
> an allergy, and have signed up for feast, then they are responsible enough to
> take the chances on what's being served and should be prepared to take
> whatever steps are necessary to prevent a reaction. Even if it means not
> eating.

You misunderstand me. My attitude is, "I have taken all reasonable
precautions for amateur cooking. That means it was cooked in my kitchen
under my supervision, and I did everything I could to prevent addition of
mystery ingredients or cross contamination. If that is not good enough to
protect you, then protect yourself by not eating it."

-- Jadwiga