Chef Shares His Thoughts On The Dangers Of Fake Food Allergies

Claiming you have a food allergy when you don’t is a jerk move, and this chef is calling it out

Food allergies are a serious thing, fam. They can be life-threatening, and telling a restaurant you have a food allergies means the chefs have to take all kinds of specific, careful precautions to make sure your food isn’t cross-contaminated with something that could literally leave them with a dead diner.

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In most cases, chefs are happy to do it (or they should be, because everyone deserves to be able to safely eat out). But there’s one big, notable exception to that rule: If you’re the kind of person who claims to be allergic to a food when you actually just choose not to eat it, chefs hate you. Also, you’re a jerk and you’re making things more difficult for the people with real, legitimate food allergies to be taken seriously, which can actually be a life or death situation.

Chef Patrick Friesen, who works at Queen Chow in Enmore, Australia, is on a crusade to make this a thing that people realize. He recently took to Instagram to post a photo of a stack of receipts, all of which have some crazy food allergies specifications that clearly aren’t legit.

Those receipts are exhausting to read, and I’m not even the one who has to try to cook food for these people.

Alongside the photo, Friesen wrote, “Can people with dietary requirements start knowing what you can and can’t eat? Shellfish allergy but loves oyster sauce. Gluten free but loves gluten as long as it’s not a piece of bread. Vegetarians that love a chicken wing. Pescatarians who eat chicken. Sort your shit out and let your waiter know. You make it really damn hard for people with actual allergies and dietaries to go out to eat.”

His sentiments are getting a big “AMEN” from people in the comments section, many of whom have food allergies — ya know, the real kind.

If you don’t want to eat a specific thing in a restaurant, making that request without lying about having an allergy is perfectly fine and acceptable. But passing it off as an allergy when you know it’s not is a real problem. Let’s not do that anymore.

H/T: Someecards