Boba’s Invoice, originally uploaded by Laser Bread.
This is a genius little work of art/humor. I decided to use it to try out flickr’s “Blog this photo” function. I wouldn’t mind having this printed, framed, & hung on my “home office” wall. Good stuff, Laser Bread!
So, this is a good discussion for those interested in food allergies & politics:
AllergyEats | Massachusetts food allergy awareness law goes into effect… but is it enough?
I like that the laws have begun the process, but we need to see how they’re enforced and if the spirit of the laws are followed, or just the letter.
On the other hand, I’m not really all about expanding the government’s control over the minutia of our everyday lives. The food service industry itself ought to set some standards and adhere to them, driven by the consumers who have allergies themselves or friends & family with allergies.
Once it’s started, I just wonder where it will stop. I mean the top 8 allergens are a big concern with cross-contamination, but what about stuff that’s prevalent but not on the list like corn, chocolate, peppers, or something else? Expand it to the top 11? To the top 13? To the top 203? Eventually no foods will be able to touch each other, we’ll just eat single-ingredient dishes, all with their own dedicated cooks and kitchens.
I just don’t know where I fall here with a solution that’s practical yet makes most people (allergic and non-allergic alike) happy.
Oh my goodness.
So funny. I like this John Moe character. There’s plenty more pop song correspondences, and even more content at McSweeney’s Internet Tendency. I really dig this cat’s style.
People with allergies are freaks. We’re geeks. We’re undesirable. We’re the weak, and we should have been weeded out with natural selection. The weirder the allergy, the weirder the person.
At least, that’s what I pick up from watching TV. The nerdy kid always has glasses and/or asthma. I guess at least I don’t wear glasses like some of you real freaks out there.
The latest support to this line of thinking that has come to my attention is this lovely commercial:
Of course, I see the humor, and I’m not so offended that it’s ruining my day. It’s just that the general perception of people with allergies kind of sucks.
If the guy had rolled through the door in a wheelchair, or walked in with crutches, missing a limb, blind, deaf, or anything similar causing the date to be undesirable, it wouldn’t be acceptable at all. You could even throw in other stereotypes like a different race or religion. Both would be unacceptable. I bet even if they threw in a guy that was 500 lbs. and turned it into a fat joke it would be considered tasteless… but making fun of a shellfish allergy is apparently acceptable.
They could have done this same joke and just had the guy dressed ridiculously or something… something that’s a choice, not an affliction.
If you’d like to pull apart the commercial for other reasons, check out this blog: Who Are The Ad Wizards Who Came Up With THAT One? Zoosk alors.
There’s a radio commercial I’ve heard recently too, maybe for a phone or something… the line is “Bob is still allergic to shellfish.” I wish I could remember what it’s for. At any rate, it’s not offensive… it just puts the thought out there.
At least the peanut-allergic and gluten-free people have been getting a lot of good press lately. How about passing it along to the rest of us?
All of this happens on the heels of articles popping up about kids with food allergies being bullied at school. I wonder why?
I’m hoping that my #FoodAllergy Tweeps will hop all over this and help me let Zoosk know en masse that this isn’t cool. Maybe they need to read this & watch this.
As always, your comments are not only welcome, but encouraged.
Got an interesting email today from Allergic Living Magazine, calling for submissions of stories for people with families who just don’t comprehend the severity of some food allergies, down to simple stubborn refusal to cater to the needs of food-allergic relatives.
From: Allergic Living magazine <Allergic_Living_magazine@mail.vresp.com>
To: [me]
Sent: Fri, September 24, 2010 8:33:04 AM
Subject: Allergies and family feuds
When Family Doesn’t “Get” Food AllergiesDear Allergic Living reader,
Do you dread visiting your parents because they don’t take the allergy precautions you or your child require? Maybe you have a sister who knows you have a shellfish allergy but insists on serving shrimp? Perhaps your mother-in-law refuses to stop putting out bowls of nuts, even though her grandchild is allergic?
Or have you finally figured out a way to get through to a close relative, and now it’s all smooth sailing?
Allergic Living magazine is researching a feature article for its coming Winter issue on dealing with relatives who fail to grasp the seriousness of allergies or celiac disease. Writer Carolyn Black will be speaking to experts about solutions to help open the lines of communication.
But first, she wants to hear the stories of people’s experiences with family. We commonly hear of allergy feuding, but we want to try to understand why it occurs. If you have such a story, please e-mail Carolyn directly with a brief summary of it at mcarolynblack@rogers.com. If she can use your story, Carolyn will contact you.
Since this can be a delicate subject, Allergic Living can protect people’s identities where necessary. Thanks in advance for helping us with an important article.
Regards,
The Editors at Allergic Living
I’ll have to think about my own stories. I generally don’t expect family picnics to be shellfish free, but I’m very picky about what I eat at any informal (or formal) gathering. For my own internal mental issues, I have to be able to visually identify all the ingredients before I put it on my plate. I also generally use the wife as my official taste-tester. Do those mini wraps contain crab? Does that salad have shrimp? Ha ha.
I’m interested to see the follow-up to this, as dealing with people in general in regards to a severe allergy is difficult enough. I can’t imagine not having familial support.
I have run into people thought that insist you just need to “eat it a little bit at a time”, suffer the reactions, and “build a tolerance”. While this may work for some less severe reactions… it’s certainly not advisable in all cases. I’m thankful that I’m not related to these people.
This is an excellent blog posting with an excellent community response, and quite encouraging: The AllergyEats Blog » Dining at Disney with food allergies – a follow-up. (You may want to read this blog first.)
I’m going to have to plan ahead and look at the meal plans when we finally decide to go to Disney. It’s great news that chefs will come out & prepare food in front of you, it would be entertaining as well as putting you fully at ease.
When I was a kid, and I went trick-or-treating… there were always a few memorable houses; The people that weren’t home but left a bowl of chips on the porch, the guy who gave out quarters (or 50¢ if your costume was “above an beyond”), and the guy who decorated his front porch like a haunted house and scared the crap out of you every year. The best was when he dressed as a scarecrow dummy and sat ridiculously still until your finger was just barely touching the doorbell and jumped up with a terrible scream. I nearly filled my pants with fear at that place many a year.
That was fun. Now that I’m of the old age where I need to pass out candy instead of collecting, I’d like to be that fun too. Sadly, it seems to me that parents would get angry these days if I scared the bejesus out of their child.
I saw this comic online and thought it would be funny to set up shop on the front porch for Halloween:
Admiral Snackbar
I don’t think I’ve grown out of wanting to wear costumes, and this looks like a good excuse. All I need is some paint and an Ackbar mask. Would you be creeped out to bring your kid up to get candy if Admiral Snackbar was set up, or would it be a cool memorable Halloween adventure?
World (and Lunar) Domination 