The White Moose Cafe Wants People Ordering Gluten-Free Food to Bring Doctor's Notes
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A cafe in Ireland wants its patrons who order gluten-free items to present a doctor’s note with their order. In a post on Facebook, The White Moose Cafe demanded those ordering gluten-free items present evidence that they have celiac disease (or coeliac disease, as it is spelled in Europe).
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The post was prompted by a customer ordering gluten-free pancakes and not knowing what gluten was. The post reads:
This morning a girl asked us if we did gluten-free pancakes and when we asked her if she was a coeliac, she didn’t even know what the word meant and then proceeded to order regular, gluten-rich pancakes anyway. From now on, guests who demand gluten-free food are required to produce a doctor’s note which states that you suffer from coeliac disease. Guests following a gluten-free fad, who don’t even know what gluten is, can cop the f*ck on and eat regular food like everybody else.
Gluten-free diets have become increasingly trendy over the past decade, but there are other reasons – beyond fad diets and celiac disease – that lead people to eliminating gluten from their diets. According to the Mayo Clinic, there are people who don’t have celiac disease but experience negative symptoms when they eat gluten – known as non-celiac gluten sensitivity. While going gluten-free for reasons beyond celiac disease remains highly controversial, there are people with conditions ranging from inflammatory bowel disease to autism who claim the diet helps improve their health.
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The cafe, known for its offensive Facebook posts, has since commented with two more brash postscalling out those offended by its new policy. The latter of the cafe’s posts features a photo of bandages with the caption, “We are giving away free bandages for anyone whose feelings have been hurt over the past day or two. The bandages come in different sizes depending on how much of a f*cking idiot you are.”
The page’s moderator has also been responding individually to commenters who take offense to the post. One commenter wrote, “You do realise there is more than one condition that gluten should be avoided??? Imbecile.” To which the cafe replied, “Coeliac disease is the only condition. Unless you are mentally unhinged. Then there’s gluten intolerance.”
Related: Grace Warnock Designs Accessible Bathroom Sign for People With Invisible Conditions in Scotland
When asked for comment, Paul Stenson, the cafe’s owner, told The Mighty, “If there is anything I have learned from the last few days, it’s that people no longer need a doctor’s note, they need a doctor to prescribe them with a sense of humour.”
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