Of all the weird and wonderful allergies people test me with on a daily basis, I have never, NEVER, encountered a celery allergy.
I am convinced it’s only one of the ‘big 14’ here in the UK because people cannot spell, and do not understand the difference between Celiac and Celeriac.
by Chlorofom
20 Comments
And yes, the title is a real quote spoken by a guest.
I’ve had it a few times, but usually when people are doing low fodmap rather than a specific allergy
I know several folks with a bonafide, serious celery *seed* allergy (but celery itself is fine)
I’ve had this one combined with onions and garlic
It’s a pretty common allergy that’s linked to birch pollen allergies. It’s usually raw celery that fucks people up, which is probably why you’ve not encountered it much. And only idiots would call themselves a “celeriac,” so no, I really don’t think that’s it.
I’ve heard of allergies to garlic/relatives of garlic and nightshade allergies like eggplant so I could see celery. But the person saying they’re celeriac…sounds like a buzz word from the ‘gram
This is where I may come out to the table to ask the guest what the specific ingredients they can’t have are. Or the FOH manager does it. Because what if it is some really specific allergy, a cook absent mindedly uses that ingredient or cross contaminates, and then you’re dealing with a headache or full blown civil suit
An old friend made food for someone who couldn’t have pine nuts, they didn’t realize pine nuts are in the pesto that was a garnish for a roasted tomato soup. Neither they nor the FOH manager did any due diligence to figure out if any of the food the customer ordered had pine nuts. The person ended up being okay because I never heard about it again, they either must have been alright or they didn’t sue
“Yes, you are a vegetable! And duly noted.”
I know a lot of people who do pretty spectacularly tossed word salad, so your theory has merit.
Celery and celeriac are not the same vegetable!
I have a friend with a cellery allergy. Sucks pretty bad cause it’s everywhere
Not celery but my mom is quite allergic to broccoli. She didn’t realize that kohlrabi was a close relative and bought some to try and immediately figured it out.
Honestly mispronouncing “celiac” as “celeriac” is not that bad of a mistake. It’s one extra syllable. I once had a server tell me about a customer who was adamant that her order of calamari had NO TENTACLES on the plate – but she repeatedly said to the server NO TESTICLES at least 4 times. Bless the patience of that server for not breaking into laughter the whole time she was taking the order.
Are you a doctor, OP?
I mean ppl can be allergic to celery. It’s a real thing. Or they have to avoid it for medical diets like FODMAP.
Maybe English wasn’t their first language or something?? Maybe they just got diagnosed after years of IBS issues and aren’t familiar with terminology yet?? If I read this I wouldn’t immediately assume that guest was faking an allergy tbh
I’ve heard of celery allergies before, but sulphur dioxide is a new one for me- is that a real thing? Is it even used regularly in cooking? Genuinely curious 🤔
I think people are missing the part where the customer said they can’t have gluten, which isn’t related to celery.
“I’m allergic to gluten. I can have soy”
People all over the place are stupid, I find them frequently in Cornwall. At least 50% of people (with no exaggeration) in this town under 40 claim to be dyslexic, obviously this is impossible and they are just genuinely dense.
I have to go around removing posters and special boards on a daily basis that the owner has written because he has fuck all to do and wants to ‘save the kitchen time’, and remaking them to save us from embarrassing ourselves.
It’s not an allergy, it’s a sensitivity
No, celery allergy is a real thing. The big 14 is a list of allergen groups. They’re not going to add one just because of potential misunderstanding.