There’s been some drama in the gluten free community in the lead up to the festive season this year. If you’re out of the loop, let me catch you up.
On Monday, December 18, This Morning aired a phone-in segment with Vanessa Feltz. The caller, Alison, said she was being “forced” to have a gluten free Christmas because one family member has coeliac disease.
Feltz said the family were being “completely unreasonable” for asking that no gluten-containing food was to be taken into the house.
“She’s treating coeliac disease as if it’s a kind of fatal peanut allergy and that they can’t have anything with gluten in the house,” she said. “That is not reasonable Alison at all!”
The debate went on for a few minutes, with Vanessa Feltz concluding that Alison should “just put up with it for the sake of peace and harmony”. She also encouraged her to have a snack on the way there, as if gluten free food is completely inedible.
The presenters on This Morning did attempt to add some helpful advice, with Josie Gibson saying: “They can’t have any cross contamination if they’re a coeliac.”
The reaction
The gluten free community is rightfully annoyed about this exchange. Popular food writer Becky Excell posted on her blog that it was “one of the most outlandish takes on a situation involving a gluten free person I could imagine hearing on live TV”.
“But one of the biggest things that really wound me up (which is never explicitly said),” she continued, “is that the entire conversation is based on a common misconception: gluten-free food is always going to be worse than regular food.”
This simply isn’t true. With a little bit of time and effort, most gluten free foods can be as delicious and barely different from their gluten counterparts. Also, a Christmas dinner is probably one of the easiest things to make coeliac friendly.
Lots of components are naturally gluten free: turkey, veg and potatoes are all good to go. Other trimmings like stuffing, pigs in blankets and gravy all have gluten free versions readily available in most supermarkets.
This year will be my third Christmas as a diagnosed coeliac. Whacking together a gluten free roast really isn’t that big of a deal, and my family say they really can’t tell the difference with most foods. What’s the big deal?
Coeliac UK weighs in
Charity Coeliac UK has now written to ITV about the incident. The letter states that “it was the ill-informed advice and dismissive tone towards coeliac disease and its severity that prompted this letter of complaint”.
It goes on to provide some basic information on the autoimmune condition and finishes by asking the broadcaster to issue an apology.
Whilst no formal apology was aired on Tuesday’s programme, the show’s GP did touch on the issue. She reinforced the point that cross contamination is an issue, but appeared to only believe this affects some coeliacs.
This isn’t true: even if you aren’t experiencing symptoms from cross contamination, it can still be doing damage to the intestine and lead to further health issues down the line.
More drama in the media
This isn’t the only recent media controversy however. Just a few days ago, Rachel Johnson published a column in the Evening Standard titled “Dietary requirements? I’ve never seen a better symbol of our decline as a society”.
This is just laughable. It’s giving “ENGLAND USED TO BE A REAL COUNTRY”. Johnson certainly has too much time on her hands if something as simple as what other people are eating is enough to send her into a rage.
“London society is far too encouraging of food fads and preferences,” I imagine her hammering on her keyboard. “This is not sophisticated. It’s soft to the point of degeneracy.”
Well, if not wanting to shit myself constantly, get cancer and die young makes me a degenerate, lock me up Rachel! For some of us, a gluten free diet isn’t something we just need to “put up with” for one day: it’s non-negotiable for the rest of our lives.
My experience
As a coeliac myself, eating gluten free has completely changed my health and life for better. I’m no longer anaemic or deficient in important vitamins – all because I strictly avoid gluten.
Cross contamination is definitely a big deal for coeliacs – even a small amount can make us ill or damage our insides. Whilst it might not instantly kill us like a deadly nut allergy, we still deserve to be taken seriously.
Having gluten in the house is ultimately up to personal preference (I’m fine with it being in the kitchen but have my own separate toaster, utensils and so on). If that’s what makes this family the most comfortable, just respect that. Vanessa Feltz is right, to an extent: it’s only one meal, so suck it up. You might even enjoy it.
Feature image credit: STV Player
Film, media and journalism student. I like writing about my inability to eat gluten.
