Most recent print edition: Jul 28

– Last updated: Today

• About Us
• |
• Contact Us
• |
• Advertising
• |
• Submissions

Letters

Culture Column

Rebekah Seagle - Omega Contributor

It is one of the most awkward sensations you will ever experience. Imagine that you’re sitting at table in a restaurant, friends and classmates all around you, and it’s all going great until it’s time to order dinner. You pick up the menu, lift it so that it’s covering your face to give the illusion of reading the items, seeking for that perfect meal which – unfortunately – you know you’ll never find. The server comes over and everyone orders and, when it comes to your turn, your face flushes and you stutter, “Oh nothing for me thanks; I’m not hungry.” Afterwards there is always a silence that hangs before conversation resumes. Or there’s a multitude of questions that are even more awkward, which is nothing compared to the feeling of sitting there for an hour, two hours, sipping your drink while everyone else is eating. This is a familiar scenario for a person with food allergies. Or who is on a strict food diet. Or is a vegan. OK, it’s basically a familiar scenario for anyone who eats outside of “normal” standards. And isn’t that sad, when we will judge a person on what they choose to, or simply can and cannot, eat? Surprisingly this judgement of eating seems to be an actually prejudice. If it’s a matter of not being able to eat certain foods due to an allergy there is often pity: “it must be so sad not to be able to eat this. Don’t you miss it?” or “You don’t mind if I go ahead do you?” Which usually isn’t an issue until it becomes apparent that the person is, intentionally or not, rubbing it in your face. It’s almost worse if the diet is by choice. Here is an example that occurred during class one day: it started randomly, but a discussion had started for some reason and had then drifted to the types of food we crave and, one of the people was a vegan. I remember feeling insulted on their behalf as everyone turned and started bombarding with questions about if they had ever eaten meat, if they missed it, and if they cheated. It went on and on, and I and a couple others—the vegan as well—started to feel uncomfortable. As if having a different diet was too alien for the others to comprehend. And then the exclusion starts. It won’t happen right away, but over time, there will be less and less invitations until there are none at all: after all, you can’t eat the food so why bother asking? As you can tell I may sound a bit biased: having allergies myself I have experienced this. It honestly boggles my mind when what a person can and cannot eat determines their social status and activities. Not all everything revolves around food.