Liar Liar

The Internet has exploded in the last 24 hours.

Last night, as I was browsing Facebook, a friend shared an article written by The Science Babe for Gawker. I clicked on the article titled "The "Food Babe" Blogger Is Full of Sh*t" bemused to see what had my friend so excited that she captioned it "This. Is. Awesome."

The Food Babe, wait, that name sounds familiar. I have seen that name recently in the news. She had something to do with Subway Restaurants removing the yoga mat chemical from its breads. At that time, I thought, "Way to go girl!".

I am all for eating whole foods, DIYing and making things from scratch. Well, actually, most of that came as a result of my son being diagnosed with multiple food allergies. I had no choice. I used to love making things from scratch, as a hobby. Now I do this full time, as an allergy mom, to keep my little man safe.

Anyhow, I digress.

As I was reading through the article, still amused, I was craving popcorn. This is the kind of article you read with glee, because it is well written, funny, witty and full of zingers. It's the type of material that has been missing in my life since The Colbert Report went off the air. 

The premise of the article Yvette Guinevere (aka Science Babe) set forth were examples of how The Food Babe does not base anything she writes on factual scientific evidence.

It was all fun and games until I came to the last part written about The Food Babe's advice for her followers (aka The Food Babe Army) on eating out. According to Yvette, The Food Babe apparently gave advice to her followers to "Go as far as telling the server you allergic to butter and dairy, soy and corn."

 

Does The Food Babe know butter is dairy? Read her ramblings here.

I was so curious to see if this was true. So I clicked on the link and I was redirected to another page written by The Food Babe refuting the Gawker article. WTF. Where's the article Yvette was referencing.

Was Yvette lying?

So I searched "Food Babe + Food Allergies" and found the page Yvette referenced.

True enough, The Food Babe tells her followers to lie about having food allergies.

WHAT THE F%#&*$(% IS WRONG WITH YOU WOMAN?!?

Who tells people that?

As a mom of a child who has food allergies, I cannot fathom why anyone with such a mass following would tell people without food allergies to lie. No thanks to her, her 2011 article and The Food Babe Army, they are trivializing food allergies.

Lying about food allergies is not a laughing matter for the 15 million Americans with food allergies. In Canada, where I live, 2.5 million Canadians live with at least one food allergy. Until my little man was diagnosed with peanut and almond allergies, I had no idea how having a food allergy can change one's life. Families with food allergies are always on guard: reading, checking and rechecking labels, calling food manufacturers, monitoring food recalls, making foods from scratch, trying to advocate for the food allergic child(ren), being excluded at social events, and dealing with real a-holes who believes those with food allergies should "Darwin" themselves, among many other things. Many families have watched their loved ones in full blown anaphylaxis and some families have lost their loved ones due to food allergies. It's not something I would wish on my worst enemy.

Oh yes, the joys of living with food allergies! And now we have to deal with dipsh*ts like The Food Babe and The Food Babe Army too? Oh hell no!

So when the Food Babe tells The Food Babe Army to go lie about allergies due to a lifestyle choice, I take offense. In fact, The Food Babe is not the only one who advocates lying about food allergies. Todd Wilbur of Top Secret Recipes (who creates restaurant copycat recipes) boasts faking a food allergy to find out the ingredients at a restaurant. The only difference is Todd does not tell his followers to do so.

This is straight from his About page. No jokes.

I take serious issue with both The Food Babe and Todd Wilbur when tell others they have (air quote) food allergies. This belittles the seriousness of those living with an actual food allergy. Like others pointed out, how many people go around lying about having cancer?

This lying goes beyond the issue of the waitstaff and those in the restaurant industry who may not take food allergies seriously because another Food Babe or Todd Wilbur is lying about having food allergies. It speaks to The Food Babe's and Todd Wilbur's moral character, lack of ethics and their willingness to say and do anything to make a quick buck. Not to mention the most important thing: they are putting the lives of those with food allergies at risk!

Instead of lying, why not CHOSE to tell the TRUTH?

The Food Babe can tell her followers to ask for an ingredients list when they are at a restaurant. Ask the chef if a certain dish contains GMOs, butter, dairy, soy or corn. (FYI: Butter is dairy!) Or even better yet, make your own food at home, like those with real food allergies. Todd Wilbur can ask restaurants for their ingredients list without taking advantage of sympathetic staff who thinks poor Todd has a food allergy, and undermining the lives of those who have food allergies.

My suggestion to The Food Babe, Todd Wilbur and anyone else lying about having food allergies, stop lying already.

To quote The Food Babe, her rule is "If a third grader can't pronounce it, don't eat it." 

Here's my rule: "If a third grader knows it's wrong to lie, you (The Food Babe, Todd Wilbur and The Food Babe Army) should know it too."