It’s one thing to suffer from Celiac disease, a crippling autoimmune disorder affecting only those with a genetic predisposition for it, or any number of other gluten-intolerant digestive conditions. It’s another to treat the gluten-free option as a health fad (which it is not), and thereby annoy the hell out of restaurant servers, food industry professionals, and those who’ve been diagnosed with Celiac. Hence why the White Moose Cafe in Dublin, Ireland, took drastic measures to curb the faddish aspects of gluten-free eating.
The cafe published a short, but combative Facebook post over the weekend declaring: “DOCTOR’S NOTE REQUIRED TO GET GLUTEN-FREE FOOD.” In other words, customers requesting gluten-free options “are required to produce a doctor’s note which states that you suffer from coeliac disease,” or “eat regular food like everybody else” en lieu of an official diagnosis.
So why the animosity? A customer requested gluten-free pancakes and when the White Moose staff asked her if she had celiac, “she didn’t even know what the word meant.” The patron “then proceeded to order regular, gluten-rich pancakes anyway.”
While the viral Facebook post garnered plenty of support, it also attracted critics unhappy with White Moose’s apparent lack of customer service. Then again, whoever was running social media for the cafe responded with everything from counter arguments to outright insults. Something that, as Mashable reports, White Moose has done before.
A White Moose Cafe representative, Paul Stenson, told Mashable “a lot of [people] are very pissed off, but wouldn’t you be if you were called out on being a superficial, fad-following imbecile?” He went even further and declared, “The day I change how I run my Facebook page is the day I die.”
As further proof of the cafe’s unwavering stance on celiac disease, gluten-free eating and the need for an official diagnosis, their Facebook page posted a followup directed at its critics.
Sounds like a friendly place, no?
(Via Mashable)
