Update: Chef Wishes Gluten-Free Trend Would Die – Restaurant Alma Responds
March 22, 2012 by Amy Leger | G+ Amy LegerIt was a small portion of a Q and A in the St. Paul Pioneer Press that already has gluten free folks fuming today.
Bryan Morcom, chef at Restaurant Alma in Minneapolis, MN, did an interview with Kathie Jenkins, the restaurant critic for the PiPress. In the article she asks, “What culinary trend do you wish would die?”
He replies in the article, “Gluten free is the one that kills me. I’m sympathetic to dietary restrictions, but everything in moderation. We get five or six people coming in each night asking for gluten free.”
Update: I just got off the phone with Alex Roberts, Owner and Executive Chef at Restaurant Alma. He says they are sorry about the comments that were published in the Pioneer Press. Roberts says Restaurant Alma is very welcoming of folks with gluten free needs and celiac disease. “We have made efforts to educate our staff and increase our gluten free offerings,” Roberts said. He says they have even changed some recipes to make them more gluten free friendly.
“Bryan said he carefully told [Kathie Jenkins] that he is truly sympathetic with people who have an issue with gluten,” Roberts said, he added that Bryan was just explaining that he was frustrated with folks who were only eating gluten free because of the food trend and not because it was medically necessary (example: a customer might go to great lengths to get a gluten free meal and then turnaround and eat a gluteny dessert), but he is always happy to help folks with gluten-free needs.
Roberts says they take gluten-free orders “very seriously” and feel that “it is the right thing to do” to have these options at both Restaurant Alma and at sister-restaurant Brasa. Roberts has issued a statement on this matter and you can read that by clicking here.
Why the Celiac Community gets Frustrated by Comments like these
If we folks with celiac disease could do gluten free in moderation we probably would. One speck of gluten in our systems and we have autoimmune reaction. Regular eating of gluten for us can cause a lifetime of ill health including infertility, anemia, osteoporosis, and cancer. Not to mention in many cases an immediate reaction like diarrhea or vomiting just to name a few. Want more info on celiac disease? Click here.
The Twin Cities ROCK Facebook page lit up with comments like, “He’s ignorant”, “…I wouldn’t waste my time or money there”. Folks are also leaving comments on the article itself.
When folks with celiac disease dine out — we bring other people with us. So that “five or six people” a night Morcom mentions could realistically be 10-30 people (if we bring friends, dates or family with us) — all of whom now may not choose to dine at Restaurant Alma.
Restaurant Alma hopes you will reconsider, “We want to be inclusive to everyone,” Roberts told me.
Tags: celiac, dining out, gluten-free, restaurant Alma
March 22nd, 2012 at 12:32 pm
This doesn’t phase me too much because I’ll just make sure I never suggest that place to eat to anyone. His bad.
March 22nd, 2012 at 12:46 pm
I sure as hell won’t be reconsidering.
The attitude he has is a dangerous one. If he sees it more as a fad – back peddling aside – then he’s VERY likely to not care about handling.
I guess I should just be happy that they outed themselves as a potentially dangerous restaurant.
March 22nd, 2012 at 6:04 pm
on the other hand, he was asked what culinary trend he would like to die. He would get in trouble no matter what he said. Not a fair question. Seems like he/they do go to great lenghts to make things GF. I am thinking it sounds more like 1 sentence was reported on when there were a lot more said.
March 23rd, 2012 at 12:28 pm
I would like to ask that you please be very careful with your assumptions about Chef Bryan and Restaurant Alma Please read the response from the restaurant and take care when considering throwing under the bus one of the restaurants that does the very best job possible in taking exceptional care of dietary restrictions. I have brought people in with gluten free for years, and Alma, for over 10 years now, remains on my most recommended for gluten free clients and friends.
March 26th, 2012 at 7:55 pm
I am a chef that tries to eat gluten free when I can due to health issues but understand what extreme measures we as chefs need to go through to have a gluten-free menu. I commend any place that even offers one. It’s like designing a 2nd menu for a restaurant & redesigning your staff to cater to that. Most chefs I know are blunt but not everyone is prepped for interviews & making your point politically correct is a tough thing. You shouldn’t single out an amazing restaurant for a mouth fart. How many times have you said what you did not mean?
July 12th, 2012 at 6:55 pm
Leave it to the whiners and perpetual victims to take something which doesn’t refer to them and the try to make it about themselves. Persecution! You are against the diseased you heartless chef! Please. I guess they were those who score low in reading comprehension.