[Someone1234]

I really don't understand the whole "hate," in particular on the internet, for people who eat Gluten free food. Who really cares? It doesn't harm you or I if someone chooses to avoid Gluten, it doesn't hurt the environment, it doesn't cause a public health issue, and so on and so fourth.

But people get really upset about the oddest stuff that have no impact on them (e.g. others playing the lottery, vegetarians, how others dress, their games console of choice, their phone maker, etc). None of it matters, people could do well by just minding their own business more.

As to Gluten, I myself won't be doing a Gluten free diet, but people who wish to more power to you and as a positive spin it might make foods more accessible for people with coeliac.

[zzalpha]

I really don't understand the whole "hate," in particular on the internet, for people who eat Gluten free food. Who really cares?

The same argument can be applied to crystals, or fortune tellers, or homeopathy, or any number of other examples of more or less harmless pseudoscience adopted by the public as a result of a poor understanding of science and a weakness regarding the latest fads.

I view the gluten-free fad as just another instance of mindless herding. "A friend of mine told me their aunt's cousin's friend went gluten free and it cured their diabetes and their lazy eye!" It's simply further evidence that people, in general, aren't equipped with the harsh skepticism required to operate in a world where the internet makes it so easy for this kind of BS to spread like wildfire. Fighting these fads is a (largely futile) attempt to try and educate folks, to make them possibly a little more resilient to being duped in the future.

Of course, it rarely works out that way, which is why you're better off expending your energy in more productive pursuits.

[nilkn]

People generally react strongly (and negatively) to what they perceive to be irrational behavior in others. I think there's a strong human instinct to want to set the correct precedent for others and for future generations, which leads to this sort of reaction when we feel as if someone else is setting the wrong precedent. The (very implicit) fear might be that the GF trend will lead to many resources being wasted on something that doesn't matter (special GF products, restaurants, marketing materials, etc.).

However, with dietary trends there's a second and possibly more powerful factor, which is that those not following the trend feel as if they're being implicitly judged by those who are. This feeling is often completely incorrect, but it's there nonetheless for many people. Ironically, the feeling itself is irrational, yet it feeds into one's own distaste for another person's (perceived) irrationality.

[kaitai]

I think it's the implicit judgment that is more powerful. If you were to declare, "I'm a summer; I can't ever wear yellow!" no one would care. When you refuse someone's bread, though, that's a different question. Food has historically been a way to bond, in some particularly ritualistic ways. (We "break bread together", history has people eating from the same dish to symbolically and practically show trust, etc.)

Much of the current GF stuff is not that good, whether you're looking at environment, cost, culinary quality, or health benefits. Why eat a bar of tapioca starch? It tastes terrible. And my delicious almond-flour brownies are destroying the aquifers of California even though they give me a delightful 300+ calories per serving. On the other hand, the proliferation of GF goods allows people with real problems to sit down with family and friend and eat crappy sandwiches together without anyone feeling judged by the presence of a lettuce wrap, and that has its own benefits. Irrational, or not? Yes.

[PopeOfNope]

I really don't understand the whole "hate," in particular on the internet, for people who eat Gluten free food. Who really cares?

You get the same reaction from any kind of health based diet. It makes people feel judged, like they don't eat healthy. It's also a diversion from the normal, which allows an "us vs them" line to be drawn. People are still, at their heart, tribal. It's instinct to draw those lines because, in theory, at one point in time those instincts kept their ancestors alive.

tl;dr: it's human nature to hate the unusual.

As for gluten-free specifically, I was gluten free for years. Eating it would provoke a systemic inflammatory reaction, yet I don't test positive for any wheat allergy, gluten intolerance or celiac.

After many years of feeling pain when I eat my favorite food (pizza), I tripped on some research that suggested it may not be the gluten that was causing the problem. The research suggested that the supplementation of iron may be causing issues with some people. I also stumbled on anecdotal reports of gluten intolerant americans traveling overseas and being able to eat french pastries and italian pasta without issue. Armed with those two facts, I decided to do an n=1 experiment.

I bought some italian flour and used it to make bread and pizza. My allergic-like inflammation symptoms went away and I lost 10 lbs in a week. When I ran out, I went back to store bought bread. My inflammation symptoms came back immediately.

Just food for thought.

[kazinator]

Italian flour has gluten. Gluten is the stuff that makes the dough rubbery so you can stretch it out with your fists. Pizza flour has less gluten than some other kinds, so that the elasticity is lower, which lets it be stretched flatter with greater ease, with a less of a tendency to shrink back. But the gluten is there, nevertheless. Without this gooey protein, it would probably tear and fall apart. (Imagine trying to roll out a pizza crust made out of nothing but starch and water.)

[alistairSH]

I'm not sure why people have down-voted this response. All wheat flour contains gluten. Gluten does provide much of the texture to baked goods (try some gluten free bread - it's mouth-feel isn't the same).

That isn't to say different varieties of wheat or flour might cause different reactions in people. But that isn't the gluten; it's something else.

[PopeOfNope]

You missed the point. The gluten isn't what was causing my problems. It was whatever monkey business american companies do when processing their wheat. I don't know if it's the iron enrichment, the bleaching or the GMO stock, but I can tell you this: something is rotten with american wheat and it isn't the gluten.

[mattzito]

I think GP is saying that in his case the iron supplementation in U.S. Flour was the cause of his problem.

[snowwrestler]

It makes life harder for people with celiac.

Why? Because people following a gluten-free diet by choice are inconsistent. They'll make a big deal of asking for gluten-free pasta, then order a fruit tart for dessert. Or they'll order a hamburger without the bun, and a beer.

It trains wait staff that gluten-free is not a big deal to get exactly right, when in fact a person with celiac does need to get it exactly right.