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Comment by samuli | Hacker News Reader

It is worth noting, that coeliac disease is a real thing, where gluten-free diet must be strictly adhered to. These kinds of dismissive articles, which treat gluten-free diets fads are extremely dangerous for those suffering the illness, since it makes the general public not to take it seriously.

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The article doesn't complain about her and her gluten insensitivity. It's specifically about her insistence of two pieces of gluten-free toast. Like the russians said - can she eat potatoes? Then she should eat potatoes, end of the problem. Crying over not getting 2 pieces of toast is childish when travelling to the end of the world, even if one paid $20k for the privilege.

I should hope that nobody reads this article as a denial of the reality of celiac disease. I think it is possible to acknowledge that gluten-free diets are a fad while understanding that to some people, they are a medical necessity.

The article didn't read that way for me. I enjoyed the part where you tried to explain gluten to the crew, it reminded me of a scene from the movie "Everything is Illuminated", where the main character tries to explain he is vegetarian.. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=um2p4GlEbKg

While I agree with you in principle, we are talking about journeying to a far-reaching corner of the earth here. Had we been talking about space travel, this woman would have immediately been barred from consideration to journey over a thousand other people who were equally qualified yet did not have such dietary restrictions. I don’t think we are at the point yet where travel to Antarctica and supplies are normalized enough that we should expect to be able to cater to these kind of restrictions.

The people you should be criticising are the fad diet people. It is they that are bringing gluten intolerance into disrepute.

The advantage of the fad is that they have created much more demand for gluten-free food. My son has an allergy to wheat so enjoys the fact that the supermarket shelves are now stacked with suitable food.

Well, as noted elsewhere, they've created a lot more demand for food that is labeled "gluten-free". They haven't created more demand for food that is actually gluten-free, since they can't tell the difference; lots of people are willing to humor these people by giving them the label they want without going to the effort of taking the gluten out of the food. The same thing happens with "locally sourced".

But unlike "locally sourced", food that has been mislabeled as "gluten-free" is dangerous for celiacs.

As another side effect, the fad people do a lot of work to train everyone to believe things like "people who claim to be gluten-sensitive are stupid". I don't imagine celiacs appreciate that either.

Anecdotally, I have a friend whose father has been gluten-free for decades, for legitimate medical reasons — he said the rise of the bullshit gluten-free fad dramatically changed his life for the better, by making it possible to find a wide variety of decent food that approximates what he was able to eat before he got sick.

My favorite thing is how food items that obviously don't and never would have gluten are now slapped all over with labels that indicate they're gluten free. Guess what? Your dozen eggs are now gluten free! So is a gallon of (cow's) milk! And that bag of apples! And a head of fresh broccoli! And green tea! And bottled water!

What's next? Advertising gluten-free toothbrushes and paper towels and smartphone cases?

Reminds me of the legend (maybe true, who knows) of the salmon cannery that marketed its naturally paler-than-usual stock with the slogan "Guaranteed not to turn pink in the can!"

Almost all farmed salmon is colored by dyes in food, or processing. Skipping that step could be marketed as a somewhat legit health benefit. I have no idea if the dyes are at all harmful, but many people are bound to like their fish unaltered and 'natural'. Either way, brilliant marketing.

https://xkcd.com/641/

I am still hoping for a day when lactose-free is a fad.

On the subject, one of our extended family suffers from Coeliacs disease. We as a family tried 2 weeks of gluten-free eating.

It was illuminating! Certainly worth doing.

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