If it’s Gluten-Free, Shouldn’t It Cost less?

I mean, you took the gluten out and sold it to the gluten industry, didn’t you? And the product I get is less of whatever it was before? So it should be cheaper? That’s how it works, right?

I have never been compelled to eat gluten-free foods, except in the homes of people who deliberately avoid it. They tell me why they do so and I believe them. Eating the food they prepare without making a complaint is polite. If it has a different taste than a similar recipe with gluten included, I accept that variation in good faith. None of it seems poisonous and it is never offered to harm me.

All the same, I would not seek it for preference in a commercial eatery – in much the same way I would not deliberately look for vegan, halal, kosher or any other restricted cuisine. I might encounter it, possibly unknowingly, and not suffer at all. Who knows how many dishes of vegan pig knuckles I’ve eaten in Moishe’s Halal BBQ over the years and never been aware of it. I maintain this sensible attitude in Asian restaurants as well and as long as the stir-fry is not cooked in used PCB oil from a broken electricity transformer, I am content.

All the above being equal, contentment with the cuisine is chiefly due to the cooks not telling me what they really, truly want me to believe in. I shy away from eateries that have a missionary theme. I do not want to be converted – I want to be fed. I do not want to free my mind, or your home country from the evil oppressors, while eating soup. I might march in the streets for you, but let’s do it after dinner, eh?