This morning I went to a gluten free pop up shop. It opened at 8. I drove 20 minutes away from home and arrived at 8:15. There was a 20 person long line – which is great for them! They had doughnuts, focaccia egg sandwiches, and carrot cake. They ran out of biscuits by the time I got to the front of the line.
I looked at the people in line. I made assumptions and guesses about who they were and why they were in this gluten free pop up line early in the morning. There were all body shapes – short, tall, lean, not so lean- not the typical image of the emaciated celiac. I wondered who was Celiac and who was a fad dieter.
I wondered why someone would stand in line for gluten free doughnuts if they didn’t have to and could eat real doughnuts. I wondered if they were here with a friend or buying them for their friend or mother or child. I wondered if they were just there because they thought gluten free was cool.
I’m not sure and does it really matter? I don’t care why they are buying the gluten free items; I’m just darn glad they are willing to buy gluten free items. I’m glad they supported this business for whatever reason.
Then my thoughts turned. I was mad that all the biscuits were gone and those darn fad dieters ate them all. Grrr… Then I wondered about the people with celiac.
I wondered why someone who needed gluten free items was so desperate for good, safe food they were willing to stand in line for 35 minutes waiting for a simple piece of fried dough. And these doughnuts weren’t even fried, they were baked! Then I wonder are there other people who go on food quests like those of us with Celaic disease. Are there people who go in search of amazing watermelon, caviar, or truffles? I dunno but it made me sad to think about.
I’m hoping as science moves forward in Celiac studies I won’t have to go on quests to find excellent gluten free foods.
Anyway, I drove 20 minutes out of my way this morning for a gluten free focaccia egg sandwich and it was good. I have another one in the fridge for breakfast tomorrow.