Yep, many of the foods people blame on gluten are high in FODMAPs, and especially fructans.
I think gluten gained its popularity because it piggybacked off of the very real autoimmune disorder celiac disease. People knew that there was a group that clearly could be affected by gluten, so it's not hard to reason from there to 'maybe other people are affected by gluten in some other way', even though that just doesn't follow.
My wife has celiac disease and we have long suspected that most of the people purporting to need to avoid gluten are kind of hypochondriacal. Still, I feel kind of ambivalent about their behavior. On the one hand, it has helped make "gluten-free" the butt of innumerable jokes (to the point that now mocking gluten-free demands is kind of passe/cringe), and makes people who just meet us probably a little more suspicious that she is BSing and therefore annoying to accommodate.
On the other hand, the consumer demand from all these fakers and hypochondriacs has indisputably helped power the great ingenious engines of capitalism to invent, import, and serve much more abundant selections of gluten-free substitutes, as well as to nudge things that were by default nearly gluten-free the rest of the way. Like gluten-free cheerios! This change has been remarkable, from when we started dating in 2010. Although the main adaptation we used back then remains really fun: just starting with cuisines that don't rely on gluten in their staple grains, like Mexican, Thai, Vietnamese and Japanese (subbing Tamari for soy sauce).
At the end of the day, she cares far less what some rando thinks of her maybe faking it, and far more about the availability of things she can eat.
My mum has "gluten intolerance". Last Christmas break, my dad made this gnocchi tray-bake dish for the family one evening. One tray with normal gnocchi, another with gluten-free gnocchi. My mum and I both wanted a second helping, so I offered to top up both of our plates. My dad had made similar quantities of both versions, so I was confused as to which was which and ended up serving my mum the glutenous gnocchi and myself the gluten-free gnocchi (later confirmed by my dad and by my own taste buds). My dad, brother, and I decided to keep shtum to see what would happen after she ate the gluten.
Zero reaction.
The next day I broke the news to her that her condition was, in fact, fake and gay. She reassured me that I was definitely wrong and that she knows that she had the gluten-free one because, if she had eaten the glutenous gnocchi, she would have had a reaction. Lol.
Interesting, thanks! I suspected this but it would be impolite to challenge a friend about. (All female)
FODMAPs is an interesting angle. Maybe those tend to have gluten and it results in an incorrect assignment of blame?
I do wonder how gluten took such a spotlight to be mentioned everywhere.
Yep, many of the foods people blame on gluten are high in FODMAPs, and especially fructans.
I think gluten gained its popularity because it piggybacked off of the very real autoimmune disorder celiac disease. People knew that there was a group that clearly could be affected by gluten, so it's not hard to reason from there to 'maybe other people are affected by gluten in some other way', even though that just doesn't follow.
My wife has celiac disease and we have long suspected that most of the people purporting to need to avoid gluten are kind of hypochondriacal. Still, I feel kind of ambivalent about their behavior. On the one hand, it has helped make "gluten-free" the butt of innumerable jokes (to the point that now mocking gluten-free demands is kind of passe/cringe), and makes people who just meet us probably a little more suspicious that she is BSing and therefore annoying to accommodate.
On the other hand, the consumer demand from all these fakers and hypochondriacs has indisputably helped power the great ingenious engines of capitalism to invent, import, and serve much more abundant selections of gluten-free substitutes, as well as to nudge things that were by default nearly gluten-free the rest of the way. Like gluten-free cheerios! This change has been remarkable, from when we started dating in 2010. Although the main adaptation we used back then remains really fun: just starting with cuisines that don't rely on gluten in their staple grains, like Mexican, Thai, Vietnamese and Japanese (subbing Tamari for soy sauce).
At the end of the day, she cares far less what some rando thinks of her maybe faking it, and far more about the availability of things she can eat.
My mum has "gluten intolerance". Last Christmas break, my dad made this gnocchi tray-bake dish for the family one evening. One tray with normal gnocchi, another with gluten-free gnocchi. My mum and I both wanted a second helping, so I offered to top up both of our plates. My dad had made similar quantities of both versions, so I was confused as to which was which and ended up serving my mum the glutenous gnocchi and myself the gluten-free gnocchi (later confirmed by my dad and by my own taste buds). My dad, brother, and I decided to keep shtum to see what would happen after she ate the gluten.
Zero reaction.
The next day I broke the news to her that her condition was, in fact, fake and gay. She reassured me that I was definitely wrong and that she knows that she had the gluten-free one because, if she had eaten the glutenous gnocchi, she would have had a reaction. Lol.
Amazing.
I love when life presents opportunities for those sorts of experiments.
sourdough bread is a great try if someone's issue stems from fructans. Proper long fermented sourdough should have very little fructans.
Great post btw. If you wish I can DM you my discussion with Claude on this lol