An Open Letter To Chef Damian Cardone

You may have seen reports last week about Chef Damian Cardone, who boasted in early March on his Facebook profile about misleading gluten-free customers multiple times. "People ask me for gluten free pasta in my restaurant all the time, I tell em sure, Then I serve serve em our pasta, Which I make from scratch with high gluten flour," the chef was reported writing on his profile before it was removed. "And you know what? nothing, NOTHING! ever happens!" His comments kicked off a firestorm of articles and criticism.

I feel proud to have recently celebrated the two-year anniversary of the last time I knowingly ingested gluten. When I first gave it up, I went through withdrawal, I bargained ("Just let me have a bite of your sandwich"), I felt left out, I refused to give up beer, I got frustrated, and relapsed again and again. Finally, after a two week-long cold, complete with backaches, depression, and serious bloating, I decided fooling myself wasn't worth it anymore. I found the chef's blatant disdain troubling enough to merit this open letter.

Chef Cardone, I've worked in restaurant, catering, and test kitchens. I've worked in a food truck. I've been a server. My mother is a professional chef. If I absolutely had to have a health condition, I would never pick this one. Given the choice, I might even take something harder to deal with that would allow me to still eat sandwiches, because there are some really amazing ones out there and I miss them. Wouldn't you?

Six months after I gave up gluten for good, my whole life changed. Anyone who shares my experience will tell you the same thing. You've never experienced glutenitis, my affectionate term for the miserable, exhausted haze I live in when I unknowingly eat something containing gluten.

As my immune system flatlines and my insides rebel, my hair falls out, and my hands and arms itch uncontrollably. I have vivid nightmares all night long and can't wake up in the morning. Several days later, like clockwork, I develop the telltale tickle in the back of my throat that signifies the beginning of a cold severe enough keep me out of work for days. And guess what? I'm on the low end of the gluten intolerance spectrum. Many peoples' symptoms are worse.

I don't have the statistics to back up my case because definitive studies are still being done. For the time being, it will have to suffice to say that if you can't have gluten, you can't have it. Nobody pretends to have gluten intolerance. Everyone likes sandwiches, bagels, noodles, waffles, and pizza. If you give up those things and feel at least 100% better, you have it. I, a born-and-bred New Yorker, gave up pizza, bagels, and half the things on brunch menus and in Chinese restaurants across the city. It wasn't something I wanted to do. Trust me.

Before covering a recent dinner event prepared by Chef Michael White of Marea, I notified the press contact that I had a gluten allergy. She had recently gone gluten-free, and assured me that it would be no problem. I was served a truly outstanding meal, complete with an extra gluten-free dessert to take home. I thanked Chef White personally after dinner for his special attention, to which he jovially responded, "My pleasure, it's no big deal."

Chef White's fellow James Beard Award-winner Chef Guillermo Tellez of Philadelphia's Square 1682 recently said of chefs who refuse to accommodate food allergies, "They're not very secure. Somebody's challenging you and you're refusing to take it on. I don't believe in that. If I have to run to the store and get something, I'll do that, but in my kitchen we accommodate everyone."

You're not alone in thinking every headline with the word "gluten" in it precedes a story about voodoo hippie nonsense. Some of the people closest to me had to be convinced. What finally did it wasn't medical research or an article, it was seeing me brimming with energy and happiness, no sniffles or coughs, and wanting to get out of bed to start living life like I never had before.  

Chef Cardone, the only point you've proven by purposely poisoning (yes, poisoning) your trusting patrons is that you don't belong in the foodservice industry. You've tainted your reputation as a chef and the reputation of the establishments you've worked for. I hope the takeaway lesson for you and everyone who has heard of your betrayals is that the gluten-free community is real, enormous, growing every day, and most of all, grateful to feel healthy again.

I hope you'll reconsider your actions and use the widespread backlash against your transgression to develop a wider sense of what it means to truly know and love food.