4 ms·

At first I tended to agree with that notion - most restaurants are staffed by people who don't get paid enough to really care, and even if they did, humans are

At first I tended to agree with that notion - most restaurants are staffed by people who don't get paid enough to really care, and even if they did, humans are fallible. Then I realized that even cooking at home, you're using ingredients from some random factories that are similarly staffed by people in the same boat capable of making similar mistakes. I have no idea what the perfect solution is, as personally growing every single thing you eat(or drink) seems absurd if not impossible.

shiroiushi 2y ago
There is no perfect solution. However, factories are much more controlled environments than restaurant kitchens, so your odds are much better. Plus, these days, they require foods to have labels for potential allergens for things like using the same facility that makes other foods with those allergens (i.e. even if the product doesn't have $allergen, if other products made there do, they warn you). So if I had a condition like this, I'd feel much safer with factory-made foods/ingredients than with food from any restaurant.
Dove 2y ago
This is an argument commonly raised in favor of a whole food diet: if what you're buying is recognizable, there's less room for tampering. Buying an apple, there could be pesticide residue on the skin, but buying applesauce, goodness knows what they put in there, intentionally or otherwise. And in fact, this is advice I've encountered when buying spices (which tends to be international and a lot of middlemen): buy whole to reduce the chances of adulteration. Whole cinnamon is hard to fake; ground cinnamon could contain literally anything. While no defense is perfect, and you'd generally like to know and trust the source of your food (and this is an important piece of the puzzle), preferring things in a visually verifiable whole format does offer a way to limit the possible or likely damage. It works in restaurants, too: you can order an unadorned steak, and might still worry about peanut oil residue from the grill, but it beats ordering stir fry and wondering what the abundant gloopy sauce is made of and if the cook even fully knows or if he gets it out of a can too.

shiroiushi 2y ago

There is no perfect solution. However, factories are much more controlled environments than restaurant kitchens, so your odds are much better. Plus, these days, they require foods to have labels for potential allergens for things like using the same facility that makes other foods with those allergens (i.e. even if the product doesn't have $allergen, if other products made there do, they warn you). So if I had a condition like this, I'd feel much safer with factory-made foods/ingredients than with food from any restaurant.

Dove 2y ago

This is an argument commonly raised in favor of a whole food diet: if what you're buying is recognizable, there's less room for tampering. Buying an apple, there could be pesticide residue on the skin, but buying applesauce, goodness knows what they put in there, intentionally or otherwise. And in fact, this is advice I've encountered when buying spices (which tends to be international and a lot of middlemen): buy whole to reduce the chances of adulteration. Whole cinnamon is hard to fake; ground cinnamon could contain literally anything. While no defense is perfect, and you'd generally like to know and trust the source of your food (and this is an important piece of the puzzle), preferring things in a visually verifiable whole format does offer a way to limit the possible or likely damage. It works in restaurants, too: you can order an unadorned steak, and might still worry about peanut oil residue from the grill, but it beats ordering stir fry and wondering what the abundant gloopy sauce is made of and if the cook even fully knows or if he gets it out of a can too.