In January and then again in April, of 2022, I went into anaphylactic shock. The first time after eating dinner which resulted in an ambulance, a night in the ER, and a lot of IV drugs, the second I had put one bite to my mouth and my tongue immediately started tingling and the room going topsy-turvy. I ran to spit out the food and take anti-histamine, and wait to see if I needed the Epi-Pen.
After a scary 30 minutes, I seemed okay and determined not to go to the ER; a much harder call to make in Covid times.
I never had food allergies before. This was terrifying. None of the foods were the same, the first meal was home cooked, the second was take-out.
I began the long wait to consult an allergist. In July, I finally had the first communication with her. She very quickly confirmed that it was likely a new allergy to a particular spice or spice family, and that it was common for someone like me with tree/grass allergies to develop spice allergies.
Now, I had homework to do. I had to contact all of the companies involved in the foods that I had contact with and get spice ingredients list, so we could narrow down the field enough to do skin scratch testing.
I set out to do that, I contacted the Lone Star restaurant and asked for an ingredients list, they complied immediately with kindness and with concern.
I contacted Pinty’s chicken, their response was one of the nastiest customer service experiences I have ever had, and I’ve had some doozies.
They were more concerned with their “proprietary” information getting out than they were with whether a customer nearly died because of their oh-so-secret ingredients.
Dudes, I simply asked for the spice ingredients list, not quantities, not what temperature you cook your goddamn secret chicken at, just a list of basic fucking spices that you put into your batter. So I don’t fucking die if I eat your shit again. Seems fair enough, no?
I wonder how the Canadian drug and food administration might feel about the lack of transparency…? Perhaps we should ask them.
I am not generally on board for “cancel culture” in fact, I don’t even think “cancel culture” is real, I think it is basic accountability for ones actions. And termed something stupid so the mass idiots out there can foam at the mouth about their lack of liberty and freedoms, publically… because cancel culture isn’t fucking real and you all still have a voice.
Anyhow, I digress. I would absolutely cancel Pinty’s after their crap response, if I so had the power to do so.
I am still waiting on one other company to respond, Kraft, I’m looking at you… I hope you don’t dick me around too. My life is literally in your hands.
