Yeah, this does happen to a lot of people. I, on the other hand, know that I have Celiac. Gluten does terrible things to me. Ironically, it is the Gluten and not wheat in general. I can actually eat limited amounts of wheat as long as it is low-gluten cooking. Croissants are great! Almost NO Gluten in a croissant! But bagels (which have a LOT of Gluten) are the anti-me, which sucks because I also like bagels, but not even half a bagel means pain. What I don't understand is why people do weird dietary crap as fads. I eat (mostly) Gluten-free because it makes me sick (which we figured out after several tests), but I would NOT eat that way if I had the choice. Most Gluten-free breads, pasta, and such are just... well, I found a few brands that are good but most aren't fit for bird food. Why someone would eat that way if they did not have to? I just... yeah... and don't freaking get me started about those hoity-toity idiots who think they should be PROUD to be 'trendy' by eating these diets! Just... GRRRRRR... Vegan cheese is... tolerable. My wife is a vegetarian, and after some testing decided that she wants real cheese (thank whichever god/goddess was listening THERE). Most faux meat though? Just... yuck. There is some meatless ground beef that isn't terrible (made of mushrooms and has a strong kind of shiitake aftertaste), but most faux meat is not worth ANYONE's time. Falafel isn't bad though. Tofu CAN be good, depending on how you prepare it. But not tofurkey. NEVER TOFURKEY...
So my aunt is a smart woman but she believes anything trendy with regards to nutrition. She won't believe me that the so called studies that talk about how dangerous MSG is were all funded by competing restaurant chains. They so were btw. I don't trust McDonalds but I'm going to treat a report about their issues poorly if the source is a Burger King marketing firm. My aunt insisted she was allergic to gluten. I was camping with my aunt and several much younger cousins. We had hot dogs on bread instead of buns. Not a big deal, I have my brats and hot dogs on sliced bread all the time. We also had baked beans. I tried a hot dog with gluten free bread, it was awful, so I put my hot dog in the beans. When I asked for a second hot dog, I insisted on no bread and put my second hot dog in the beans. The eyes of all my cousins lit up. Metaphorically speaking, I blew their minds. "We can eat hot dogs without a bun?" This trend kept going. I cannot remember little kids ever emulating my behavior before, but they continued to (politely) refuse gluten- free breads and tortillas and eat their meals sans the gluten free bird food. A few months later, I was visiting them again. I noticed my aunt was serving a lot of high gluten stuff. It turned out she wasn't allergic to gluten after all. I think she just changed her method of cooking because she realized her children didn't want to eat gluten free stuff. I believe tofurkey is the single reason why vegans have a bad name. They are accused of ruining everyone's thanksgiving. It really shouldn't matter if your friends eat other stuff than you, but sharing a meal is the most basic form of social interaction (stupid CCP virus). Even primates are shown to bond over sharing food. It's really irksome when one person in the group has to steer the entire group towards food they don't like. It gets worse if they are preachy about it.
Can't say I blame the kids. Most Gluten-Free bread is just bad, dense as a piece of clay, and has an odd texture. I eat a lot of rice instead. sushi rice, not minute rice. Better taste, better texture, and you can make sushi with it. I never do, but I could. I just do NOT get people who think it is trendy to do weird diets. Little kids have it right. Unless it is actively making you sick (or is REALLY bad for you), just eat what you like. Don't get me wrong, you have to make sure they eat their vegetables and stuff, but if making them eat veggies means making home-made fries in the oven or something, do it. Good food doesn't have to TASTE or FEEL bad. Hell, you want them to eat veggies, make them PIZZA. Pepperoni can hide the flavor of a lot of things. Enough pepperoni WILL hide the taste of broccoli. Nope. More their habit of trying to force their way of eating down other people's throats. I'm okay with vegetarians. They'll try to make you see their point, but they won't harp about it unless someone else is trying to force meat on THEM. Vegans, however, (well the ones I have met anyway) tend to be overly proud that they ARE Vegans and try to make everyone around them eat that way. I actually eat mostly vegetarian for my wife's sake (I do keep some frozen chicken in the house and the odd can of tuna fish or package of turkey bratwurst), but that's because over the years I have found I like stir-fry, stews, and such more than big slabs of meat. ...they CAN be, which is why I don't usually eat with anyone who tells me they're serving Tofurkey. Back in college, one of my gaming buddies decided to try making Tofurkey for our "Day-After-Thanksgiving-We're-Avoiding-The-Black-Friday-Sales" game. First, last, and only time. It tasted like, and had the texture of (and chewed like) rubber. We threw it out and ordered a pizza. We have also gotten into the habit of teasing him incessantly about it. Word. My wife and I had a long talk about this before we got married. She only has one rule. I can't cook bacon around her (she actually got food poisoning from some as a kid and the smell makes her hurl). She doesn't preach to people about the 'virtues' of being a vegetarian, and just asks us to not cook meat while she's going to be in the room. Just meant (before that gaming group broke up) that we had to make the burgers for game night ahead of time, and make sure there was something she could eat available. So we usually made a big pile of mashed potatoes or pan-fried potatoes to go with the burgers!
I am a definite meat eater and my wife is a dedicated vegetarian. We had a similar chat before we got married. She's not a preacher on the subject, she will happily sit at a table with her vege stuff while others eat meat. However, she is super fiesty ( ) and if anyone tries a direct or underhanded attack on her, she let's them have it with both barrels. (I love it when she does that. Because she is a social person, people don't expect a counter-attack and consider her easy pickings. Love the look on their faces.) Anyways, I can deal with anyone's diet as long as they don't make ME try to change or eat it. Vege-meat of any kind is absolutely disgusting. Even when dressed up with spices or sauce. I will often have a fully vege meal with her and have enjoyed this thoroughly. I could never give up: 1) Steaks (especially with my dad's New-Mexico marinade.... oh man...) 2) Burgers (there's a place in London that does an avocado, bacon, double-cheese burger with extra chilli called Gourmet Burger Kitchen GBK which is pretty flipping good) 3) Prawns/Shrimp 4) Lamb curries