The Best Quotes From Fred Morin's Gluten-Free Lucky Peach Interview

Fred Morin spoke to Lucky Peach recently about his experience with celiac disease. As usual, the Joe Beef chef gave good quote.

On why gluten is no longer part of his diet: "It’s not a fashion choice; it’s not a lifestyle choice. It’s not because I want to be smooth-skinned or anything."

On the options his physician gave him after his celiac diagnosis: "There are two things you can do: take this medication that lowers your white-blood-cell count and counteracts the skin reaction, or go on a gluten-free diet. And then, magically, it’s like someone shooting pristine crystal meth and chamomile while you’re watching pictures of baby sheep."

On what restaurants get wrong these days: "The restaurant game lacks empathy these days, right? It holds itself in very high esteem."

Take two: "The restaurant has become very, how could you say, onanistic. Self-loving."

On what restaurants can do to respect allergy restrictions: "If you take something from the garden to your kitchen to the table, how do you make sure it’s not cross-contaminated? What’s a cleaning agent that’s good enough to remove allergens? And what is the chain of knowledge from the guy making the sauce in the afternoon to the guy finishing the sauces (...)?"

On negative repercussions: If "somebody has to leave the restaurant because they’re suddenly shitting their pants, I mean—you haven’t won the greatest Yelp review."

On empathy: "[I]t’s not up to me or the waiter or the cook in the back to determine a legitimate reason for not [drinking, or eating something]. So the restaurant establishment needs to show more empathy in general towards people’s individual needs."

On egalitarian hospitality: "And sometimes it’s good to have a restaurant where my mom and your mom could have a dinner and not feel like they’re old and that they don’t understand the sarcasm of the new generation, you know what I mean?"