From a gluten intolerance to a garlic or tomato allergy, more and more people are making a fuss about what they can and cannot eat.
But chef Raymond Blanc has blasted the ‘fashionable’ obsession with having a food intolerance.
He says up to 50 customers claim to have issues every night at his two-Michelin-starred French restaurant.
Raymond Blanc said up to 50 customers a night at the Belmond Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons claim to have allergy issues
Speaking to the Daily Mail, he said: ‘In my restaurant Belmond Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons, I look at my board when I look at the order and it’s horrifying – you have about 50 people who have an allergy or a food intolerance and we take each of them seriously.’
French-born Blanc, who moved to Britain 45 years ago and opened his Oxfordshire restaurant more than three decades ago, added: ‘We are a kitchen not a hospital. Of course, now, if you don’t have an allergy, you’re nobody.’
Speaking at the BBC Good Food Show last week, the 68-year-old added: ‘It’s a very great fashion to have a food intolerance.’
Gwyneth Paltrow cuts out dairy, wheat, gluten, meat and fish by following a raw vegan diet
The French chef’s restaurant offers a vegetarian option for the £162 seven course menu but he does not have a gluten free, dairy free or vegan option.
In the UK, it is estimated 1-2 per cent of adults suffer from food allergies, but more than half of British households bought a product which was marketed as ‘free-from’ a certain foodstuff in the first three months of 2017.
There has been a surge in popularity of ‘clean-eating’ – a diet which involves only eating unprocessed foods – in recent years following celebrities who claim to follow restrictive eating plans.
Social media star Ella Mills, who now runs three delis and has 1.2million followers on her Deliciously Ella Instagram account, doesn’t eat gluten, dairy or meat and claims she is ‘working to make vegetables cool’.
Former Spice Girls Victoria Beckham and Geri Horner both follow a gluten-free diet along with actress Rachel Weisz and a number of other high-profile stars.
Former Spice Girls Victoria Beckham and Geri Horner both follow a gluten-free diets
And Gwyneth Paltrow cuts out dairy, wheat, gluten, meat and fish by following a raw vegan diet.
The younger generations are more in favour of cutting out these food groups. In a survey of 30,000 British households, those with people under the age of 45 living at the property were 20 per cent more likely to buy from supermarket ‘free from’ ranges.
An intolerance is when someone has difficulty digesting particular foods which often results in bloating and stomach pain.
But an allergy can cause a serious reaction such as a rash, wheezing and itching after consuming a small amount of the food.
Blanc, however, will not be following any kind of restrictive diet over the festive period.
The chef said he will be spending the holiday eating plenty of Christmas pudding with his 95-year-old mother in France.