“Here we do not accept celiac.” That’s what Valentina Liborati, an artisan and food blogger from Sarzana, heard from a Tuscan restaurateur who had called to book a table in recent days. “For the first time in my life,” she wrote on her popular Instagram page, “I heard a sentence that left me literally speechless. I, who usually answer in kind and be flooded with words, kept silent. I felt discriminated against and excluded, and being different is wrong. I’ve been suffering from celiac since 1989 and never I hear something like that.” For years, “Valentina Gluten Free” has become a reference point for those who have to deal with the impossibility of consuming gluten on a daily basis and who, also thanks to her, have learned that one can still eat well. “I haven’t felt this way for a long time,” she continued, “and yet I am accustomed to being deceived and ignorant. I have been excluded from the club by reason of my illness. Because of what I did not choose but which is part of me in an unbreakable way. Discrimination was made because of an intrinsic quality of mine.”
“It all makes no sense – note – because preparing a substitute for celiac disease is simple, you just need to know the disease to prepare a meal safely with a few simple precautions. Otherwise, following this logic, people with other dietary needs or sensitivities should stay “Outside the building. Towards celiac there’s a total lockdown. I hope – and seal – to get those who have thought of telling me these things to reflect on that and to make people understand how far behind we are in 2023.”
“Food expert. Unapologetic bacon maven. Beer enthusiast. Pop cultureaholic. General travel scholar. Total internet buff.”
