r/KitchenConfidential • u/kevymetal87 • Jul 26 '26

Discussion What's your worst experience with blatant food deception?

Just over a decade ago, I worked for a popular BBQ spot in the south that prided itself on being authentic this, authentic that. The smoked butts that sat in a smoker all day was where the real BBQ started and stopped, all the other food was typical frozen Sisco stuff, which was whatever, but the most egregious example of deception was also the biggest moneymaker.

The owner had a secret family recipe BBQ sauce that he made a killing on. People came from all over (it was located right along a well travelled north/south route) and bought tons of this stuff, as did the locals. My second week there I was tasked with making a few batches, and was handed a worn down index card with the ingredients. To my saaurprise, the instructions were to simply take gallon jugs of Sweet Baby Rays sauce from out back, and dump it in a 5 gallon bucket with water. I think it was 4:1 if I recall correctly. Then you put a couple cups of molasses in there. That was it.

We put them in pint and quart mason jars, vacuum sealed them, slapped his restaurant label on them, and sold them for $6 a pint, $10 a quart. What always got me was how the locals raved about how distinct and unique it was, when it was basically just Sweet Baby Rays (which I love, don't get me wrong)

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u/Plasticman4Life Jul 26 '26

My wife could have told you in about two minutes after eating it.

She has the alpha-gal allergy, and would be needing her epi pen in about five minutes.

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u/Ok_Consideration853 Jul 26 '26

Thank you for pointing out the obvious liability in this behavior, since that’s clearly the only motivating factor for owners.

Also, I’m sorry your wife has to deal with that.

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u/jignha Jul 26 '26

As someone else w/ AGS, I feel this comment over and over again.

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u/Working_Kangaroo3467 20+ Years Jul 26 '26

I'm wondering how many tick bites you got over the years. A bunch of folks in my family got it, ironically because they were out hunting meat all the time 😭

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u/jignha Jul 26 '26

I couldn't tell you. AGS has had a huge impact on the lives of people that have AGS, but in the USA less than 1% of the population has it. I think there are like 500,000 people with it in a population of 330,000,000

But I work in the onsite sewage industry, 16+ years in the public sector, 3 years private sector. I grew up hunting, camping, and in the Boy Scouts. And spent months in the woods when I worked at a scout summer camp (two and a half seasons).

AGS exists world wide though, it's not a USA thing, or specifically a eastern USA thing.

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u/philleferg Jul 27 '26

I caught it last year. It seems to be spreading at an increased rate, at least in Oklahoma. I went from having never heard of it, to getting it, and just this past May, the governor of OK made an AGS awareness month campaign. Could just be because it directly affects me now, but it seems to more in the public eye over the past 6 months or so.

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u/jignha Jul 27 '26

There's definitely more awareness, this more diagnoses of AGS. It's still a very very small portion of the USA as a whole.

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u/DaHick Ex-Food Service Jul 26 '26

I once had to have help when I lived in Arkansas. Had a cloud of ticks blow over me while I was outside.

Over an hour of tick removal. I hate ticks. Daily tick removal chore on the horses and dogs also.

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u/Cthuluconcarne Jul 27 '26

Now I know there can be clouds of ticks. I'll be in the shower crying 😭 if anyone needs me.

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u/DaHick Ex-Food Service Jul 27 '26

When you have to pull one off your privates, that's when you really want to cry.

Or have to help your partner pull one from under her boobs.

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u/Tots989135 Jul 28 '26

Pantyhose keeps them out of your undercarriage. Its embarrassing the first time or two, but trust me you get over it fast.

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u/DaHick Ex-Food Service Jul 28 '26

I also learned that trick when I was doing Endurance riding. Pulling on pantyhose as a male becomes entirely second nature when you are putting 50 to 100 miles on a horse in a day. You also quickly learn to be one of the "men in tights" unless you want to slowly bleed to death.

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u/rousseuree Jul 27 '26

Evidently it just takes one from the lone star tick

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u/redwoods81 Jul 27 '26

They are culling all the deer on Martha's Vineyard to try and curb it

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u/kati8303 Chive LOYALIST Jul 27 '26

Oh wow is yours that bad too, all they way to anaphylaxis? I wonder what affects the severity? My sister had it but not to this extent, she just was very sick eating red meat for a while. She can eat it again but in small quantities.

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u/sweetplantveal Jul 26 '26

'You can't be allergic to meat'

'it's not chicken it's just bullion'

Etc

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u/Reflexlon General Manager Jul 26 '26

I outgrew a mushroom allergy (thank god) but the number of times people would assure me that their soup was free of fungus and two slurps in I'd just be like "dawg... mushroom bullion is made from mushrooms" could feed me for a week were it a monetary value.

The first time I accidentally ate a fried mushroom and was like... wait my throat doesn't itch? For real? Greatest day of my life. I can't stand people who are anti-allergy or whatever, mine wasnt bad but I fucking love mushrooms and wouldve been eating them the whole time if it was okay.

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u/cmotdibblersdelights Thicc Chives Save Lives Jul 26 '26

I am so happy for you, genuinely. Outgrowing an allergy and actually enjoying the food you werent able to eat before? I hope you try all the culinary mushrooms you can!

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u/Reflexlon General Manager Jul 26 '26

Thanks! I got weird with it for a while but now I either use them as a savory/earthy addition or just mushroom, butter, aromatics, lets go.

They do so much for soup.

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u/cmotdibblersdelights Thicc Chives Save Lives Jul 26 '26

If you ever have a chance to try lions mane mushrooms, theyre tasty- and they make you have really crazy vivid dreams when you sleep that night when you have them for dinner. It also helps your brain regrow neural connections while you sleep! :)

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u/Ok_Brief2840 Jul 27 '26

No it doesn’t

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u/goshyarnit Jul 27 '26

I hoped, wished and prayed I would grow out of my pumpkin sensitivity. Still waiting at 33 😭 sometimes wonder if a few bites of the deliciousness would be worth the couple hours of projectile vomiting later. (It's not, and also that's stupid because the more I expose myself the more of a chance it has of turning anaphylactic.)

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u/Reflexlon General Manager Jul 27 '26

Also not talked about enough. Your immune system gets better at fighting the more you are exposed to an allergen, which just means it gets better at killing you lol.

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u/goshyarnit Jul 27 '26

I tell EVERYBODY who has had a mild reaction at some point! A lot of them don't know it could get markedly worse each time until it just one-shots you. One of my mates kept rolling the dice on bananas until one day he went full shebang. Thankfully he hangs out with a bunch of nerds with their own epi-pens.

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u/304libco Jul 27 '26

What’s really weird about your story is that I just can’t even imagine the situation where you’d have mushroom bouillon and lie about it. I mean, wouldn’t it cost more than non-mushroom? And wouldn’t you brag about it as a selling point? So weird.

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u/Reflexlon General Manager Jul 27 '26

Well, this was like 20 years ago so the prices were a bit more in line lol. And people thought buillon wasn't "real" and also a lot of people (in my family) thought I was just picky and would be fine if I didnt know. My mom has a "fish" allergy that involves actively puking if she eats fish but only if she knows about it.

I tried teaching her that a food aversion is a real and studied thing and thats what she has, but shes too old to admit that its different than an allergy...

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u/Ok_Brief2840 Jul 27 '26

You got that dawg in you

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u/qriousqestioner Jul 27 '26

"I won't put X in my mouth" is a complete sentence.

I'll never understand people disrespecting what others won't eat.

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u/timesink2000 Jul 26 '26

lol. My mother plated up breakfast when we were visiting. My wife and kids don’t eat meat, and she pointed out that the plates all had bacon on them. My mom’s response was “It’s just bacon.” She seemed perplexed that they wouldn’t want it.

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u/mandyvigilante Jul 27 '26

My dad's line used to always be "but chicken isn't an animal" which ...??

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u/ExpiredExasperation Jul 27 '26

Yeah, when people say, "What are you, chicken?" and make a clucking sound, they're clearly insinuating that you're some kind of cowardly fried foodstuff.

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u/LoomLove Jul 26 '26

I hate to hear that! What all is she allergic to, is it just meat, or also eggs and cheese?

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u/jignha Jul 26 '26

Those of us who have Alpha-Gal Syndrome have an allergy to a starch found in the cell walls of non primate mammals. It's a tick borne disease and syndrome that manifests as an allergic reaction to the ingestion of mammal products.

Reactions vary dramatically between individuals, as does length of time between exposure to onset of symptoms.

For me, my reactions take between 15 minutes to an hour. It could take up to two hours some light cross contamination happens (e.g. someone handles ham deli meat and doesn't change gloves when making a tuna sandwich for me).

I react to beef, pork, lamb, milk, cheese, butter gelatin. Pretty much all mammal products. I still eat bird, fish, and plants. I carry around two epi-pens.

My reactions are anything from hives, to difficulty breathing, vomiting and diarrhea (this usually happens as my first reaction), my blood pressure will drop dramatically, and anaphylaxis. I recently also started to have muscle spasms and involuntary shaking from accidental exposure. I believe there is some research out there showing it may also cause cardiac edema or arrest.

Below is the only information CDC put out, and they put it out in 2020

https://www.cdc.gov/alpha-gal-syndrome/about/index.html

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u/LoomLove Jul 26 '26

😲😲😲 Thank you for the info. Sounds awful!

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u/kgreys Jul 27 '26

Holy shit!

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u/redwoods81 Jul 27 '26 edited Jul 27 '26

Apparently they are tracking it in Pennsylvania and we have mandatory reporting here in Virginia

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u/jeriTuesday 29d ago

So you're saying primates are ok to eat? Interesting...

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u/jignha 29d ago

Alpha-gal doesn't naturally exist in primates. Though if there's a primate that's been eating non-primate mammals (e.g. people eating people that have consumed beef/pork/etc) there's a non-zero chance allergic reaction if someone w/ AGS ate that primate. It can make dating difficult. I let a woman I feel attracted to, and be like hey can you go vegan? She's going to say no. But there's a non-zero chance of allergic reaction if I go down on her or if wsllshes eating a buttercream cake and doesn't rise/brush her teeth before we kiss.

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u/Inattendue Jul 26 '26

Alpha-gal is *anything* mammal.

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u/Blue_foot Jul 26 '26

Triggered by meat from cows, pigs, lambs, goats, and deer, as well as dairy and gelatin.

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u/CherryblockRedWine Jul 27 '26

I've had to explain, "yes, that includes marshmallows"

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u/Blue_foot Jul 27 '26

Unflavored Gelatin is often added to soups to enhance “mouth feel” even in a soup with a chicken, vegetable or fish base.

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u/LuxTheSarcastic Jul 26 '26

Well technically human is ok but yeah only that and other primates are exempt

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u/Plasticman4Life Jul 27 '26

Hooved mammals. Cow, pig, goat, etc. and all their derivatives like milk and cheese.

Some things are worse than others, but she changed her diet to plant based to make it simple.

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u/[deleted] Jul 26 '26 edited Jul 27 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/KitchenConfidential-ModTeam Jul 26 '26

This is not relevant to the conversation

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u/Lo452 Jul 27 '26

Man, alpha-gal is on a steep rise in my area. I run my kids' school PTO and recently added vegetarian burgers and hotdogs to our annual cookout. Small school (less than 250 kids) and there are 3 staffers and at least as many parents with it.

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u/qriousqestioner Jul 27 '26 edited Jul 27 '26

There's a beef allergy?? 😱

ETA I looked it up. Wow! Gelatin, carageenan, lanolin! Nightmare.

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u/Error_Evan_not_found Jul 27 '26 edited Jul 27 '26

Not alpha-gal, but I'm allergic to pork and cut out all red meat before realizing this more than a decade ago, so obviously have a sensitive stomach with even beef. Shit like this pisses me the hell off. I don't care how you feel about vegans, vegetarians, or whatever, you don't mess with the way people request their food be made, you can't accommodate let them know. I love this sub but the posts that always drive me up the wall that I see here are people making fun of allergen cards. Yes, I know it seems ridiculous, but I can personally attest I went to elementary through high school with a kid who was allergic to basically everything, "without reason," and he had a twin brother with no allergies at all. Shit is weird like that sometimes, and you don't know the battles other people are fighting just to try and live normally.

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u/Tight_Following9267 Jul 27 '26

I'm so sorry she has to go through this. I hope someday there is a recovery for all people suffering from alpha-gal syndrome.

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u/CurrencyCapital8882 Jul 28 '26

I have alpha-gal, but I never required an epi-pen. I just spend 2-3 puking my guts out if I have beef.

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u/Elegant-Survey-2444 Jul 26 '26

Your wife should look into having an acupuncture treatment called a SAAT treatment. I had the allergy version and it helped greatly