The White Moose Cafe in Dublin is no stranger to controversy, with its owner, Paul (“Paulie”) Stenson, embroiling himself in yet another social media scuffle. Not too long ago, he stated that any vegans who entered his cafe would be “shot dead at point blank range.” Now on his hit list are those who claim to be gluten-free without a medical diagnosis of celiac disease. [1]
Paulie’s rant of 3 September 2016 stated that he would no longer serve gluten-free food to anyone who lacked a doctor’s note. He stated:
“**DOCTOR’S NOTE REQUIRED TO GET GLUTEN-FREE FOOD**
This morning a girl asked us if we did gluten-free pancakes and when we asked her if she was a coeliac, she didn’t even know what the word meant and then proceeded to order regular, gluten-rich pancakes anyway.”
The viral post garnered over 40,000 reactions and 11,000 comments, some of them from people who were extremely offended by his tactics. One such poster wrote to Paulie, saying,
“My wife is a coeliac and your comments are extremely upsetting. You obviously do not know anything about the difficulties people with coeliac disease go through. Insisting they must carry proof of their illness is disgusting.”
The combative cafe owner didn’t seem phased by the complaint. He said that he’d go find his violin to play for him if the patron were upset.
Paulie followed up the post with another, dripping in sarcasm, telling his customers that he was joking about requiring a doctor’s note. However, he didn’t mince words when he discussed how annoyed he was with the gluten-free fad.
Some doctors suggest that going gluten-free may actually do more harm than good, especially when it comes to children. While the number of people going gluten-free continues to climb, the number of people who actually suffer from celiac disease remains at a steady number. [2]
Paulie insists that his (what many call) irreverent posts are actually driving up traffic to his 35-seat restaurant in North Dublin. In the past, not only has his social media targeted vegans, but he’s also threatened to give Valium to screaming babies who visit his establishment and to charge breastfeeding mothers a “corkage fee.” He feels his humor allows only fun-loving people in the door and weeds out the type of people he’d rather not associate with in the first place. [3]
Sources:
[1] Metro.co.uk
[2] Medical Express
[3] CNBC