If you believe that markets will fix everything, a claim you have made repeatedly, then you’re putting your faith in something just as magical as the notion of God. It’s one of the more confusing things about hardcore free-marketeers – many are aghast at religion, and then put all of their faith into the marketplace fixing all things. It doesn’t make any sense, unless you subscribe to the “our God is better than your God” sort of argument, which I don’t.

I have no religious obsession for anything. Not even religion. Why the constant refrain about those that disagree with you basing their arguments in faith? You might think that dismissing as mystical everything you can’t actually come with an argument against is clever… it’s not.

Also: Spitting?

Nick – That’s a good point, re: libertopia and legal disclaimers. And you’re right, asking what’s in the food doesn’t help if others foods have been contaminated by the nuts… I wasn’t responding directly to the article, but instead to Sam’s comment:

Also, warning people with deadly allergies that their triggers are in the food they’re about to consume?

Note he didn’t say “triggers might be in the food.”

The restaurant already had a warning on the menu that nuts were used in the kitchen, and therefore might be in any food. They were covered there.

If you’re worried that your dish might definitely contains nuts: ask. If you know you have an allergy, read the menu that states this food might be poisonous to you, and still eat it? Tough.

Love the website, even though I frequently disagree. You, though, are just spitting at anybody who dares to cross your religious obsession with the stupidity of people and the perfection of marketplaces.

Isn’t that how libertarianism works? Customer who thinks he was harmed by a product files civil lawsuit against the company rather than resorting to government legislation. Company responds to lawsuit by changing its practices, or not, depending on whether it thinks the disgruntled customer will harm the bottom line.

If I’m ever transported to an alternate earth in the multiverse, my first clue that I have landed in libertopia will probably be the plethora of legal disclaimers accompanying every transaction.

Note : the dish that made the customer sick did not contain nuts as an ingredient, so your initial suggestion to ask the staff what’s in the tandoori was not terribly useful.

A restaurant that actually prints the warning, even in excessive detail, would be helpful, I think.

The restaurant in question did print a warning:

Menus have also stated that all dishes may contain traces of nuts.

The lawsuit basically forced them to ask all customers if they have a nut allergy, and then personally hand them a card with a legal warning.

Yep. It’s much nicer to get a “Don’t try to eat here, God knows if we’ve gotten peanuts in your food” up front than a room-temperature-IQ drone telling me “No, I don’t think the peanut butter cookies would have any peanuts in them.” Some restaurants helpfully put up a sign to this effect, and that’s a good thing.

More like people with deadly allergies not bothering to bone up on the ingredients that they aren’t about to consume but which might be prepared in the same kitchen, perhaps using some of the same utensils.

I have friends with nut allergies, and playing 20 questions with clueless waiters can get pretty tiresome, not to mention the risk that the waiter’s knowledge may not be comprehensive. A restaurant that actually prints the warning, even in excessive detail, would be helpful, I think.

How can you possibly be a troll on a website you like?

How is somebody supposed to know what specific ingredients a restaurant is going to put in its food? Contrary to what you apparently believe, finding a recipe in a cookbook doesn’t guarantee that the restaurant visited uses the same recipe.

Meanwhile, markets do run on information. That you don’t believe in consumers having information makes me wonder how committed you are to markets. You’re definitely committed to sellers, but you don’t have nearly the same level of respect for consumers.

Yeah, it’s definitely a waste to sell something that consumers in the marketplace want to purchase…

I won’t rest until there’s a government mandated warning about the hops shortage on every package of Tom’s of Maine deodorant. After all, markets run on information, so let’s print every random fact we can think of on every box we sell crap in.

Also, warning people with deadly allergies that their triggers are in the food they’re about to consume? When will the government madness end?

People with deadly allergies not bothering to bone up on the ingredients in food before consuming it? When will the stupidity end?

Asking the staff what’s in the food before eating it. You could probably ask them how many calories it has, too. Christ, people are dumb.

What a waste.

chsw

What were they thinking by not using Barack’s voice? Didn’t they realize that I’m used to getting very real, personal text messages from my friends? Didn’t they know that even I thought that Barack really “got” this modern medium?

Dude, who doesn’t get the medium? This isn’t a text message from a friend. This was a broadcast message to thousands of interested people, and why would hiding things behind 1st person pronouns make it more authentic? Would he really then have believed that Obama himself sat and typed the thing out with his thumbs?

Also, didn’t they notice that the Hulk reboot wasn’t a huge blockbuster, at least not of Iron Man/Dark Knight proportions? Perhaps they should stick to telling new stories about existing characters, or new stories about new characters, rather than repeatedly starting over.