This article was brought to my attention by my Food Allergy Mom friend, Janeen. It has really angered me.

Most people have heard of Todd Wilbur who has made himself rich and famous for duplicating recipes from restaurants. He was recently interviewed and here was his last statement made…

“I ask a lot of questions, and these guys are willing to tell you a lot about what's in your food. On the "Oprah" show, I faked a food allergy to get the T.G.I. Friday's Jack Daniel's grill glaze ingredients.”

He has obviously upset a LOT of parents of food allergic children. Here are just some of the comments posted about this article…

“My son has several life threatening food allergies and I spend a lot of time contacting manufacturers, trying to find out if there is something in their products that would kill my child. I never understood why many manufacturers would ask for a doctor's note to release information on ingredients. After reading this article about Mr. Wilbur making a mockery of life threatening food allergies, I now know why it is so difficult to gather information to keep my child safe. This man should be ashamed of himself.”

“I find it in very poor taste that Mr. Wilbur bragged that he LIED about having a food allergy to turn a quick buck. Both my children have life threatening food allergies and because people make light of it and use it as an excuse to be underhanded then BRAG about it in the press, no one wants to take the statement "My child has food allergies could you tell me what is in this and how is it prepared in your kitchen?" I have to deal with these situations daily and because of the actions of people like Mr. Wilbur, restaurants and businesses are less likely to give me the information I need to make an informed decision about what I can or can not give my children.

To others this is just a cute ploy but to those of us trying to wade through the everyday life everyone else takes for granted just to keep our children from having potentially FATAL reactions to things as simple as food, its a slap in the face. I hope not just Mr. Wilbur but others will take this into consideration when they brag about LYING to profit or the next time the issue of food allergy is brought to your attention.”

“I have a son with life threatening food allergies. I have spent hours on the phone with companies making sure that the product won't kill my son.
This just makes it harder for me to get the information I need to keep my son alive and healthy.”

What a despicable thing to do. It is so hard as a parent of a food allergic child to be taken seriously. Society has a hard time grasping that food can kill. We need people to take this seriously and when public figures mock it, it makes our lives harder and our jobs of keeping our children safe, much more difficult. He did more than mock it; he showed a complete lack of respect for our children and us as parents. He ignored how dangerous food can be to those with food allergies. What he did was in poor taste and down-right despicable. And what’s worse, he did it for purely selfish reasons – money. It must be “nice” to live in a world where you can completely disregard others and make a joke out of the struggles we go through daily to keep our children safe.

I for one will never look twice at his book again! I'd love to burn it though!