Gluten free food doesn't look bad to me..........
ABC horribly portrayed a kiddo (Character Nathan Keen) who had to eat a gluten free diet. His parents decided that the whole family would eat gluten free. However, the parents couldn't cut it. They both cheated on the diet. They were consulting with another family on the show, the mother of that family also cheated on the diet. The food that they were serving to the poor kid on the show looked horrible and sounded horrible. Soyasagna (soy lasagna), banana paste on millet toast, and some kind of a pizza (can't remember what they called it) that came out of the pan in a dry crumbly glob.
There were funny parts to the show, but the parts that had to do with eating gluten free were horribly written. It was like they didn't even do research or consult with anyone who knew about eating gluten free.
The episode didn't sit well with me last night, but I thought I would think it over. However, this morning I didn't feel any differently. It was poorly written. They would not have made fun of diabetes, cancer, lupus, or anything else the way that they made fun of eating gluten free. Viewers would have been MAD! Well this viewer is unhappy, so I wrote a letter this morning and submitted it online. I don't think I will probably hear back from them, but I do feel that they need to know that people don't like being made fun of. They had an amazing opportunity to put a positive spin on gluten free, but it was probably MUCH easier to take it in a negative direction. They would have had to use a little more creativity and energy to write it positively.
Below I'm sharing my letter with you that I sent to ABC and I will also put a link to the episode just incase you missed it. If you feel so inclined, write your own letter to ABC and let them know how you feel about gluten free being put in the negative light. We fight so hard every day to break the exact stereotypes that this episode put out there. UGH!
-Jessica
My Letter:
November 30, 2011
Dear Producers of ABC's show Man Up,
Under normal circumstances I enjoy your show. However last night's episode "Disciplining the Keens" was less than wonderful.
I am a person who suffers from Celiac disease. I can not have wheat, rye, barley or oats. This of course means that I have to follow a gluten free diet.
I was very excited to learn that your episode was going to talk about gluten. I thought it would be a great opportunity to create awareness with a little humor. I sat down in front of my television to tune in. However, I was quickly disappointed in the way that your show portrayed eating gluten free.
The show seemed to make fun of people who eat gluten free. I'm not a big fan of people who make fun of others. I realize that you are a comedy show, however most of the jokes seemed to go past funny and straight on to mean.
You had misinformation in the episode. Did you guys even consult with anyone in the gluten free community before the episode was written? If you had, I don't think you would have made alot of the silly mistakes.
I hope that if you choose to continue any further episodes with the character of Nathan Keen eating gluten free that you will do some research. Eating gluten free is not horrible and terrible as portrayed in your episode. Eating gluten free can be challenging, but it isn't the death sentence that it was made up to be in your show.
I think it would be very cool for you to do an episode showing Nathan eating a table of yummy looking goodies, and his parents walk in to find him. They freak out thinking he "fell of the wagon", only to find that all of the amazing looking foods are gluten free!! Now THAT is an episode I would enjoy watching. It still has humor while showing gluten free in a positive light.
I hope that you continue to show Nathan eating gluten free in future episodes. I also hope that you do some further research so that Nathan's character can show gluten free eating in a positive way. I would hate to see the horrible stereotypes continue in future episodes. I will not be tuning in if the negative light continues. I know that many others in the gluten free community feel the same way.
Thank you for your time.
Sincerely,
Jessica
Here is a link to the episode just incase you didn't catch it last night:
Man Up Episode :Disciplining the Keens
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