"He eats meat, but can't eat any processed meat."

[Flangelica]

If someone said this to you when you asked about dietary requirements for a child, would you think they were massively w*nky/snobby, or is it socially acceptable and fine?

I'd think it was perfectly reasonable and not at all wanky. It isn't clear whether it's an allergy or a preference but it's very easy to accommodate - just give them something vegetarian if you don't want to serve up unprocessed meat.

No processed? Tripe and liver is OK then

You're probably not making a serious suggestion, but lots of children won't have tried either of these foods, and the flavour and texture is so different to regular meat, that it could easily be wasted.

Plus tripe takes hours to cook.

Personally, I would have LOVED to be served liver when I was a kid, I thought it was fantastic

Not scary at all, is it? If your child was anaphylactic to nitrates you wouldn't casually say he doesn't eat processed meats and leave it at that. Use your loaf.

The posters who have said things like "all processed meat is shit anyway", are you talking about chicken nuggets, cheap sausages etc, or do you include things like sausages and bacon made by farmers/butchers with all natural ingredients, or farm cured ham?

Most farm and butchers sausages also contain nitrates, even if the meat is ethical/organic. Our local farm shop now sells nitrate free versions of both, apparently in line with demand.

I wish supermarkets would be quicker on the issue - M&S do nitrate free bacon etc now. It's relatively mainstream now.

Allergies, religious constraints, vegetarianism, and strong dislikes (my brother would gag if given fish when we were kids...something about the texture) should of course be conveyed.
But I wouldn't dream of expecting another parent to 'conform' to my own nutritional preferences for my child. The occasional meal of chicken nuggets and oven chips isn't the end of the world for any child.

I can eat beef, but certain beef cold cut sandwich meats (the processed kind) give me migraines. so its a real thing to not be able to eat processed meats

Wanky.

they’d get a boiled egg

You think wi-fi is carcinogenic?

Save us, the lunatics walk among us.

I’d break out the organic corn fed free range chicken breasts and send her the bill 🤣
or give them a jacket spud with beans!

By god, it’s a wonder we’re alive!

Favvi
It's really scary how many people here think it's "wanky" and assume it's not an allergy when it very well might be an allergy. Nitrate allergies can be anaphylactic.

I have a child who is gluten free so I mention this in case regular sausages are on the menu. (The expensive sausages are often gluten free anyway)

If your child is allergic to nitrates then wouldn't you phrase it like that then explain what kind of food that includes? Google says that there are fruit and vegetables that contain nitrates

Wouldn’t bother me but I might (mischievously) ask for ‘further clarification), ‘so, that’s no sausages, burgers, ham, pepperoni pizza, kebabs, chicken nuggets then?’

I would then serve either a roast chicken dinner or margarita pizza.

Are people aware that 80% of the nitrates and nitrites you eat are from fruit and veg and only 5% are from processed meats?

I'd just think they don't eat any processed meat, wouldn't think about it too much really.

I would assume the family avoid preservatives/overly salty food. I'd consider it a bit precious, but I wouldn't be particularly upset about it.

Are you seriously unaware that WHO says that eating processed meats such as bacon or ham that have nitrates in can be carcinogenic?! I mean, I doubt one bacon butty is going to give a child bowel cancer, but if you have bowel disease in your family, it's not stupid to avoid them.

Just give the little fucker cheese sandwiches and be done with it

Google says that there are fruit and vegetables that contain nitrates

It's different. Nitrates in meat products carry a significantly higher health risk. It's largely to do with the application of heat and protein reactions, leading to the formation of harmful nitrosamines.

Yeah, I know, that serves me right for listening to fringe cranks like the WHO.
www.who.int/news-room/questions-and-answers/item/cancer-carcinogenicity-of-the-consumption-of-red-meat-and-processed-meat

I'm not surprised to hear that the nitrates in vegetables and processed meat differ but if it's an allergy then it's best to phrase it that way.

Just give the little fucker cheese sandwiches and be done with it

You sound pretty uncivilised.

They may not know he’s got a nitrate allergy though. I have only realised that might be me reading this thread. I don’t eat cheap burgers and sausages. Learnt as a child not to. It’s very easy to avoid. I’d have done Pizza or baked potato or pasta.

I'd find it really hard to not be pedantic and say that butchering it and cooking it is processing it... I guess you could just plop a dead chicken on the plate and say bon appetit?

But I'm guessing this is the same sort of person that is afraid of 'chemicals' and ingredients they don't want to learn how to pronounce, so they wouldn't appreciate my pedantry.

Ok.
Oven chips and beans (no fish fingers allowed), Chocolate milk shake and Wotsits..?
Will that do?

I would assume because they said he can't eat it that he has an allergy to some kind of preservative or nitrites. I would check with them to make sure. If they said they just prefer him not to, depends how they said it on how I would take it. I would probably just make something like pasta.