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'Twas a dark and stormy night... no, just kidding.

My son Ted and I visited Western Sizzler the other day, needing food in
a pinch. I'd previously checked that the steaks were safely marinated,
and that the fries were fried in their own oil. Most of the rest of the
buffet, we took on faith and common sense. Western Sizzler doesn't have
a lot of safe looking options.

So Ted and I are sitting there, nibbling corn and salad and corn
tortillas and enjoying our steak and fries, and this young cook comes
out of the back room with a temperature probe. He sticks it into the
macaroni and cheese for a few seconds, shakes his head, and stirs the
mac and cheese with the probe. He sticks the probe in the beans for a
few seconds, stirs the beans around and, with a disbelieving look, puts
the probe back in the macaroni and cheese. After watching the gauge for
a minute, he restirs the macaroni and cheese, and sticks the probe into
the corn.

I start feeling a little sick. I point out to Ted what the man is doing,
and tell Ted we're going to have to leave. I'm digging for a tip for the
waitress as the young cook stirs the probe around in the corn.

Now, I'm not one to complain about things I feel aren't reasonable. I
didn't really feel it was reasonable to expect them to run their buffet
to meet my needs. But my son, ah, that's a different story.

My 3-1/2 year-old, full of confidence, tells the checkout lady in no
uncertain terms, "You put wheat in your corn! Why do dat?" He's so cute,
she pays attention. "What?" but she's a little hard of hearing and Ted's
hard to understand. I begin to translate as the assistant manager comes
along, listens and says, "What's wrong?"

After explaining it to her, she is shocked. She says, "Why even lactose
intolerant people would have trouble with that! Milk in the corn! I'll
speak to them in the kitchen..."

No point to this story, really, except to make you aware that there can
be things like this that happen, that you never see, and you'd never
guess. This won't keep me from eating at buffets, heck, I go out and
drive those death-on-wheels contraptions every day too. But I'll be a
little more cautious in the future, and if I do get sick from eating at
a buffet, I may have some idea of what happened.

Linda Blanchard
overworked in Midland TX USA
http://www2.basinlink.com/us/mindpla/main.htm
celiacs and science fiction