Here we go again, I thought to myself as I fired off yet another long list of emails to confirmed dinner guests.

“Thank you for confirming your attendance at dinner next Wednesday evening.”

“Please let me know if you have any special dietary requirements.”

You see, in my line of work I have to ask that question every time I arrange a corporate dinner, lunch or event.

“No red meat please Janice.” Replied one.

“Mr Morrison can’t eat any food containing nuts.” Requested another.

“George can eat fish but not chicken or red meat.”

“Linda is strictly vegan.” The list of eating request seemed never ending.

“My aunt Jean is vegan but she still eats fish.” My pal Susan announced.

And I couldn’t quite work that one out but continued with my list of dining requests.

“Fiona is Pescatarian.” Was another reply.

“Pescawhat?” Mae had no clue how to even pronounce the word.

“Pescatarian.”

“It means that the person can only eat fish or shellfish, but not the flesh of any other animal.”

I explained to my bemused pals.

“Mr Bruce can eat anything except shellfish.” Was another request.

And I wondered if Mr Bruce still managed to devour the odd fish supper despite his refusal to eat shellfish.

And thereafter began a raucous and bemusing chit-chat with my pals about our food offerings, and refusals when we were young compared to nowadays.

“We were lucky to get fish fingers when we were growing up.” Chipped in Fiona.

“Never mind shellfish, although, when I was about ten years old I was introduced to my first ever Birds Eye Fillet of Fish in Batter.” She added.

“Which was really just a giant fish finger.”

“But we were never offered shellfish.”

“I ask you girls.” I started ranting to my pals.

“Can any of you remember anyone suffering from food allergies the way people seem to nowadays?”

“You’re right Janice.” Christine added.

“My sister-in-law is allergic to eggs and gluten.”

“And we didn’t even know what gluten was when we were growing up.”

“My brother is allergic to nuts.” Margaret confirmed.

“And whilst shopping in Marks and Spencer I lifted a packet of Brazil Nuts, and guess what it said on the back?”

“Caution, may contain nuts!”

We all laughed at the absurdity of the statement.

“Yes, and have you seen the selection of packets of seeds you can now buy to eat?” Margaret added.

“There are sesame seeds, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds.”

She barely drew breath.

“Poppy seeds, melon seeds, flax seeds….”

I decided to cut Margaret off mid-sentence as we would have been there all day.

“You’re right Margaret.”

“The only seeds I can remember having in the house was a box of Trill for Billy the budgie.”

Christine now seemed to be taking the conversation to another level.

“Well my dad used to take us for a treat once a month to the local chippie for a fish tea, and I can’t ever recall anyone saying ‘sorry but I’m allergic to fish so I’ll have a sausage supper instead’.

Fiona was on her high horse again.

“What did people do during the war?”

“Eh?” I wondered what the war had to do with food.

“I mean, did anyone ever say, sorry, but I can’t take home that much needed rationed block of cheese because my mum has a dairy allergy.”

“Nope”. She shook her head.

“Or, sorry, we’ll just leave that mouth-watering freshly baked loaf because my dad has an allergy to wheat.”

I had no answer so kept my mouth shut as Margaret ranted.

And although we were all aware of the serious consequences of food allergies, we couldn’t help but laugh at Margaret’s comical, but earnest take on the matter.

“I remember sitting till 9 o’clock one night staring at a bowl of cold soppy semolina because my mum was adamant I couldn’t leave the table until I had eaten it.”

“I had my dinner reheated the following night because my mum said it was a waste and that if I really tried it I would like it.” Piped up Mae.

We all agreed that we certainly didn’t have the choice of food years ago that we do nowadays, and perhaps that might be one tiny reason why we didn’t appear to have so many allergies.

“Could you imagine every going to your mum and saying, hi mum, I have a few special dietary requirements?”

The short sharp answer would have been.

“Well, there’s your dinner.”

“Take it or leave it.”