Ali Khan Just Won This Prestigious Award
On April 23, chef and TV personality Ali Khan shared some pretty exciting news on Twitter. He and organization FARE (Food Allergy Research & Education) — co-creators behind "That Take Out Show with Ali Khan" – were honored with a Gold title at the 2021 Hermes Creative Awards for the unique program. As the website explains, these awards celebrate messengers in the information age that best use their creativity and resourcefulness to present new ideas.
Which is exactly what happens on "That Take Out Show with Ali Khan." The premise of the series is that ordering takeout presents difficulties for people with specific food allergies. In the videos, which can be found on FARE's Living Teal Channel (also on YouTube), Khan gives helpful advice such as asking restaurants whether certain menu items contain potentially harmful ingredients, types of substitutions you can ask for while dining out, and more, per FARE. In his usual casual manner, Khan presents videos that cover how to best order and enjoy burgers, tacos, pizza, and Indian food.
Food allergies have been on the rise
In 2020, the BBC reported that, between 1993 and 2006, the US saw a threefold increase in hospital visits due to anaphylactic shock. While some experts in the article say that the appearance of increased food allergies is merely due to us noticing them more, others suggest that our homes are now devoid of the microbes we evolved with, meaning our immune systems do not have the help they used to for engaging with foreign substances.
A study published in News Medical Life Sciences offered two other major theories. The first is that parents have started delaying introducing new foods out of a fear that their child may have an allergic reaction, which ironically promotes reactions because the child's body does not grow used to the substance. The other points to the fact that we spend more time indoors and, as such, have lower levels of vitamin D (derived from sun exposure), which helps regulate the immune system. Ultimately, there's not one concrete reason, but as we learn more, at least we have helpful shows like the now award-winning "That Take Out Show with Ali Khan" to guide us through it all.