What’s a fuckwitarian, you say? Craig Millar calls out adopters of fad diets

Chef Craig Millar came under fire on social media this week after criticising the adopters of fashionable diets, calling them ‘fuckwitarians.’

The chef owner of 16 West End in Fife tweeted that he had enjoyed a food service with no special dietary requests, joking that he was going to apply to make it a national holiday:

We actually just did a full service with no dietaries it was like the 90’s all over again when the words pescatarian, flexitarian and fuckwitarian didn’t exist and the only allergies were hay fever! I’m now going to petition to have 6th April a national chefs holiday ????????‍????????????????
— Craig Millar (@craigcmillar) April 6, 2019

We spoke to Craig to understand his point of view.

Despite the outrage precipitated by his tweet, alleging that he was anti-allergy, anti-vegetarian or anti-vegan, he clarified that his problem is with customers who don’t consider how much work goes into creating tasting menus that account for dietary requirements.

He said:"It was mainly the people turning up and saying 'I'm a vegan' and so we'd do a complete tasting menu for a vegan person, and they'd get here and go 'oh, you've got turbot on the menu, we'll have that.' And we'd go 'hang on a minute we thought you were vegan, we've just done a whole menu for that' - and they'd say 'well, we are sometimes, we're not going to be vegan tonight' - that is what I'd class as a fuckwitarian."

"Genuine allergies I obviously don't have a problem with, but you'd get people who'd claim to be lactose intolerant, so we'd do an entirely dairy-free tasting menu with no butter or cream, and then they'd order a cappuccino."

Craig stopped short of calling customers out for being disingenuous, calling it a case of 'too many fad diets.'

He said: "People saying they're going to be a vegan this week, or that they’re not going to eat potatoes today."

"I don't think they appreciate how hard it is to get your menu and mise en place done up - you do a complete menu and then they decide not to have it after all. It's frustrating."

In these challenging times…

The Staff Canteen team are taking a different approach to keeping our website independent and delivering content free from commercial influence. Our Editorial team have a critical role to play in informing and supporting our audience in a balanced way. We would never put up a paywall – The Staff Canteen is open to all and we want to keep bringing you the content you want; more from younger chefs, more on mental health, more tips and industry knowledge, more recipes and more videos. We need your support right now, more than ever, to keep The Staff Canteen active. Without your financial contributions this would not be possible.

Over the last 16 years, The Staff Canteen has built what has become the go-to platform for chefs and hospitality professionals. As members and visitors, your daily support has made The Staff Canteen what it is today. Our features and videos from the world’s biggest name chefs are something we are proud of. We have over 560,000 followers across Facebook, X, Instagram, YouTube and other social channels, each connecting with chefs across the world. Our editorial and social media team are creating and delivering engaging content every day, to support you and the whole sector - we want to do more for you.

A single coffee is more than £2, a beer is £4.50 and a large glass of wine can be £6 or more.

Support The Staff Canteen from as little as £1 today. Thank you.