French background....
Funny you mention this now, Spud!...I just sent this e-mail to my (fellow-celiac) sister the other day while talking about our dad who is in the hospital:
Hey Sis,
Many more factors...yes, quite possibly. There's a reason for everything. We do get impatient for answers NOW, though (at least, I know I do!) lol
Yeah, I'm sure you've also experienced listening to him belch on the phone. He has always had tremendous belch issues (from lack of proper digestion I'm sure) and I've told him that I used to too until I stopped combining proteins and starches. They require two different things in the stomach to digest and the stomach will not produce both digestive juices at the same time. Since protein requires acid, I told him if he must combine, at least take a bite out of the protein first, before anything else, so that the stomach produces acid, the stronger of the two digestive aids.
Heck, I still remember a scene from "Pretty Woman" where Gere's character tells Roberts' character that the salad should be eaten last, not first as it is in American restaurants.
It makes sense.
Something else always stood out for me. I remember years ago, when we lived in St Charles, when a boss of [hubby]'s took us (and others) to this really fancy French restaurant...it was their wedding reception dinner.
I can remember those days well. I always swelled up so bad after eating any meal, (much less a large one)...and this was going to be a "fancy" gluttenous (yes, I meant gluttenous, not glutenous, although gluten was definitely a big part of it) 7 or 9-course meal! I wore a loose-in-the-stomach dress.
Well, they kept those glutenous croissants flowing like water. Continuous endless supply. And I took one every single time the plate was passed around...Sis, I kid you not, they were huge and I ate at least 4 or 5 of them...with lots of real butter, too.
However, in between every single course, was a different wine as well! Every course had its own type of wine...even the dessert. The amazing thing about all that food, and all that wine, and all that gluten, including very rich desserts of which we could have as much as we wanted (and I did!) - was that I didn't feel one bit lousy after that meal.
I was absolutely flabbergasted. I felt terrific. No bloating. No discomfort. I still remember commenting to [hubby] about it afterwords. I was very satisfied and happy. No problems the next day, either. It was amazing. I was sure the next morning would find me writhing in pain. It didn't and I wasn't. It had to be all that enzyme-rich wine but I didn't even have a hangover - nor did I get tipsy the night before, either!
The French obviously know how to have their cake and eat it too. (Well, at least the old-school French master chefs, anyway...lol)