Food Allergy Cards

Being allergic to several foods presents a problem easily handled at home, but creates a life threatening situation when eating out. On a recent visit to an older child who resides in a far away land, food allergies were confronted at every meal when ordering in any restaurant. As waiter after waiter meticulously wrote down each allergy, one wondered if there was a better way, and there is.

Food allergy cards arrived last week that confront the problem head on. One side blatantly states the situation, and the other side lists all food allergies. Once seated in a restaurant, the plan is to hand one of the double-sided cards to the waiter, question him or her about food contents and food preparation methods, and then carefully order a meal. While this plan sounds good, only time will tell if it works better then the previous method: verbalizing the list of food allergies to a waiter looking at me in dismay, and hoping for the best.

On more then one occasion food was served that did indeed contain one of the allergen's the waiter had previously stated would not be in the food or in one case, in the restaurant. For example, olive oil is expensive so some restaurants cut it with sesame oil, which I learned in the emergency room of the local hospital from the ER nurse. It must be a common enough practice that nurses are aware of it, so now careful questions regarding the purity of the olive oil are added to the list of food allergies. Food servers don't know whether their olive oil is pure or a mixture and must ask the cook. With the food allergy card in hand, the chef will be more accurate in his or her reporting of food contents. Note: several restaurants do mix their olive oil with sesame oil or canola oil. Wouldn't it be good to know that before eating the salad? Hence, the food allergy card. Restaurants of America -- consider yourself put on notice.
Note: Yes, we always tip at least 20 percent, sometimes more.