Food Allergy Kids of Atlanta have a very valuable page on their site that I wanted to share with you: Restaurant Advocacy! This link has great handouts that you can share with your local restaurant to help them better manage patrons with food allergies.
photo courtesy of Food Allergy Kids of Atlanta
As more and more children with food allergies grow up, eating out with friends and socializing increases. I remember when my son was younger, we ate out but he usually brought his own food. Mostly, since he was too young to articulate if he was having a food allergic reaction. Now that he is a teenager, he wants to eat out much more often and with his friends. We have complied a list of local restaurants where he can order food that is as safe as it can get. We’ve also created a list of what we call travel restaurants–chain restaurants that we can find around the country, such as In and Out Burger.
One of the hardest things I find about managing both life threatening food allergies and asthma is talking to others. I hate to be the one that might be perceived as demanding, pushing or for asking too much. What I now know, fourteen years later, is that honest, clear information presented with kindness works!..
Oooo! Sharing this! Great to know!
I have found that so many restaurants are clueless and that you have to ask a lot of questions. Though a lot of restaurants have allergen statements, they are incomplete and sometimes very flawed. For instance, a lot of them will say an item is soy-free that contains soy lecithin or soybean oil which is a problem for some with soy allergies, but you would never know unless you asked for an ingredient list (that information is not usually available on their hand-out allergy info.
Unfortunately, I also have had bad experiences with popular chain restaurants (fast food and not) when asking for more information about their food ingredients. They tend to get upset, thinking I’m asking because I’m being picky, not because it is a health issue. I can only imagine how hard it is for someone who is anaphylactic to certain foods trying to get the same info. Nightmare for sure, and I know a LOT of people who have just sworn off restaurants all together because of it, and I can’t say I blame them.
At any rate, this info is very helpful and I’m thrilled to share it! Thanks, Caroline!