Teen Makes Eating out With Food Allergies a Little "EZier"

Eating out with Food Allergies

I first wrote about 16-year-old Emily in July 2009. At the time, the industrious 13-year-old had launched EZgreetings and was donating a portion of her proceeds to food allergy research. 


Emily is at it again with a new site in her EZnetwork. This one is designed to help people with food allergies navigate restaurant menus. EZeatings provides links to over 50 (and counting) restaurant menus. Whether at home or on the road, finding ingredient information from major chain restaurants just got a whole lot easier.


Check out Emily's new site, and use the "Expand EZeatings" tab to recommend more restaurant menus, or to find a letter you can use to ask favorite restaurants to provide important ingredient and allergen information. 


You can also "EZily" find EZeatings in the resource section of Food Allergy Assistant. When eating out, always be sure to make the restaurant staff aware of your allergens and confirm ingredients and preparation techniques with the manager or chef. EZeatings, combined with direct communication, will go along way in making restaurant dining more palatable for people with food allergies. 

McDonald's and Food Allergies: A Few Fast Food Tips

McDonald's Hamburgers and Dairy Allergy

I've mentioned in the past that McDonald's has become our go-to restaurant when we're traveling or otherwise on the go. We stopped there last week and I wanted to share our experience:

Us to cashier: "We'd like two hamburgers, but our son is very allergic to milk and eggs so please ask the person making the burgers to change their gloves and use clean utensils. Please make sure they don't touch anything like cheese while making the burgers."

Cashier: "Certainly"

Cashier turns toward food prep area.

"GRILL CREW," (all McDonald's employees in the vicinity stop what they are doing and turn to her- including the guy mopping the floor) "WE'VE GOT A FOOD ALLERGY! CHANGE YOUR GLOVES AND DON'T TOUCH ANY CHEESE!"

It was like an airport lock-down.

Cashier, turning back to us says sweetly: "Will that be everything?"

She then positioned herself to watch her grill crew make those burgers. We all saw both employees change their gloves (even though only one of them actually prepared our food) and pointedly concentrate on the task at hand. The openness of the kitchen area allows everyone to see exactly what is going on (This came in handy a few weeks ago when we were traveling and I had to alert a McDonald's manager that an employee grabbed a slice of cheese and hurriedly put it down to continue making our burgers. The manager apologized and re-made the burgers.).

Here are a few tips we've learned about ordering at fast food restaurants:

• Avoid the drive-through.
• Try to arrive at less busy times.
• Be clear about the food allergies and what you need for them to do.
• Model a consistent dialogue and tone knowing that your child will eventually need to order for him/her self
• Watch the food preparation.
• Don't hesitate to alert the manager if you are uncomfortable with anything you've seen.
• Thank the employees for their extra efforts.

Remember to check out Allergy Eats to find and rate restaurants. The more ratings, the more helpful the information will be. Happy dining!

Restaurants Benefit by Being Food Allergy Friendly

I love this article where Allergy Eats founder, Paul Antico explores how much it's worth for restaurants to cater to those with food allergies. He's got it right on the money. Our family would frequent an allergy friendly restaurant and would avoid those restaurants with an allergy unfriendly attitude. Eating establishments can take small steps that would put those with food allergies at ease.

I think it's funny that when travelling, our most comfortable eating spot is McDonald's. Our dairy, egg, peanut and tree nut allergic child can have a regular hamburger, apple slices and a drink. We explain the situation to the cashier (or manager if we can't identify an allergy-friendly cashier). Most of the time, the manager or cashier will decide they will just make his meal. Other times they go back and explain to the "cook" that we need to have hands freshly washed (or new gloves put on) and for nothing else to be touched while the burger is being made. We can also see and hear what's going on, which is another comforting feature of McDonald's.

So truly, if McDonald's can take the extra steps to ensure a safe experience, surely other restaurants can too!