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Have food allergies, will travel
Traveling with food allergies must be hard.
Even in many countries in Europe, menus simply don't list all the ingredients used in meals. My Canadian friend went into an allergic shock in Prague because of his nuts allergy. He figured eating a sandwich would be safe. Of course, they didn't mention the sandwich had pesto in it. And pesto contains pine nuts...
And that's Prague, which is now fairly Westernized. Imagine what it must be like to travel in Asia, where not only do they use peanuts a lot more but it is much harder to read the menus and find people who speak English well enough.
This ABC article talks about traveling with allergies. It is about the challenges of a traveler with serious food allergies, who presents a card to the waiter noting his allergies to peanuts and peas, written in the native tongue. Sometimes it works, other times it doesn't. Some waiters even say that they have "never heard of such allergies."
I found it really interesting to read, although I don't have any allergies. How do you deal with food allergies when traveling?
Filed under: Food and Drink, Africa, Asia, Europe, North America, Oceania, South America
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Kimberly May 8th 2008 7:36AM
I don't have food allergies, but my traveling partner is allergic to crustaceans so I avoid them, too. It's probably easier to tell when something has shrimp than peanuts (or pine nuts), but there are still times when you just don't know - like with soups or dishes made with lots of different ingredients.
We employ 3 strategies and hope for the best: 1) avoid anything that looks suspiciously seafood-y, 2) try to learn at least some of the more common words (like shrimp, shellfish, and allergy) in the native language and write them down, and 3) always keep an EpiPen on hand in case the first two steps don't work.
It's not as fun to stick to what you know, but we still manage to try our share of new foods.
Linn May 9th 2008 12:03AM
I have a number of food allegies, but the worst part is that I am allergic to lots of medicine. Could anyone tell me where to get yourself checked for medicines allergies?
Thank you, I live in Indonesia, I am looking for anywhere close, to the most in Asia.
Linn May 9th 2008 5:21AM
I have a number of food allergies, but the worst part is that I am allergic to lots of medicine. Could anyone tell me where to get yourself checked for medicines allergies?
Thank you, I live in Indonesia, I am looking for anywhere close, to the most in Asia.