I’ve had the conversation hundreds of times. “Do you know if the hamburger bun has eggs in it, I am allergic to eggs” i’ll say when ordering. “The bun is gluten free” the waiter replies. What?!?
That’s not even close to the same thing, but you wouldn’t believe how many times that has happened. After reading through many different allergy food blogs, I know i’m not the only one this happens to.
I was in New York City visiting family and we decided to go out to dinner. I asked the waiter about the bread on the BLT. Once again I received the, “Oh i’m not sure, but we do have gluten free options.” I took a deep breath and replied that it doesn’t matter if it’s gluten free or not, I’m allergic to eggs. “Oooh, ok. Well I’ll go check,” was her response. She came back and said no egg in the bread!
Or so we thought.
When the sandwich came it looked great, and I started eating. I was three or four bites in and I realized something wasn’t right. My throat and back were getting itchy, and my lips were starting swell. My parents didn’t even have to ask what was wrong, they could tell by just my expression. I quickly took benadryl and we had the epipen ready, although lucky the benedryl was enough. I’ve been in that situation one too many times, and it can be really scary. My dad ran over to the waiter and the manager and told them what was happening. They apologized profusely and took the sandwich off the bill. In the end who knows if the waiter really checked the bread, or she if she made a mistake, or what happened, but that could have been life or death. Sometimes I dont think waiters understand the importance that they need to be correct in what they say, especially with allergies.
Restaurants aren’t all bad though. Sure you run into some bad waiters more often than not, but every once in awhile you get some great service. I’ve had waiter tell me that they too are allergic to eggs, and they will tell me what they like to get at the restaurant. We’ve even had the manager come to our table to check up on us and make sure everything was working out. Especially at places like Disney World, the staff is incredible with allergies. I’ve had them make something that wasn’t even on the menu so that I could have a meal close to what I originally wanted.
Service like this is so heartwarming and kind that most of the time, it can make up for the bad experiences elsewhere.
Food Allergy Eats 