Going to Restaurants with Food Allergies

Going to restaurants with food allergies can be one of the scariest experiences for someone with food allergies because they are trusting someone they don’t know to cook their food. For many people without food allergies, going out to eat is a common experience whether it be with friends, family, or teammates and they have to learn to find a way to go to a restaurant. It is a good idea to call ahead and ask if the restaurant can make accommodations for your food allergy. If they can’t, you might have to look for a different restaurant or you can always bring your own food. If the restaurant can make accommodations, then once you get to the restaurant it would be a good idea to first tell the waiter/waitress your food allergies and then ask to talk to the chef or the manager if you feel the need. You can carefully explain the precautions they need to make so that they can safely cook the food and then when the food comes out, I try to look at the food and see if I see anything that would look like it had any of my allergens in it. If you have any questions about the food, ask the questions! Then, I typically take a small bite of the food in case it does have an allergen and I will pay attention to if I feel a reaction coming on. If you feel good, enjoy your food and it’s always a good idea to make note of which restaurants are “safe” and accommodate well. Some resources to find restaurants that can accommodate are Spokin, or Facebook groups dedicated to allergy-friendly restaurants. Restaurants can feel like a scary place to be when you have food allergies, but it’s important to remember that if you feel uncomfortable with the food, you don’t have to eat it but try to enjoy the people you are with!

-Samantha

Cooking in College with Food Allergies

By Andrea Schmidt

Hi! My name is Andrea and I am a current senior at Johns Hopkins allergic to dairy, eggs, peanuts, most tree nuts, shellfish, kiwi, cumin, and some seeds (sesame, chia, and poppy). I have loved baking since I was young and have learned to cook in college. Over the years I have learned a lot about cooking for yourself away from home with food allergies when you have limited money, space, and equipment, so I am excited to share my experiences and tips for you all! Of course everyone will get food in college and as a young adult in different ways, and my experience is just one example.

Planning and Cooking Meals

In high school, I mostly ate cereal for breakfast and my mom went grocery shopping, packed my lunch for school, and planned and cooked dinner. It can be very weird to suddenly do all of this for yourself! In freshman year, I got on a sophomore meal plan with help from student disability services and dining, which meant I only went to the dining hall for dinner and used dining dollars for everything else. Although dining dollars could be used at a couple of places around campus, the only place that was safe for me was a little market that actually had some allergy-friendly options. While at first I just bought whatever I needed, after a couple of my friends were close to running out of dining dollars halfway through the semester I figured I should budget out the rest of my dining dollars. I made a weekly budget and it turned out to be enough! I ended up eating the same food a lot, but it was nice to have some go-to items I could count on.

Moving off campus, it was sometimes difficult to know how much food I needed to buy per week, how quickly foods would go bad, etc. This all gets easier with time! In junior year none of my friends had a car and the nearest grocery store was a 15 minute walk away. At my school you can also request a shuttle to the store. Because of the walk or shuttle, my roommates and I went grocery shopping about once every two weeks. Now in senior year, my roommate has a car and we go every week. I find it helpful to keep some basics stocked, plan out my breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks for the week, and make a grocery list. To keep planning more manageable, I plan options to eat throughout the week but I don't schedule each individual day. Since I pay for my own groceries, it has been frustrating at times to have to buy more expensive brands when they are the only option available to me because of allergies. I try to plan meals with items I can eat the usual versions of instead of having to buy a more expensive replacement, but sometimes I splurge on something like a Daiya cheesecake :)

For planning meals, I have a couple of recipe books and a spreadsheet of online recipes that I use often. I try to find new recipes too! I typically stick to recipes with ingredients I know I can use in multiple ways so I am not spending money on anything extra that I won't use later. This has been pretty easy for me to do since I am used to changing recipes to accommodate my allergies anyways. Typical meals and snacks for me include stir fry, wraps, avocado toast, pasta, smoothies, and hummus with pita chips or vegetables.

Cooking Equipment

In college, there is limited space to store your cooking equipment especially if your other roommates cook (mine do). This list may seem obvious, but I didn't realize I was missing some of the smaller items until I suddenly needed them. I was lucky to have a mini kitchen in my suite-style dorm in my freshman and sophomore years (which is a normal option at my school). It had very little cabinet space, a tiny sink, and a stove. Since I didn't have access to an oven unless I used the kitchen shared by the entire dorm, I used:

• A blender - I mainly use this for smoothies

• A pot and pan with a spoon and a spatula

• A microwave

• Measuring cups and measuring spoons

• Tupperware - this is essential for storing leftovers. I also used it to carry food around campus if I didn't have time to go back to my dorm for lunch or snacks.

• The usual - mugs, plates, bowls, forks, knives, spoons. I liked to use my mugs for microwave mug cakes!

• Although my suite had a shared mini-fridge as a part of the mini kitchen, I knew I would need more space for my food. I was able to bring my own mini-fridge and my roommates shared the other one.

• My roommate also brought this weird toaster oven/coffee maker combination. It was really helpful to have the toaster oven instead of a regular toaster, since I could share it with my other roommates and just use tinfoil under my food to prevent cross-contamination.

Junior year, I moved into an apartment with a real kitchen. Then, I was able to add more equipment:

• Sheet pans - I like to use a smaller sheet pan to make storage and cleaning easy and because I am only cooking for myself.

• An oven mitt

• A mini food processor - this is the most underrated piece of equipment I own. Food processors are useful for so many recipes. I always use mine for hummus, since I am allergic to sesame and have never found safe hummus at the store.

• A small cutting board

• Larger bowls

• Somehow I didn't get a can opener until junior year. I definitely recommend getting one sooner.

• I also have a few extra things for fun that are definitely not necessary… like a citrus juicer and a garlic press.

I hope this helps with planning how you will cook in college or as a young adult with food allergies! It has been really fun for me to experiment with cooking and try new recipes in college.

Dating with Food Allergies

So many situations have become more difficult as a result of the pandemic— dating was one of them. For me, however, dating had a few challenges before the pandemic, because of my allergies. It may be a while before dating is safer since many places to go are still closed, but until then, here are some dating tips and experiences I have for anyone with allergies.

The people I dated were very considerate about my allergies and always made sure to wash their hands whenever we did something together, especially if it involved eating. This would not have been the case if I hadn’t been clear and detailed when explaining my situation and what my allergies were. That brings us to tip #1: before you go on any date, make sure to tell your significant other exactly what your allergies are, and how severe they are! Personally, I think if someone is disrespectful about allergies that is a huge red flag. However, it’s hard to know if the person is going to be respectful or not, so I would recommend being gentle when explaining, since it can be hard for others to understand. Many people I have met in my lifetime always thought I was gluten free, and after learning that I always tried to explain to people I met as carefully as possible that I COULD have gluten. Also, tell the person you’re dating/ hope to date in the future that it’s ok to be confused! I think of allergies as an applied knowledge situation—rather than just memorizing my allergens which can be hard since I have so many, the people I dated learned what they were after context, including seeing what I had for lunch at school and what I asked to take off my burgers at a restaurant.

Speaking of restaurants, here’s our second tip. If you’re planning on going to a restaurant for a date, go to one you’ve already been to and/or are comfortable with. I usually try out new restaurants with my parents, since they’re a lot better at talking to managers and chefs about allergens than I am, and definitely better at this than my significant other would be. Unless the person and I had known each other for years, which for me was not the case. For you, it may be! But going to a restaurant you know and love for a date can take the stress off worrying about your allergies and take away your significant other’s stress too. You can focus more on the person, and not frantically figuring out what options the menu has. A few times, I went to restaurants for the first time with friends, and I definitely feel like I was too focused on the menu and what I was going to eat rather than actually interacting with my friends. This can be easy to fix on dates, if you just go to a restaurant you like!

My third and final tip is related to the second one, and for each person it really depends on level of comfort. For my third tip, I would recommend not going on any food-involved dates until there has been a large amount of trust built between you and your significant other, OR you are comfortable with where you are going and what you are eating, Of course it’s different in the pandemic and I’m honestly not sure what people have done for dates since March 2020 came around and we had to quarantine for a bit, but movie dates or carnival dates are always fun. Both of these places usually involve food unless you choose not to buy any (personally, I loved getting Twizzlers at the movie theatre back when I could go), but at least you know that this type of food is relatively simple, rather than complex meals created at restaurants. I would suggest doing a first date at one of these places, and it will be a great stress reliever!

Best of luck to everyone! I hope these tips come in handy.

-Lindsay Lopez