1st time posting

Happy to see you post. DD was diagnosed in May also. I lurked for a while too (not too long) and then joined in. I've learned quite a bit here.

Now, what was the complaint? I searched, but didn't find any. Hope everything is O.K.

Oh, I calmed down a bit and didn't end up posting my complaint, but here it is.

My son has been invited to a birthday party Saturday. On the invite it says that pizza and Thai food will be served. The parents of the child own a Thai restaurant, and once I heard this, I thought they would be aware of food allergies. I was so wrong! I called the parents to RSVP and find out more about their plans for food, where the pizza will be coming from, etc. I told him that Thai and chinese food were on our list of food to avoid - doctors orders. He told me several times that it is a myth that Thai food has a lot of nuts in it, and that I shouldn't be concerned. I told him not to worry, we probably wouldn't eat there, and if we did, we'd likely bring our own food. He then told me that we didn't want to miss out on the cake - it would be from a Chinese bakery and is much better than most bakery cakes. I was floored. Why would we want to eat from a Chinese bakery, when we have been told to avoid all Asian food establishments?! He totally did not take my concerns seriously, but what really bothered me was that he is a restaurant owner and so ignorant! We would never take our son to his Thai restaurant anyway, but I just wish restaurant owners were obligated to have a clue about food allergies.

Whew! That felt better!

I'm sorry. It can be very stressful.

I think it's great when people do understand food allergies, but I don't think it happens all that often. People still think,"hmmm...allergy---oh yeah--sneezing, watery eyes, yup got it." Then you get some people who think the whole issue is "hyped up" and that it can't really be that bad.

I'm glad you vented and I'm glad you feel better [img]http://uumor.pair.com/nutalle2/peanutallergy/smile.gif[/img] Hopefully the next person you encounter will understand a little better. If not, come here and vent! There is always someone willing to listen.

I'm sorry that you were so frustrated with your conversation with him. Most people don't understand that even a trace amount of peanut can be lethal.

However, if I can come to this person's defense a little bit, Chinese bakeries don't generally have peanuts in their products. We eat Chinese cake from Chinese bakeries all the time. There's only one cake we're wary about, which is the Chestnut cake. So that's probably why he didn't think twice to mention the Chinese cake.

Of course, he just probably doesn't understand your comfort zone, and it's understandable to be afraid of any food that you didn't prepare yourself.

Elaine