We went to a nice hotel restaurant for breakfast over the weekend, and I pulled out a Food Allergy Initiative restaurant card and gave it to the waitress. It says very clearly that my son has a life-threatening allergy to nuts and nut oils, and that he can't eat food that contains them or that may be cross-contaminated with them. We ordered scrambled eggs for my son, and she wrote it down. Then, right before leaving, she said, "Well, I guess the chef can maybe make the eggs with olive oil or something." We asked what oil he normally used, and she said, "I'm pretty sure he uses peanut oil." (She had no intention of checking this for us. She also refused to take the card to give it to the chef.) When I pointed out that the chef would need to use a different pan for my DS's eggs, she said that he always uses the same pan, but would just splash in a little olive oil instead of peanut for my son's eggs. I asked if he could at least wash it or something before making my son's eggs, and she gave me a blank look like I was nuts.
She then pointed out that we could just have our kids eat free at the buffet, which had scrambled eggs. We asked if the eggs there would have been made with peanut oil, too, and she said yes.
We changed his order to plain toast with butter. She brought us a lovely multi-grain bread with all kinds of seeds and nuts in it, so we had to send it back.
WHAT PART OF "LIFE-THREATENING ALLERGY" IS UNCLEAR TO THESE PEOPLE? And what can I do (short of having my DS eat the stuff and react in front of her, which obviously isn't an option) to make it more clear?
How frustrating for you. I find there is little to trust in restaurants. We simply do not know any of the brands of products they use, like we do at home, never mind the cooking conditions and stuff flying around a kitchen. To top if off, you have to place your trust blindly in a total stranger who is very busy serving lots of others, at best, could care less at worst! I find it frightening, and simply have never ordered my child a meal since understanding cross contamination risks. Sorry for your experience.
Did you point out to her that bread could kill your child?
On a positive note, I was at a restaurant yesterday, where I was so pleased wtih the awareness. However, we still did not order anything but a lemonade, since the only thing I considered for even a split second(knowing my dd would not touch it anyway), was chicken fingers, and the waiter said she was pretty sure that was a "no go" for PA, and she would ask the chef. She ofered information, after I basically informed her I had brought my dd's own food due to allergies. She nicely asked what allergies, said they were very infomed, for future reference, and would even check with the chef to be sure the lemonade would be safe, since, "You just never know!"
It sucks that they use peanut oil, but at least they had a good clue to keep us safe fron it. becca