Menu Ingredients

[Ninjatron]

Hello.

The is maybe perhaps slightly embarrassing. I don't want to make a big deal but if I don't at least ask then I've got no one to blame but myself.

I have recently been diagnosed with several food allergies. Nothing to a life-threatening degree, but the long story short is that I can no longer comfortably eat most human food.

TFcon this year will be the first time that I've traveled since the diagnosis. I have not even eaten at a restaurant. Hanging out in the hotel and being able to get a bite to eat there is a big part of the show, and I'm probably going to miss out on a lot of that now. I still don't know what I am going to do for food, but I figure there is no harm in asking if there was a way to find out what the special items on the menu might be and if I could see a list of ingredients. It would be helpful for planning and I'm sure it's a better solution than having to bother the staff at the hotel.

No entitlement here. Definitely not expecting anything special being made for me or anything like that. I would just, if possible, like to know what's in the food so I can be sure if there is anything I can eat there. Thanks.

Sayonara.

[Super_Megatron]

Email the convention.

[herooftheday316]

I have a colleague is allergic to a crazy list of stuff. To make things easier, he printed out a list on a business card size piece of paper, had it laminated and keeps it in his wallet.

In most cases you could hand that to a waiter and they can find out what is "ok" for you to eat.

You seem to be a little self conscious about the whole thing. Don't treat it like you are a leper or something. It is PERFECTLY ok for someone who has an allergy to try and avoid eating that thing. No one will (or should) judge you for that.

-Mike

[DuG]

I also have a very constricted diet due to intolerances. I have found it much easier to bring my own food to such events as I find it very hard to trust that the food service staff practice safe food handling procedures to ensure there is no cross contamination.

In also doing so I have found that I'm able to save more money to spend on the dealers floor.

[Stormrave]

As someone with a list of my own, I recommend you email the con as Super_Megatron said and outline what your concerns are.

Most restaurants are happy to tell you what's in the food and make recommendations, but you're wise because doing your research in advance is best.

From my experience, it's good to be specific. For example people presume I avoid dairy because of lactose and think it's ok to offer me something that's lactose free. It's not, because my problem is casein. Or they forget that cooking something in butter counts as "having dairy in it." So I say something like "I need to avoid dairy, can you recommend something that's dairy free and not cooked in butter?"

I always have some food that I can eat in my pockets at the con so I don't go hungry.

In a pinch, I've had tea at restaurants so I can hang out with my friends who are eating, and then I eat before or after. But hopefully your list isn't that restrictive (I feel for you if it is!)

ps even if it is, you damn well better be having water or something with us in the quest bar

Being sick at a con sucks and it's not "entitled" of you to want to stay healthy.

[Ninjatron]

Yes, I will definitely still be hanging out as much as possible. I just hope I won't have to starve to death while doing so. I'm not going to let this force me to miss out on any fun.

My list is unfortunately pretty extensive and I'm still getting a handle on it. It's my thought that I probably won't be able to eat much of anything, but it would be foolish if I didn't eat anything when there could have been something on the menu that would have been ok.

I'm going to have to bring something along with me but I can't really eat very much in the way of non-perishable pre-packaged products, so I might be hungry pretty often. Well, actually, I usually don't eat much at conventions as the body goes into its inhumanly conversational "con-mode", so whatever man.

Sayonara.

[JLvatron]

Sorry to hear this Ninja.
Good to see you're seeking info in advance. hopeful for some positive options.

[Sunstar]

I'm a cook/chef:

As a line cook, I would strongly suggest you get in contact with any restaurants or the quest in advance and see if they can accommodate you.

generally speaking if you have very serious dietary requirements most restaurants can better accommodate you with some advanced notice.

How this works, is if we know a few hours or a day or so before hand, we can actually produce food items with a greater chance of being hazard free. With that said, no restaurant can safely guarentee it being allergen free, because we cannot ensure that food coming in has not come in contact with any allergens.

Generally speaking, its less likely to stress out the cooks as well if they have advanced warning as opposed to someone coming in and having 10 food allergies (I have seen this happen and it halted the line during dinner service).

I strongly agree that you should print out what you are allergic too. Carry an epipen and keep it handy.

In rare cases we sometimes have to tell the guest we cannot safely accommodate them.

SO I would advise you to contact the hotel/restaurants see if they can work out a menu for you when you arrive. You will basically be limited to that menu, but at least then you should have some level of assurance that the food will be safe.

Edit: as far as lists of ingredients, this can be somewhat complicated depending on what was used to make a dish. For example someone cannot have lemons wanted a dish that had a salad dressing we made in house. Looking at the list we see - yes there is no lemons. However, if we go further and look at the ingredients of the ingredients we used. We find the mustard, that was used to emulsify the dressing actually contained lemon. I made it a point of knowing what items had what standard allergens in it. Basically a regular line cook may be oblivious to the fact that the dressing contained the smallest amount of lemon in it. but that tiny bit of lemon could send someone into a nightmare. Same with cutting boards. We do have marked cutting boards for different type of food items. One place I worked had a gluten free set, which was bright purple. Our procedure was to ditch our aprons, clean our work space, set up the board, the knives etc - prepare the food on that board and only gluten free food on that board. Again, it cannot be guaranteed. I am not trying to scare you but at least let you know what places usually do to accommodate.

What typically gets line cooks upset are those that are "allergic" to something - "but can have a little" Chances are is they dislike the food item in question and would rather it not be in their food. where this is not a problem, it tends to annoy cooks to no end, and when someone who has a real issue comes in, they might not be taken as seriously as they should. I have always been serious about the nature of food allergies, a little girl died of an unknown one at the local mall. Sad, tragic, really made me take a greater concern into researching allergies.

So get the list of ingredients, and sauces that are part of that dish need to have their ingredients looked into as well. This is why it is better to give advanced notice. If possible, call them now.

edit, what are you allergic to: PM me and maybe I could give some suggestions.

[Bruticus82]

Assuming you aren't allergic to fruit and veggies (and it sounds like your concerns so far have been focused on processed foods) bring some fruit and vegetables, maybe some nuts. They should keep for a few days, particularly fruits.

That way you can be a cool fruit ninja and just whip out an apple unexpectedly.

[Sunstar]

Originally Posted by Bruticus82

Assuming you aren't allergic to fruit and veggies (and it sounds like your concerns so far have been focused on processed foods) bring some fruit and vegetables, maybe some nuts. They should keep for a few days, particularly fruits.

That way you can be a cool fruit ninja and just whip out an apple unexpectedly.

that made me laugh <3

If I know what you can't have I can even try to bring something AWESOME that you can have. Unless peanut butter is the problem. My home is irrevocably contaminated with that stuff.