Are you diagnosed to be an allergic to any food item? If yes then you might be thinking that you can never dine out hereafter. But don’t be sad. Even after your allergy is diagnosed you can very well dine out with your family and friends. Like others you can also visit restaurants as your stress busters. However you just need to be careful about some necessary things.
Harmful factors in food joints:
- The mistakes of the food joints in preparing their cuisines.
- Lack of awareness among the chefs about food allergies and the hidden allergens in the dishes.
- Cooking of food in shared utensils.
Following are certain necessary things to follow to enjoy dining out with wholesome satisfaction:
- Choose a good restaurant which is sensitive about food allergies. Ask other people who are allergic to suggest you about a restaurant. Your allergist or dietitian can also help you in that respect.
- Try to avoid or at least be careful in buffets. In buffets different food items are kept side by side and sometimes the same spoon is used for more than one dish. It causes the mixing up of food allergens to other food items.
- Do not shy away from asking questions about the food ingredients to your server to make your dinner safe and enjoyable.
- Order simple food so that you know what you are eating. Food made of several ingredients is always mysterious and you never know whether it contains your allergens.
- Use a chef card to avoid getting affected by allergens. A chef card is a personalized card in which you can communicate about your allergens and can request specific cooking methods and ingredients. By this you can also avoid the risk of cross contamination of utensils.
