Nut allergy

emmsie123

You can get a blood test done at doctors now for allergies. It's called an ige rast test.
I have asthma not anaphalaxis.
My initial allergy tests came back sky high, so there now testing for individual things.

persa

gregg1 wrote: »

Why do people never take responsibility these days?!

if you know you have an allergy or intolerance it is 100% your responsibility to ensure you have made every effort to protect yourself. This includes phoning a venue BEFORE you eat the food to find out if they cater to your requirements. Not just taking a chance on asking a waitress on the night! A few minutes on the phone is all it would have taken.

Of course the OP was rather negligent in not doing that. And it's Rather melodramatic to say it's "disgusting" for anyone to suggest that is the case.

I don't understand how phoning in advance is safer to asking a member of staff on the night, who will have been briefed by the kitchen on what the dishes are, and who can double check with the kitchen if unsure. The exact dish may change from phoning to serving due to availability of ingredients - personally, I think it's safer to ask when actually in the restaurant as you'll get the most up-to-date account.

I wouldn't eat in a restaurant where the kitchen and front of house didn't have any idea what they were serving. I don't understand why anyone would - if the staff are that clueless, the food is bound to be poor.

I don't think it is melodramatic. Living with allergies is hard enough without being attacked in the way the majority of posters have gone after the OP.

Poppie68 wrote: »

It's not disgusting to expect someone to take reasonable steps to help themselves, for something as potentially dangerous as a nut allergy surely you don't nonchalantly ask a waitress when you are sat down.

Reasonable steps are asking a waitress what's in the food. Front of house should know what they're serving.

Poppie68 wrote: »

The OP didn't even check the menu out on the website until after the incident, if they had they would of seen the meal contained nuts.
I'm baffled why a veggie, nut allergy diner wouldn't check before the event because what was the op going to eat if the waitress had say 'yes there are nuts in it'.?

I'll concede, you do have a point here. At this time of year, many places roll out a nut roast or similar as the default veggie main.

hollydays wrote: »

Useful advice here. If us posters are coming across as blaming the op, that's obviously not right, as they did have a nasty experience. It is looking like the op has self diagnosed , and she could have more than one allergy.

. I for one feel quite frightened for the op at her laissez faire approach.

Well, it does sound like everyone is blaming the OP and that's a real shame, because as you said, the OP has had a nasty experience. A mistake was made by the member of staff the OP spoke to - that's not the OP's fault.

With that said, it was an accident rather than a deliberate attempt to poison the OP, so I'd accept an apology and move on rather than seek compensation!

melanzana

Did these allergies always exist?

What did our parents and forebears do I wonder.

Seems to be a "new" thing. But then again maybe nuts and restaurants were not around years ago. But they were.

Anaphylaxis is life threatening. Other than that I think a lot of these intolerances and gluten free (Coeliac excepted) are fashionable, and while they may cause discomfort, they are not supposed to make restaurants responsible for fads either.

pendragon_arther

daytona0 wrote: »

I'm not going to take the jerk route on this occasion, but I will just comment that your use of commas made it a difficult post to comprehend!

Blackbeard_of_Perranporth wrote: »

BoP will now explain for the hard of reading.

OP restricts the foods she can eat: because they are a veggie OP also suffers allegedly from a nut allergy. OP was invited out for Christmas: lunch thing it is the time of year OP asked waitress: whether nuts were used on the beans and toast option.

Later the same evening OP suffered a reaction so: bad they could only drink water and had severe scratching as well. Later OP found original flyer saying veg option was not: beans on toast but some mushroom tart topped with spinach, French cheese and crushed nuts.

Compensation amounting to a free night has been offered to OP.

Unfortunately it is not known whether an optician is required to: correct reading difficulties.

Moral.

If your lifestyle restricts your wants: and needs make doubly sure that places you frequent, that you are aware of your imposed limits.

It's now amended.

Poppie68

persa wrote: »

I don't understand how phoning in advance is safer to asking a member of staff on the night, who will have been briefed by the kitchen on what the dishes are, and who can double check with the kitchen if unsure.

The exact dish may change from phoning to serving due to availability of ingredients - personally, I think it's safer to ask when actually in the restaurant as you'll get the most up-to-date account, plus other items on the plate could of contained a dressing or cooking oil with a nut element.

I wouldn't eat in a restaurant where the kitchen and front of house didn't have any idea what they were serving. I don't understand why anyone would - if the staff are that clueless, the food is bound to be poor.

I don't think it is melodramatic. Living with allergies is hard enough without being attacked in the way the majority of posters have gone after the OP.





If you call before hand or even ask the person who makes the booking to mention/ask about the exact ingredients, and this puts the Chef on notice. Follow it up on arrival by at least checking the menu, which if the op had done she would of seen the meal was advertised with being topped with nuts.
Some may think it's overkill or ' shouldn't have to' but surely as a nut allergy can kill why wouldn't you do more than just ask the waitress at the table after you've already ordered it?

I'm not saying the waitress shouldn't know but the op just took near enough no steps to keep herself safe...It's her responsibility no one else's, and to top it all off , she doesn't carry any type of medication for a life threatening condition.

Poppie68

hollydays wrote: »

Useful advice here. If us posters are coming across as blaming the op, that's obviously not right, as they did have a nasty experience. It is looking like the op has self diagnosed , and she could have more than one allergy.

. I for one feel quite frightened for the op at her laissez faire approach.

If she was my daughter I'd tell her she had had a close shave but had been rather silly. I'd suggest she contact the hotel and ask for an explaination of exactly WHY the waiting staff were not aware of this, quoting the law the previous poster mentioned.
As I already said, get an exact list if what was in the meal-including whether the oils used were refined or unrefined and brand names.

At that point I'd be better able to decide whether to take up the hotels offer. I wouldn't let them off lightly.
Personally if it were a member of my family I'd go along with her and ask to see the exact products in the kitchen used so I could examine the label .

Hollydays, she never told them she had an allergy to nuts, she asked if the tart had nuts in.. She had no interest in any oils etc just the tart.

hollydays

Poppie68 wrote: »

Hollydays, she never told them she had an allergy to nuts, she asked if the tart had nuts in.. She had no interest in any oils etc just the tart.

Yes I do understand that. The point I was making was that in the future she needs to know what foods she could react to, and it's possible there were other items in the food . It's a prime opportunity to find out what was in that meal, in case it wasn't just the hazelnuts.

emmsie123

https://www.allergyuk.org/what-is-food-allergy/what-is-food-allergy

cookie365

melanzana wrote: »

Did these allergies always exist?

What did our parents and forebears do I wonder.

Seems to be a "new" thing. But then again maybe nuts and restaurants were not around years ago. But they were.

Anaphylaxis is life threatening. Other than that I think a lot of these intolerances and gluten free (Coeliac excepted) are fashionable, and while they may cause discomfort, they are not supposed to make restaurants responsible for fads either.

Our homo erectus forebears had an average height of between 4 and 5 feet. Just because they weren't any taller then doesn't mean that people who claim to be taller now are imagining it. Genes change, environments change. What matters is what allergies people have now.

Having said that, I'm sure people did have food allergies back in the day. They probably weren't alergic to anything for very long though, what with no antihistamines.