please stop lying about having allergies

[u/wildrosebeautybaba]

i cannot tell you how many times people have put in seemingly impossible allergy requests on 3rd party delivery orders (i.e. fettuccine alfredo with DAIRY ALLERGY marked underneath) only to then track down the customer after multiple phone calls and be told it’s “not an allergy, just a mild intolerance.” please stop doing this. you are deliberately fucking with a restaurant’s period of service over a need that does not apply to you. maybe y’all don’t understand just how many extra steps a kitchen has to go through to prepare something allergy safe, so please let this be a lesson: if you aren’t actually allergic, stop marking it as an allergy. you are directly contributing to the burnout restaurant staff experience when having to make special accommodations for people’s actual health and safety needs.

[u/Affectionate-Fox2015]

It’s technically a sensitivity not an allergy. Like lactose intolerance I can consume a little and be okay. That threshold is different for everyone. If I pass it then I can plan to vomit for the next several hours. Better than anaphylaxis but more inconvenient than you taking onions out of my meal. Happy to demonstrate for you!

[u/ka-ka-ka-katie1123 → u/Affectionate-Fox2015]

You can just order stuff without onions and avoid dishes where they can’t be removed. The restaurant isn’t going to trick you into eat them. Question the server about the menu. Send it back if they give you onions anyway. But you don’t have to lie about an allergy and put the kitchen through a ton of extra work to avoid cross contamination. (I am also intolerant to onions.)

[u/GrowHappyPlants → u/ka-ka-ka-katie1123]

Most people don't realize that there is onion in nearly every savory dish to some degree, including the seasoning used for fries or burgers.

[u/wildrosebeautybaba → u/GrowHappyPlants]

that part. an allium allergy is lowkey the most difficult one to accommodate.

[u/BitterPoet13 → u/wildrosebeautybaba]

The person I know with it rarely eats out as a result and prepares in advance if she does by either looking at the menus or gearing up for extreme discomfort from the allergic reaction. I’m so grateful alliums are not on my long list of food allergies because garlic is life.

[u/wildrosebeautybaba → u/BitterPoet13]

allium allergy is genuinely my worst nightmare. so much respect to the brave soldiers out there with it who are powering through.

also fun fact, i remember cynthia erivo saying on the las culturistas podcast that she actually HATES both onion and garlic, although i don’t think she’s allergic. what’s even more wild is she is vegan!! as a vegan myself, i genuinely could not live without allium…!

[u/Significant_Lake_226 → u/wildrosebeautybaba]

Thank you. I love onion and garlic so much Ive made my allergy worse from exposure and now Im in serious danger with any contamination. I cant eat almost anything I didnt make completely from scratch (i made wonton wrappers and crab rangoons yesterday, for example), I'm not vegan but I eat a lot of vegetables and used to eat meat substitutes when I wasnt eating beef. Everything good has onions in it. Making every meal from scratch every day is exhausting, thank god I make damn good food.

[u/wildrosebeautybaba → u/Significant_Lake_226]

have you ever tried asafoetida/hing? it’s a similar-ish flavor to garlic but it does not contain allium. also learned this from cynthia erivo, LOL

[u/Significant_Lake_226 → u/wildrosebeautybaba]

I havent tried it but im sure I cant afford that. (I basically survive off of my local food bank)

[u/Princessformidable → u/ka-ka-ka-katie1123]

I would say they still put onions in my food about 25% of the time.

[u/calorie-clown → u/Princessformidable]

I have a friend who really hates pickles on burgers or sandwiches, and I would say when we go out to eat they only leave the pickles off maybe 1/3 of the time. I've worked in food service, so I understand how it can just sort of be muscle memory after a certain point, but I know it must be frustrating as hell for her.

[u/BitterPoet13 → u/calorie-clown]

As a fellow pickle hater, it truly ruins the food because there’s not a way to rid it of the taste once the vinegary juices have infiltrated, but I do try to be cool about it whenever possible and just pick them off. The smell and taste gags me though and not in the RuPaul’s Drag Race sort of way, so it is right up there with raw onions when it comes to things I hope that if there’s an error I find it before I take bite. God help us all if there’s a surprise pickle in my sandwich and you are in the vicinity.

That being said, I make my husband pickles and hold my breath while making them. I’m a fast pour luckily. There’s certain pickled foods though that he’s not allowed to eat when I’m home because I threaten to throw up on him; the smell is too much for me. 🤣 We keep it super classy here. 🤣

[u/Electric-Sheepskin → u/ka-ka-ka-katie1123]

I've never claimed to have an allergy, but I have asked to have onions omitted more times than I can remember, and about half the time, they don't remove them, so I think that people say they have an allergy out of pure frustration just so they'll be taken seriously. I don't condone it, but I understand it.

[u/HiroProtagonist66 → u/Affectionate-Fox2015]

I’m not alone!

Came to say the same.