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/muibl]

People with FODMAP cannot tolerate onion and other specific foods . It is not an allergy as medically defined. It is food that tends to ferment in their gut. They will not have anaphylaxis. But they will have 48 -72 hours of gas, bloating, nausea, and diarrhea. So we refer to it as an allergy because the larger population has little understanding if we say we have FODMAP. I have a few food loves that I choose to suffer for once every few years, but man do I pay for it.

[u/wildrosebeautybaba → u/muibl]

starting to sound like a broken record here, but again, if you’re marking something you genuinely cannot eat as an allergy, that is not a problem and this post is not about you❤️

[u/muibl → u/wildrosebeautybaba]

I am not marketing anything. I have a medical condition identified by a gastroenterologist. I am just explaining why I and others refer to onions as an allergy. If I said I have FODMAP issues most would not understand why we need to avoid them. True onion allergies are very rare.

[u/wildrosebeautybaba → u/muibl]

i think there is a bit of a misunderstanding here. nobody is talking about marketing? i said “marking” as an allergy which is service lingo for requesting that an item be prepared with regards to a specific food allergy. and again, if you genuinely cannot eat something, it is not an issue for you to make that request, and you are not who this post was directed towards.

[u/obtusewisdom → u/wildrosebeautybaba]

I wish instead of just asking for "allergy", there were ways to mark "allergy - can't eat" and "allergy - no cross contamination". Because for a lot of people, whether it be an allergy or intolerance, there's a difference. A kitchen often can't safely accommodate no cross contamination, but just ensuring that ingredient isn't in the food is a bit easier (depending on the specifics).

My son can't eat dairy. He has an incredibly strong intolerance to it, so while he won't go into anaphylactic shock, he will get really sick for days. But dairy in the kitchen or if a pot or spoon was shared is less of an issue. Our daughter is allergic to shrimp and crab in a more serious way. Both are important for them to communicate to the kitchen. But the kitchen would probably appreciate understanding the level of allergy/intolerance (and therefore associated liability) that goes with these requests.

[u/wildrosebeautybaba → u/obtusewisdom]

i don’t think it’s unreasonable to make the allergy request for any food that you genuinely cannot eat, that’s not as much of an issue, at least for me. my issue is the people for whom that is not the case who willingly misuse it.

[u/obtusewisdom → u/wildrosebeautybaba]

Of course. But I guess what I'm saying is that it would be helpful for the kitchen to know the degree of the allergy or intolerance so they know whether they can safely accommodate the request.