[Sca-cooks] Article: Feasting with Food Allergies

[Philip & Susan Troy]

Susan Fox-Davis wrote:

> or something as debilitating as anaphylactic shock. Some allergies are
> to specific forms of the substance. For example, someone might be
> allergic to fresh onions and onion juice, but dried onions do not yield
> a negative reaction.

Alternately, someone might be allergic to the sulfites that may be in
the dried onions.

>     Although most allergy sufferers know to ask questions, here are some
>
> basic hints:
>
> 1. The catering staff doesn't really know what is in the food.

Sometimes that is true. My own experience has been that many, many
allergy sufferers don't know what they are allergic to.

> 3. For some reason many people will claim "No, no meat at all" in a
> dish, but you get a different answer if you say "Crab? Clams? Fish?"
> Then they say, "Oh, yeah, it has shrimp in it." So always follow your
> general question (meat?) with a specific question (fish?).

Surely there's a way to get this point across without taking up a
maximum amount of the cook's time. Ask, specifically, what you want to
know. Don't start by asking "Are there spices in this?" unless you're
allergic to any conceivable food additive including salt. If you're
allergic to animal products of _any_ kind, wit the exception of X and Y,
you can say that.

> 4. Assume you will be lied to about spices. I have heard people get told
>
> there was no _______ in something, when there is, but they didn't think
> such a small amount would hurt. Ask a direct question like "Any __ - any
>
> at all? Did you even handle the ____ while you cooked this?"

I've been lied to more often by people claiming to be allergic to foods
they don't like, or who simply want attention, than I've ever seen lie
about spices in food. Yes, there are people who'll assume a pinch of
Unlisted Ingredient X can't hurt anybody, but that is probably most
effectively solved by making it clear that cooks aren't doctors, and you
need to know about _any_ deviations from the ingredients list, whether
the cook considers it significant or not. And it's not that hard to do
that without assuming the cook is a liar.

> 10. Check ingredient lists of the ingredients. Odd things are used in
> packaged foods. Dairy products and MSG live in the most amazing places.
> I am still amazed that peanut butter is used in commercial chili.

So am I. If you can find any majority of commercial products that do
contain peanut butter, I'll be amazed at that, too. I'm not saying it's
in no commercial chilis, but it doesn't appear in the ingredients lists
in most of the ones I've seen, and if it _is_ there, perhaps it's
something to take up with the FDA, specifically in regard to their
Standards of Identity rulings.

> 11. It's best to check ingredients before the event when the cook is not
> quite as busy.

Yep.

> 2. If you want to keep the recipe "secret," omit the proportions and
> cooking instructions.

Secret recipes don't belong in food service.

> 4. Keep the animals out of the food preparation areas. Animal dander can
> get into the food and cause an allergenic reaction.
>
> 5. Consider the cooking oil you use. A person who is allergic to peanuts
> is also allergic to peanut oil.
>
> 6. Please post ingredients for the feast in an accessible spot.
>
> 7. Try to prevent cross-contamination. Wash your hands between cooking
> dishes. Don't use the same spoon to stir different pots.
>
> 8. It is not necessary to change your menu to accommodate one person. It
>
> is really nice to arrange a variety of foods that can accommodate
> different allergies.
>
> 9. Liability comes into play if you misrepresent your ingredients. Think
>
> lawsuit.  Think murder/attempted murder charges.

Probably legally unsupportable. Criminal negligence, I would agree on.
Murder is generally defined as willful and, usually, premeditated, the
mention of it sounds like a scare tactic in this case. Unless there's a
major precedent for it that I haven't heard of.

The majority of the article is excellent advice, and most of the advice
to cooks is basic common sense for cooks catering to anybody, but I
suspect that at least some of the problem with miscommunication between
cooks and allergy sufferers is that a very small percentage of allergy
sufferers have made the communication an onerous task. I confess that
about 95% of all the times I have discussed allergies with people before
feast service has been less than an hour before service, and in almost
all cases those people did not bother reading the ingredients lists,
prominently posted and updated as necessary.

And then, of course, I don't mean to diss the [probably numerous]
allergy sufferers who simply read the lists, avoided certain dishes, and
never spoke to me. Presumably they saw the lists being updated, and
assumed that that was an indicator of earnestness on the part of the
cooks that those lists be accurate.

Adamantius, cook and allergy sufferer
--
Phil & Susan Troy

troy at asan.com

"It was so blatant that Roger threw at him.  Clemens gets away with
things that get other people thrown out of games.  As long as they
let him get away with it, it's going  to continue." -- Joe Torre, 9/98