Food Allergies in Foreign Countries
So I recently traveled abroad (I live in the US) and I found that dealing with my allergies to gluten, peanuts, and hazelnuts was very difficult.
I wasn’t prepared for how often menus were leave out the fact that dishes came with fries or some other side dish I couldn’t have. I would end up just eating half of the dish that wasn’t touching the fries and would hope that it would be fine. And some places didn’t even have menus, just a selection of items on a tray that I’d have to choose from. At one restaurant that we went to, they had gluten free alternatives, but the menu didn’t warn me that I’d have to pay €2 more (when the dish was already €8.50, so that was nearly a 25% increase without warning).
It was also difficult to communicate what I am allergic to and since I was on a school trip, they had preplanned meals that I wasn’t able to eat or they’d just give me some grilled chicken and call it a day (I’m real sick of chicken and salad at this point).
Many places also had buffet and/or “chipotle/subway” style things that increased the risk of cross contamination.
At breakfast I ended up eating only fruit and sometimes I was forced to skip lunch since we had no way of finding places I could eat at without access to internet.
I had to watch as my friends devoured new foods and immersed themselves in these new cultures.
I had someone ask me why I even bothered to come if I wasn’t able to eat pasta or pizza, two main dishes in one of the countries we visited.
It sucked to have to be left out of this huge chunk of culture, and then I had people shaming me for wanting to experience other aspects of the culture because apparently food was a huge reason people traveled.
I ended up taking benedryl a few times on the trip because I didn’t feel safe eating the food I was given, but at that point I just needed calories and nutrients.
On the plane ride there, I was shamed by the flight attendant for not eating the gluten free meal prepared for me even though she had explicitly told me that cross contamination for my other allergies couldn’t be prevented.
And almost everything had hazelnuts in it. I got really excited one morning when I saw that the hotel had put out gluten free items at breakfast but both items contained hazelnuts.
I had to miss out on every single dessert (except granita, because it was basically a slushie and seemed safe) because nothing was safe for me to eat or I could see how much cross contamination was occurring. So while my friends were enjoying some gelato, I was sitting on the curb wishing that my friends had waited to check a few more shops to find one that had granitas so that I (and one other person) would have an option to eat something too.
This isn’t necessarily food allergy related, but I also wasn’t expecting the sheer amount of people who smoked. I got a cold halfway through the trip and whenever I’d pass anyone smoking I’d go into a coughing fit because my asthma was flaring from the cold and smoke.
I was thankful for the opportunity to travel abroad, but I really wish it had been more accessible, especially as this has been a school trip and I had reminded them of my allergies numerous times.
I know that I have a lot of these problems even where I live, but being in a forgein country made it exponentially harder and made my anxiety over food way worse. I’m so used to preparing my food at home and when I do go out, I usually go to two restaurants that I’ve deemed safe for me to eat at.
