As I am sitting in a restaurant at Heathrow waiting for my lunch to be delivered there is an interesting conversation taking place at a table nearby. I know I shouldn’t be listening to other people’s conversations, sorry. A group of Americans? Canadians? (I can never tell any difference in accents) were talking to a waiter about a nut allergy. The waiter was talking them through the allergen list for some of the meals. Travelling with nut allergy is never easy but in Europe you should be safer than in many other places.
Why did I notice it? Possibly 6 years ago I wouldn’t have. But since my son was born things had changed. He has been diagnosed with life-threatening tree nut and sesame allergies.
As you can imagine, as a result, ways in which we travel and eat on our journeys have changed dramatically. Never again we simply sat down in a restaurant and ordered “whatever we fancied”. Words such as “adrenaline injections” and “cross-contamination” entered our language.
For us, trip planning starts these days with reading other blogs about travels with nut allergy and specific destinations. That is why I thought, I would return the favour and add my fivepence to this discussion.
Below you will find some of the things that should make travelling across Europe with nut allergy easier.
I hope they will help you stay safe(r).
EU regulations
Let’s start with a bit boring but extremely important legal stuff. Back in 2014 the EU published a regulation regarding the labelling allergens in food products. Since then, all food manufacturers and restaurants are legally required to inform customers about the presence of 14 most common allergens. This has been implemented across all the EU member countries.
Just for clarity, it does not have to be printed on the restaurant menu. However, they need to be able to provide you with relevant information if you ask for it.
This is why the waiter at my Heathrow restaurant was able to do it quite easily. This is also what made travelling across Europe with nut allergy much easier.
Reality & myths
There you are, the EU law is protecting everyone in Europe and you are safe – end of my post.
…well, not really….
As always the theory and practice are not exactly in the same place. Unfortunately, things are not that simple. Take it from yours truly, who despite being quite switched on, still managed to feed nuts to his severely allergic son. And he managed to do it twice!
First and foremost, there is still a lot of work required to educate the public about allergies and that they can be dangerous. Few years ago, in some European countries it became very fashionable to be gluten intolerant without medical reason. That caused a lot of people to perceive food allergies as a dietary choice rather than health issue. That also meant that even mentioning it in smaller restaurants it was not taken seriously.
We had this problem in Germany few years ago. Back then my son was still allergic to milk. We ordered him pasta with tomato sauce first making sure there were no nuts or milk in the dish. When the dish arrived at our table it was covered in grated parmesan. We said he cannot eat it and asked for a new one. The waiter took it to the serving window and simply scooped the cheese from the top and brought the same thing back. When we said that we need a fresh one made, the waitress simply didn’t understand why we still have a problem.
So here it is, the system worked as we checked and confirmed that the meal did not contain any milk. It was the human factor that failed.
Here are my tips on how to stay safe on journeys with nut allergy
1. Bring your medicines, doctor’s letter and prescription
Make sure you have enough medicines for your stay. Also bring a prescription from your doctor. It might not be easy to get them without a local prescription but you can always try. Some countries are better at accepting foreign prescriptions that the others, so no harm having one.
I suggest you also bring the letter from your doctor about the medicine you use and need. It helps if you have a visit to a local doctor. Also, the airport security might want to see it during checks.
We always carry all the allergy medicines in a safe insulated bag together with the doctor’s letters. You can find it on our list of useful allergy travel products here.
2. Ask, ask, ask and ask again
The good thing is, traditionally nuts are mainly used in Europe in desserts. It is quite rare to find main meals containing them.
When in restaurants, bakeries, patisseries always ask for the allergy lists. Legally they must have one in place. Don’t rely simply on a waiter telling you that the food is safe or not. If the restaurant does not have one or refuses to share one with you, simply leave. There are many places around and it is not worth taking the risk.
3. Identify safe snacks but always read the label
It is a good idea to identify some safe snacks and foods from global brands at home. You have a good chance of finding them in supermarkets in other countries in Europe. Sometimes they might be under different brands but could still come from the same production line.
Of course, always check the label for allergens.
Global brands in Europe usually use multi-language labels. Even if you don’t speak the local language you have a good chance of English version being there or other language you speak.
4. Check meal options on the plane or bring your own
These days, on short-haul flights in Europe, most of the airlines will offer you a meal to purchase. This actually works in your favour. If you need a snack onboard you are better off bringing your own that you know is safe.
For long-haul flights, normally airlines will offer the option of pre-ordering a special meal. Check what they offer and choose the one suitable for you. If in doubt, always contact the airline. It might also be a good idea to give the airline a ring and let them know ahead that you are suffering from a serious allergy.
For our travels we pre-select the meal but also, just in case, take enough safe food for the flight. Kids luggage such as Trunki is perfect for protecting food with its sturdy frame. Again, it is on our favourite travel products here.
5. Prepare allergy card in the local language
Remember, in Europe people speak over 30 languages on daily basis. Even though English is quite popular, do not assume that everyone understands it.
Do your homework ahead of the trip and prepare or buy and allergy card in the relevant language. In a worst case scenario even simply translate in Google.
There are also many phone applications that can help. We are using the Jext one which has been supplied with the epipens but there are others.
6. Medical Care – Travel insurance for travelling with nut allergy
Each country in Europe has a different medical system so there is no rule if you must pay in full, partially or nothing at all. However, remember one thing – if you need emergency treatment for allergy reaction you will get it – no questions asked!!! In many cases it will be free of charge.
Remember, if you need emergency medical help – dial 112. Same number for all the countries.
However, for peace of mind get the right travel insurance in place. If you are an EU citizen additionally get the EHIC card before the trip.
To our surprise, only recently we found out that food allergies have to be declared as a pre-existing condition for the travel insurance. Better check with the insurance provider and pay extra coverage if necessary.
7. Few traps you don’t want to fall into when travelling with nut allergy
Nutella – unfortunately still in quite a few European countries Nutella is considered to be….chocolate. Especially in Southern European countries – Italy, Greece, Bulgaria you need to be very careful. We learned it the hard way in Italy, where chocolate croissant was actually filled with Nutella even though we asked if it was chocolate. Unless you have 100% clarity it is chocolate, you would be best avoiding chocolate filled products.
Almonds & marzipan – a lot of people do not consider almonds as nuts and technically they are right. But people with nut allergies are often allergic to almonds as well. Therefore, you need to be very careful to ask about almonds specifically.
Even bigger risk is marzipan. Of course it is made of almonds. It is used across all of Europe and in countries such as Germany, Austria and in the Nordics region a lot of desserts will have it as an ingredient.
If you are planning to visit one of the Christimas markets in Europe (see my post with recommendations) you will see marzipan present in abundance so be double careful.
Pesto – this staple Italian product is normally made with pine nuts. Again, a lot of non-allergic people simply do not think about pesto as a potential risk. And as there are different types of it you are simply better off staying away from it. It is always worth checking if any pesto has been used in a dish. Also remember that in Italy it can be used as part of a decoration of the plate – so the dish does not include it but it is on the plate.
Are you suffering from food allergies?
Let me know how you deal with them on your travels.
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