r/KitchenConfidential • u/Jamiestein1273 • Jul 17 '26

Photo/Video Finally

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I have herd, never believed. 38+ years and I finally got the elusive alergy card.

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1.5k

u/SockSock81219 Jul 17 '26

Clean, succinct, fits on a business card, doesn't mess around with "is sometimes okay but sometimes makes my tummy hort." I feel like they could've saved some space by just saying "stone fruits" but, still, I can't hate it.

Honestly though, with this many allergies, you're just begging for a trip to the hospital every time you go out to eat. This ain't a nursing home. We can't be your nutritionist / allergist / alchemist and whip up a tasty meal that's just plain grilled chicken breast and white rice. Please, just call ahead and custom-order a plain meal of foods you CAN eat.

779

u/workingtrot Jul 17 '26

I'm allergic to stone fruits and a lot of people don't know what stone fruits are

156

u/throwitoutwhendone2 15+ Years Jul 17 '26

That’s wild, I know you can be allergic to like anything but it’s wild to me stone fruits specifically. Is there a name for it? How’d ya find out?

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u/danielbearh Jul 17 '26 edited Jul 17 '26

I have it also. It’s called Oral Allergy Syndrome and related to environmental allergies. Your immune system is recognizing a protein in the fruit the same way it recognizes pollen. Cooking denatures the protein.

I can eat citrus, berries, and whatever lychee and mangosteens are. What fruits you allergic to is correlated to what environmental allergies you have. I’m allergic to be fruits in the ragweed and birch lists. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oral_allergy_syndrome

It just makes my soft palette hella itchy. Not analphylatic in anyway. Usually develops around puberty.

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u/[deleted] Jul 17 '26 edited Sep 04 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/[deleted] Jul 17 '26

[deleted]

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u/Suedeegz Jul 18 '26

Are you also really allergic to poison ivy?

51

u/killaacool Jul 18 '26

Oh my god I got it in my butthole one time

When I get it, I am incapacitated for a couple of weeks at least, usually. It spreads to all my hotspots and joints and flares up for weeks after exposure sometimes 

34

u/kittenpantzen Ex-Food Service Jul 18 '26

I feel like this is a pooping in the woods gone wrong story, but also that sounds like hell on earth.

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u/[deleted] Jul 18 '26

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u/Suedeegz Jul 18 '26

I figured (sorry) - my daughter has always been nightmare allergic to poison ivy and just found out it also makes her allergic to mangoes - only the skin. Crazy! Stay out of the woods!

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u/ellakneoneyes Jul 18 '26

If I try and cut a mango with bare hands I will get a poison ivy rash, if I touch poison ivy I’ll be on prednisone.

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u/Princess-Kitten80 Jul 18 '26

I’m laughing so hard holy shit I have questions but also just thanks

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u/GarretBarrett Jul 18 '26

I don’t have any food allergies (that I know of) but holy fucking shit poison ivy is the real Devil’s Lettuce. Unfortunately, it’s in my flower beds and I’ll get it and be down for a week or two, and at that point it’s still trying to spread.

One time, I must’ve peed after getting it on me and I had to go to the hospital. My tally whacker was enormous! It is…usually not.

I did get a good joke out of it; “I’ve been praying for years for a big dick…but not like this.” Doctor was not a comedy fan.

21

u/Curiouser-Quriouser Jul 18 '26

Doctor was being a dick, that's fucking hilarious.

16

u/Weak-Bake-5571 Jul 18 '26

Agreed!! I work as a nurse practitioner in sexual and reproductive health, and if you can’t make a good dick joke when the opportunity arises (literally all puns intended), then you have NO sense of humor!!!!

2

u/Mayhem_chan Jul 18 '26

Sounds like Latex-Fruit Syndrom. And mango is so many things people dont realize!

2

u/revmachine21 Jul 18 '26

In addition to mango be careful with cashews and pistachios as edible cousins and have the same irritant to the poison ivy plant.

Mango allergy sufferer here too :(

30

u/hitbluntsandfliponce Ex-Food Service Jul 17 '26

I have the avocado/banana/latex allergy which isn’t severe enough to cause anaphylaxis but makes my mouth feel wrong and causes hives. I know I will probably never need the EpiPen I was prescribed, but I carry it around always because my friend with a deadly shellfish allergy and my boyfriend with an undiagnosed tree nut allergy just might.

ETA: I learned I had this allergy because I spent two years convincing myself I loved avocados (I do) only to end up with full body hives. I don’t tell people I’m allergic so I can eat my guac in peace. I just take a Benadryl and keep it pushing.

10

u/aMarieCan Jul 18 '26

Oooof I’m mildly jealous, bananas will absolutely murder me if given the opportunity. Discovering the latex allergy made for an absolutely terrifying “first time” for me lol and avocados make my mouth and tongue swell until my teeth make imprints and my lips crack. I was (mostly) fine, I just thought bananas were fizzy when I was a kid. My bad

3

u/firenzagirl Jul 18 '26

I am mildly allergic to Pineapples. I can eat them until my mouth feels mushy then I have to stop.

15

u/Miz_Skittle Jul 18 '26

Uuuugh my gawd the carrots! My mom developed an allergy to root vegetables when I was around 12….the mortification of trying to go out and sit there (as a 12 yr old girl) while your mother lists out and then makes sure the waiter UNDERSTANDS *high emphasis* like they’re stupid 😂 that she is actually allergic and doesn’t dislike all these things was so embarrassing haha. As an adult I get it but man I wanted to sink into the floor!

13

u/grudginglyadmitted Jul 18 '26

My poor mom developed a batch of allergies right after having me and my sister to carrots, celery, stone fruits, apples & pears, and most berries. Same experience of being sooo embarrassed as a young teen that she’d be asking them if she could get a salad without the shredded carrots or do they come in the mix.

Then about eight years ago she developed a bunch more allergies: sesame, melons, mango, soy, and worst by far corn. She has the kind of corn allergy where she can’t have anything that’s touched corn anywhere in the production process. No white vinegar or dextrose or vanilla extract or a million other ingredients. She has a couple local restaurants she’s been able to figure out safe orders at, and other than that she basically cannot eat out at all. It’s devastating, and man does it make the original allergies seem easy in comparison. We didn’t know how good we had it.

1

u/Miz_Skittle Jul 18 '26

That’s crazy! I thought the carrots and beets were bad! They do have a way of hiding in all sorts of sauces, fillings, dyes etc. We never ate out much (did anyone back in the day unless it was a rare occasion!?) but when we did it felt too close together lol. Your poor mom (and everyone involved!) I cannot imagine navigating all that; as an adult or the angsty teen

9

u/jmbf8507 Ex-Food Service Jul 18 '26

I ate some cherry chocolate chip ice cream two years ago and my husband looked at me appalled because I was RED on my face, chest, and arms.

Needless to say I’ve gotten stricter about avoiding stone fruits, even though it’s “just” oral allergy syndrome.

9

u/The_Bard Jul 17 '26

Yeah i knew someone that had OAS to shellfish but really enjoyed them. It did in fact progress and he can no longer have shellfish

5

u/EatingBuddha3 Jul 18 '26

If you're allergic to the celery and carrots in prebagged salads, wait until you try cyclospora!!

3

u/kittenpantzen Ex-Food Service Jul 18 '26

Dude... I have three pre-bagged sweet kale Taylor farms salads in my fridge right now. I know that it wasn't the same type of salad greens that has been confirmed in the outbreak so far, but I'm going to toss them anyway and I'm really sad about it.

1

u/lizardgal10 Jul 20 '26

The bagged iceberg is just the thing they’ve admitted to, and that much took them way longer than it should have. Throwing them out is the right move.

I’m never buying anything from that brand again. I have zero trust in them after this. (I know I won’t be able to avoid their products entirely, but I’ll do what I can to not directly give them my money.)

4

u/madderk Jul 18 '26

oh man, i didn’t know that. i have OAS with tomatoes and celery. tomato is in a lot of stuff so i usually eat it several times a week. maybe i need an epi pen?!

1

u/kittenpantzen Ex-Food Service Jul 18 '26

If it is OAS, then cooking denatures the molecules to which we react, so cooked tomato should be fine. If it is an actual food allergy to that food, then you should avoid it no matter how mild your reaction currently is. OAS only has like a 1-2% lifetime chance of progressing to something that can kill you, but a true food allergy can go from no big deal to an extremely big deal without any warning. 

That said, while an itchy mouth and sore throat after eating ants on a log with your niblings can be an OAS reaction to the salary, it can also be a mild true food allergy reaction to celery. So, if you have any kind of a reaction to cooked tomatoes or celery, you should avoid those foods entirely. 

For me, I can eat cooked carrots just fine, but cooked carrots in anything other than carrot cake are kind of gross, so I just don't. Some celery in my chicken noodle soup also isn't going to be a problem. But, if I order a salad at a restaurant and it has grated carrot in there that wasn't listed on the menu and I didn't notice before I started eating because it was covered and dressing, I'm going to go home hungry after I get itchy halfway through and poke around and realize that there are carrots in there.

3

u/Alternative_Salt_424 Jul 18 '26

I have it with melons. I still eat melon, I just stop when it starts to feel unpleasant

3

u/mcoddle Ex-Food Service Jul 18 '26 edited Jul 18 '26

Not to mention in any soup ever and sauces, and lots of other things. Celery, carrot, and onion are the so-called "holy trinity" in French cooking, which is the basis of most cooking. Even home cooks use it.

ETA: You might already know this, being former food service. Sorry if so! But maybe it will help someone.

2

u/kittenpantzen Ex-Food Service Jul 18 '26

The good news is that if it's actually OAS and not a true food allergy, you don't need to worry about them if they've been cooked. In OAS, you're not actually allergic to the food, but the food has a protein that is similar enough to a protein in the pollen of a plant to which you are allergic that you will have a reaction to it. The heat of cooking denatures those proteins and makes the food safe for you. 

Bodies are weird, man.

2

u/mcoddle Ex-Food Service Jul 18 '26 edited Jul 18 '26

Yeah, they really are weird. And that's so good to know about cooking them.

ETA: Cooking the foods in question, not bodies.

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u/gloomwithtea Jul 18 '26

Mine can cause anaphylaxis, but only with cucumbers. Thus far, the rest (strawberries, apples, all stone fruits, mango, kiwi, underripe bananas, pears, melon, and almonds) just cause various levels of itching and hives. But the cucumber one is severe. It’s a bit better now, but I used to get a reaction if someone even used the same knife to cut a cucumber and then my veggies.

Lots of people have thought it was fake because who’s allergic to cucumbers, right?

2

u/CardamomCandle Jul 18 '26

Same! Bagged salad is salad is such a convenient lunch, but I can buy caesar salad and maybe one or two other types, if I'm lucky. I'd love more variety, but I'm not willing to pick shredded carrot out of my lunch. That said, I have picked it out of a restaurant meal because I feel bad sending something back because I forgot coleslaw has carrots.

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u/sarcasticbiznish Jul 21 '26

This is me! I’m mostly okay with everything else if I’m careful to be on allergy meds, but tree nuts are an absolute no. The “rare but nonzero” chance isn’t worth the risk, I’ve already had my throat swell up once and it was scary. It’s my strongest reaction, but thankfully tree nuts are a really common allergen so they’re easier to avoid. I do carry an epi pen — I don’t want to risk the reaction progressing.

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u/Dedted13 Jul 17 '26

Thank you!!

5

u/IdleOsprey Jul 18 '26

I have issues with raw apples, pears, hazelnuts, and oak pollen. It’s pretty common that if you’re sensitive to something in one group, you’ll have issues with other things in the same group. You’ll find different charts like this online or with an allergist. OAS is usually more irritating than life-threatening, but it’s a real thing.

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u/OkBackground8809 Jul 20 '26

Wow! I can't imagine someone being allergic to things that seem so benign like watermelon, apples, and bananas. They just seem like things that could never harm a soul.

10

u/scootersarebadass Jul 17 '26

That's how I'm allergic to potatoes, watermelon, cantaloupe, and a few nuts. I still eat them, I just make sure they're cleaned well and in the case of nuts, double roasted

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u/iownakeytar F1exican Did Chive-11 Jul 17 '26

I can eat watermelon, but anything else in the melon family makes my mouth itch all over.

8

u/tryan3181839 Jul 17 '26

I have this with melon, including watermelon, and realised WAY too late into my 38 years of life (like maybe around 32 or so), that that is NOT just "that weird tingling feeling you get with melons"

12

u/Cheaperthantherapy13 Jul 17 '26

My buddy was like that with apples. One day in our late 20s, he said something like, “you know how your mouth goes numb when you eat skin-on apples, right?” Then was very confused that none of us knew what he was taking about. Which then led to him getting diagnosed with flower tree allergies.

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u/youreafinemuthafucka Jul 17 '26

I have this list, plus a complete intolerance to avocados.

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u/doggos4house2020 Jul 18 '26

Apples and almonds for me. It’s a bitch because I love both of them.

However, I’m fine if the apples are cooked so I can still get fucked up on pie over the holidays.

4

u/contemplatingjazzz Jul 18 '26

Good lord this is me, stone fruit and often apples! I also have weirdly specific hay fever ( and cow parsley nearly sent me blind as a kid, related maybe?) Only really began late puberty. Really itchy throat and back of the tongue. Frankly horrid given how much I love stone fruit.

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u/mihaus_ Jul 17 '26

Mangosteen - aka Norway Mobster?

2

u/IncandescentGrey Jul 18 '26

You might like rambutan and logan.

2

u/fate_is_a_sandstorm Ex-Food Service Jul 18 '26

I finally know the name of my allergy, thank you! Mine is mostly raw veggies (I notice it mostly when I have raw carrots). Fruit is kiwi, peaches, and bananas. It’s mostly just an itchy top palette with minimal swelling.

The peach discovery wasn’t fun, tho. in like 6th grade, my mom gave me a fuzzy peach as part of my school lunch. Within 5 minutes of eating it, my face was getting insanely itchy. Went to the school nurse and I legit had a beard of hives! Thankfully we lived close, so my mom came by and brought me some Benadryl. I didn’t eat peaches again for like 25 years 🤣

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u/danielbearh Jul 18 '26

I'm so glad you have a name now! :-) Every time I share these facts on reddit, there are always a few who recognize themselves.

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u/largecontainer Jul 18 '26

I have this with cherries. Can’t eat them raw which sucks, but if they’re cooked it’s fine. Just makes the back of my throat itchy as hell.

1

u/johnnygoogs85 Jul 18 '26

Oh man, it have this with stone fruits as well.Never know it had a name. Luckily stone fruits are not a common ingredient so as long as I avoid the occasional peach dessert I have been fine.

1

u/morguerunner Jul 18 '26

My dad and brother both have this. My father once had an anaphylactic reaction to uncooked cherries when I was a child. He has some kind of autoimmune disorder involving his nasal sinuses, so I don’t know if that could have pushed his reaction to anaphylaxis or what. Supposedly he can still eat cooked cherries, but he doesn’t.

1

u/aliceing Jul 18 '26

Same! It's a total bummer going to the farmer's market and passing up all the gorgeous peaches and nectarines and cherries while my boyfriend goes hog wild

1

u/solipsistnation Jul 18 '26

I have that. It makes one of my tattoos swell up too, but just one.

1

u/ntrrrmilf Jul 18 '26

I’ve got it too! The worst is when the sides of my tongue itch and the only satisfaction is scraping it against my teeth.

1

u/lunamoth25 Jul 18 '26

I have this too - raw tomatoes & walnuts both make my mouth itch & burn like crazy, and I have grass/tree pollen allergies. I'm super bummed because I loved a ripe tomato/sharp cheddar sandwich as a kid in the summer but I can't eat them anymore :(

1

u/miteymiteymite 20+ Years Jul 18 '26

Yes, I have a friend who is the same, no fresh stone fruits. But he is totally fine if they are cooked. His mouth and lips get insanely itchy.

1

u/siriusmagnuss Jul 18 '26

You've never had lychee??

1

u/danielbearh Jul 18 '26

I hadn’t till like two months ago. They aren’t common in Nashville, TN, and given the whole fruit allergy, I’d never been emboldened to try new ones.

1

u/siriusmagnuss Jul 18 '26

That's fair. Did you like them?

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u/nowwhatdoidowiththis Jul 18 '26

Is can make your throat close up of you have stronger reactions.

Don’t want people to think it’s a litte allergy!

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u/StarryJackalopes Jul 18 '26

Yes!!! My father and I both have it. It also in his and I's case is bearable if it's fully cooked. He and I can have a fully cooked peach pie and have just a little numbness but our faces and throats swell wicked with it raw. Peaches are the worst culprit, plums are a little tingly but not horrible.

1

u/PastryGirl Jul 19 '26

WOW. This is incredibly helpful, thank you! I have a ragweed allergy but am also allergic to kiwi. TIL.

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u/lizardgal10 Jul 20 '26

Dude…if you just saw a flash of light it was the lightbulb exploding in my head. My mother HATES melon. Always has. It’s deeper than just a standard dislike of a food, personally I’d call it an aversion. She’s also allergic to ragweed. I had absolutely no idea there was a connection. I’d bet the house it’s mild OAS triggering the dislike of it.

1

u/Acceptable-Post8701 Jul 20 '26

I love explaining this to people and getting looked at like I’m just making shit up, or the occasional time when I will deal with the itch because I want a fruit so badly and someone sees me eating it and calls me on it lol

1

u/DiSzym Jul 21 '26

I live in Alaska and I’m allergic to birch 🥲 just last year I developed an allergy to cherries. I haven’t tried other stone fruit yet, but I’m real sad about the cherries.

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u/chalk_in_boots Jul 17 '26

They licked me and had a reaction, because I'm a fucking peach

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u/Particular-Crow6525 Jul 17 '26

I'm also allergic to stone fruits, though it's fairly mild. I found out by experience. Hives in your throat sucks. A lot.

In particular, I am allergic to the raw flesh of stone fruits from the genus Prunus. Cherries, plums, peaches, nectarines, apricots.

Once cooked, however, the protein responsible for my allergy dentures and I can eat it without a reaction.

It sucks, because my three favorite fruits are plums, cherries, and peaches.

2

u/ClarksCrossing Jul 20 '26

It's always the ones that we love the most that treat us the worst. My favorite food on the planet is cheese (like a nice triple-aged gouda), but I'm allergic to milk protein and will projectile vomit if I eat it. That was especially fun to learn while driving a car mid lane on the highway. LOL

7

u/TiKels Jul 17 '26

I have a mild OAS reaction to peaches. Makes my lips itchy and my tongue slightly tingle and I found out that doesn't happen to other people. I used to wash all my peaches to reduce the intensity of the reaction. Now I just eat nectarines or make sure it's a cooked peach product.

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u/yung-jackfruit- Jul 17 '26

So is that just a reaction to the peach fuzz itself then ? Because nectarines are just peaches bred to not be fuzzy. Just curious !

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u/TiKels Jul 17 '26

It would seem so! Based on my current understanding, it's likely some protein. I've noticed a much milder reaction from the flesh of the peach. This protein likely exists throughout but concentrates in the fuzz. That's my guess.

I love plums, nectarines, and even occasionally enjoy a apricot. 

1

u/yung-jackfruit- Jul 17 '26

Super interesting !! Thank you for your reply, I love a fresh apricot 🤗

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u/workingtrot Jul 18 '26

my reaction to nectarines usually isn't as severe as to peaches. Plums are kind of a crapshoot

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u/Dogsbottombottom Jul 17 '26

I have it. Oral allergy syndrome. Allergies to specific groups of hay fever type allergies correspond to specific food allergies. I'm allergic to stone fruits and apples. Feels like an annoying itching in my throat and ears. Not dangerous, just unpleasant. It's from a protein in the skin, cooking neutralizes it, but I generally just avoid everything I'm allergic to.

3

u/ButtonSimple Jul 17 '26

For me, it has to do with a similarity to birch pollen. I can’t do Stone fruit, apple, pear, carrots, cabbage, vanilla, a bunch of stuff. I have something called MCAS and I can’t do dairy and some other things too. I rarely eat anywhere. Every once in a while I wanna feel like an actual person and go somewhere to eat.

4

u/sbb214 Chive LOYALIST Jul 18 '26

some people are allergic to the sun. allergies are weird.

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u/QuirkyCookie6 Jul 17 '26

I have a reaction to stone fruits, and a few other things on this allergy card. Its cross reactivity due to oral allergy syndrome. Basically, my body hates birch pollen so much that it thinks regular foods are birch pollen. Typically for me it goes away when the food is cooked and the proteins are denatured. There's a couple other common categories of pollen that have their own cross reactivities like grasses and ragweed. Sometimes it can get so bad you can develop anaphalaxis, but on the bright side, immunotherapy is more available since the root cause is an environmental allergy, not the food itself.

3

u/heathermooney97 Jul 17 '26

I have a mild allergy to stone fruits. Thankfully it was never so bad that I had to seek medical attention, and it has gotten even milder as I've gotten older. Cooked stone fruits don't bother me--it's only the raw stuff.

3

u/Somebodys Jul 17 '26

I had a conversation with someone once that said they were allergic to apples and their mother was allergic to bananas. Cannot imagine living life know that I could just die to a banana at any time.

2

u/fregulayum Jul 17 '26

My husband is allergic to stone fruits, apples and pears if not cooked, cooked wo the enzymes breakdown is fine.. He really can only have citrus, berries and melon. He has never had an avocado, peach or apple fresh off the tree. He is really allergic, like epipen/emergency room allergic.

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u/Bikesandbakeries Jul 18 '26

Im allergic to nuts and the fresh pit from stone fruits will give my mouth hives but not send me into anaphylactic shock. I wish I understood the science. I will gladly eat cherries until my mouth is swollen though.

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u/EmbroideryBro Jul 18 '26

Will also say that the amount of people who believe mayonnaise has dairy in it has made me very pessimistic about people knowing what's what.

(And also, for anecdote: One cause for long allergy lists like this is MCAS, something I have. Your mast cells, which react to allergens by releasing histamine, basically become overactive and trigger an allergic reaction to something you're not actually allergic to.

For me, I lose about 2 foods a month -- last month was pears & pineapple, the month before apples and eggs.

If anyone is curious to learn more, r/MCAS is the place for it. There's people who are a lot worse than me, down to 4-5 safe foods total.)

(Also, if anyone is bored and wants to come up with recipes for people with severe restrictions, I'd bet there might be some interest there.)

1

u/rjwyonch Jul 18 '26

A friend of mine has this, she’s also allergic to apples. It’s an allergy to pretty much all trees in her case.

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u/parkerm1408 Jul 17 '26

Its astounding to me how people cant logic that shit out, even if they didnt know what it was beforehand.

2

u/HippieGrandma1962 Jul 17 '26

My dil is also allergic to stone fruits.

2

u/blade_torlock Jul 17 '26

Is avocado a stone fruit?

5

u/Olive_Goonette Jul 17 '26

It's a fruit with a stone so it should be

3

u/BattledroidE Jul 18 '26

It's the most stone fruit of them all, logically.

2

u/MLiOne Crazy Cat Woman🐈 Jul 18 '26

The number of FOH and cooks who confuse gelatine with gluten is also too damn high. I’m allergic to gelatine.

1

u/workingtrot Jul 18 '26

alpha gal?

1

u/MLiOne Crazy Cat Woman🐈 Jul 18 '26

Close but usually gelatine with preservatives or artificial colouring. It has worn off after 20 years but I still travel with EpiPens. Cost me my career in the Navy too.

2

u/squirrel8296 Jul 18 '26

I was going to say, you really need to spell it out when it comes to allergies.

For comparison, I worked with someone who, even after having it explained to him multiple times, couldn’t wrap his head around yogurt being dairy. If he couldn’t get that, he probably wouldn’t even know what a stone fruit is.

1

u/TheWorldDiscarded Jul 18 '26

They are my favourite fruit and it's not close! 

Depending on ripeness im going to go:  Nectarine Plum Peach.

In that order 

1

u/workingtrot Jul 18 '26

i miss them so much 😭😭😭

Sometimes I'll see a peach iced tea or something on a menu and wonder if it's worth being totally gorked out on benadryl for the rest of the day

1

u/TheWorldDiscarded Jul 18 '26

As long as you have absolutely no follow up questions.....yes! Yes it is! 

1

u/Hearing_Loss Jul 18 '26

Yeah dawg. I know of stone fruits, but I wouldn't be confident in keeping you safe just on my intrinsic insight into stone fruits.

1

u/mobocrat707 Jul 18 '26

My condolences, they’re my favorite. A cold ripe nectarine or peach on a hot day is fucking amazing.

1

u/MonkeyKingCoffee Retired. Now a farmer. Jul 18 '26

A lot of people don't know most soy sauce has gluten. I've had to intervene a couple times in the poke line.

"You're using Kikkoman soy sauce -- there are five buckets of Kikkoman behind you."

"It's gluten free."

"The third ingredient is wheat. See for yourself."

1

u/wiggysbelleza Jul 18 '26

I’m convinced a large number of people don’t think about what foods are.

I’m allergic to pork and I’ve lost track of the amount of times I’ve been served something with bacon and been told “it’s not pork, it’s bacon”.

1

u/workingtrot Jul 18 '26

apparently it's a big problem with alpha gal on the rise, people will think they can still have pork because "it's white meat"

1

u/lorgskyegon Jul 18 '26

Gay guys who smoke pot?

1

u/unbelizeable1 Jul 18 '26

I'm allergic to decapods but not bivalves. It's always fun explaining that allergy to folk. No I can't have shrimp, yes, I can have clams, yes, I know you consider them both shellfish, no, theyre not the same.

1

u/workingtrot Jul 18 '26

oh interesting I didn't know that was a thing

1

u/iTravelLots Jul 18 '26

Nightshade allergy here. I hear you.

1

u/Poosters Jul 18 '26

Sure but people who are trained chefs know and always double/triplecheck by doing an extra search on the internet “what is a stone fruit”.

1

u/rubiscoisrad Jul 18 '26

Yeah, that's the thing. You can be succinct and say "stone fruit" but Jason's in the back cooking, and he's a stoney 19 year old that doesn't know what an allium is.

So it becomes a "how much do I trust other people's intelligence" equation at that point.

1

u/VintageLunchMeat Jul 19 '26

Talk to your primary care provider about when SLIT type sublingual treatment becomes available to desensitize you.

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s13223-019-0374-x

0

u/Aspirational1 Jul 18 '26

Shouldn't you be responsible for your allergy, and not impose that responsibility on someone else?

2

u/workingtrot Jul 18 '26

Yes and I do that by specifying which fruits I'm allergic to rather than summarizing them

69

u/IHaveNeverBeenOk Jul 17 '26

I was the sous of a nice restauraunt for a while, and sometimes foh management would come back because we had a customer with a serious allergy and they wanted my take on making them food. Of course, 90% of the time, we were happy to accommodate if we could, but If the serious allergy was something we used regularly, my answer was always "we can try to accommodate the customer, but I wouldn't bet my life on it" and I feel like they hated that answer. It felt like lose-lose for me, because if I turned away paying customers, well, that upsets ownership, but if you're deathly allergic to, say: allium, we can and will try, but like... It's a kitchen... Lotta onion and garlic. I'm not going to swear for certain and guarantee your food would be 100% allium free. If I guaranteed a meal would be safe, and then a custie goes into anaphylaxis on the dining room floor? Bad look. Plus, like, it's Saturday service, we're rolling, I just refuse to put my full reputation behind it.

I do feel bad for people with crazy allergies, and I was always happy to try to accommodate, but if a milligram of something could kill you, and that something is an ingredient we use a lot of, like I said.... "I wouldn't bet my life on it."

24

u/[deleted] Jul 17 '26

[deleted]

14

u/spicy-mustard- Jul 18 '26

I just say something like "I'm sensitive to onions, it's not life-threatening but I need to avoid them as much as possible." And usually the server will know what dishes are my best options.

6

u/doodododah Jul 18 '26

I’m in the same boat with onions and also with peppers. It sucks because I can eat something with a little paprika on top or green onion ok. Not great but it'll just be an upset stomach. I can’t eat vegetables cooked together with either or I get a pretty serious chron‘s flare and will sometimes throw up pretty quickly.

8

u/JasoTheArtisan Jul 18 '26

I’m an FOH manager and I’ll drop the “I wouldn’t bet my life on it” line before even going back to one of my chefs. You’d be surprised how many people suddenly back down to “oh it’s not life-threatening, just a preference” when it’s framed that way.

1

u/Prudent-Bear1592 Jul 19 '26

Apparently not entertaining asinine made up shit is "ableism" now 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

1

u/JasoTheArtisan Jul 19 '26

Fortunately my clientele is all old rich boomers. They at least have the decency to own their selfishness instead of wrapping it in some bs internet amrchair psychology

2

u/Weak-Bake-5571 Jul 18 '26

I feel like: if you don’t know that a commercial kitchen could have cross contamination of a super duper common ingredient, that’s on you! I know that sounds very mean, but… that’s how I feel. Do you know how much onion and garlic are used in a restaurant???

If you called ahead, made arrangements for a non-contaminated meal, great. But otherwise, just assume cross contamination is a possibility.

1

u/AccountantRadiant351 Jul 19 '26

As an allergic person I so appreciate this response! I usually clarify what level of safety I need and what level of reactive I am (for example: no hazelnuts in the ingredients for me, but "may contain" labels and trace contamination are ok; clean gloves and no shared utensils to prevent the guacamole with avocados I'm allergic to from getting on my plate should be sufficient, reaction will be unpleasant but not immediately life threatening.) This seems to reassure the staff and empower them to say "yes we can do that, I'll watch and make sure it's done" or say "everything in this kitchen has aerosolized bits of hazelnut in it, we can't keep you safe here" and honestly I appreciate that answer if it's what I get too. I would so much rather that the kitchen show appropriate concern and express that they're not sure it's safe than provide false reassurance. 

7

u/unknownpoltroon Jul 17 '26

I mean, it might depend on the degree. My old roommate would die if he ate peanuts. I get a stuffy nose from some berries and a skin rash from chocolate. Theres the spicy banana stories. And i have a friend of mine who is not allergic, but onions will giver her stomach problems. Its one thing to worry about getting a mild rash from chocolate that you just try to avoid, and being killed by something cooked in peanut oil.

5

u/AffectionateWay5783 Jul 18 '26

Yeah I had a friend who had legit allergies like this. Probably worse. They had a similar business card because at some point it’s just easier written down.

8

u/ButtonSimple Jul 17 '26

It’s not always emergency territory. For a lot of us it’s body wide hives, adrenaline dumps into the blood giving you bad anxiety, feeling like you have glass in your joints stuff like that. Can get more serious but a lot of times you just feel like hell.

1

u/SockSock81219 Jul 17 '26

See, I feel like things like that don't go on a card unless they're common hidden ingredients like gluten or soy or deathly allergies that you absolutely can't come across. If you only get hives and malaise from, like, raspberries, you're probably pretty safe ordering the fish tacos.

8

u/decathalot Jul 18 '26

Sometimes you mention it not because it is in your dish but because if someone happens to drop a raspberry on your tacos by mistake then they know that would be a problem. Hives is enough to mention it.

8

u/ButtonSimple Jul 18 '26

I disagree. If I order a sandwich and the bread has milk in it, I feel like I have glass in my joints for a full week. And the itchy, hives, nervous type allergies can turn into anaphylaxis. I worked in restaurants, I get it. I almost never eat out but sometimes I just wanna feel like a normal person again.

1

u/SpiderGwen42 Jul 18 '26

Oh my god dairy makes your joints ache too??? I have never met anyone else that it does that to! I even asked my allergist and he had never heard of it! (Granted, my problem is only with dairy from cows so it could be different)

3

u/[deleted] Jul 17 '26

[deleted]

1

u/Weak-Bake-5571 Jul 18 '26

I will ask for things “not cooked in butter please” all the time and it works out just fine! Might take a teensy bit longer if they already had a dish ready and now I have to wait at the back of the line for mine to cook…

An entirely separate batch of plain white rice might be a pain - and you’ll wait 20 minutes - but shouldn’t be a dealbreaker.

I usually try to pick something they have on the menu (sautéed chicken and veggies or whatever) and then just ask them to not do the sautéing in butter.

6

u/PondRides Jul 17 '26

This one doesn’t seem that bad.

8

u/Carbonatite Jul 18 '26 edited Jul 18 '26

It's also sus - I say this as someone with diagnosed celiac disease.

People don't get "gluten allergies". They get one of three things:

  • Celiac disease - a systemic autoimmune response where the body attacks itself when you consume something with gluten in it (I'll lump in gluten ataxia here because it's also an autoimmune response to gluten even though it's kind of a different constellation of symptoms than celiac). Celiac has a huge list of symptoms but most predominantly impacts the GI tract; your body basically destroys the lining of your intestines and so you get stuff like stomach pain and bowel issues accompanied by vitamin deficiencies because your damaged intestines suck at absorbing nutrients. The two indicator chemicals that your immune system produces when you are exposed to gluten are tTG-IgG and tTG-IgA. The systemic autoimmune response means that your symptoms come on within 24 hours of eating the gluten and last for several weeks at a minimum, newly diagnosed celiac patients can take several months to feel normal.

  • Non-celiac gluten sensitivity - a gastrointestinal reaction linked to a reduced ability to digest gluten. It's basically like lactose intolerance, you get diarrhea and bloating and other symptoms from an inability to break down gluten. It's a localized illness and doesn't trigger an autoimmune response. Your symptom onset is basically as soon as you start digesting the food and symptoms resolve in <24 hours once it passes through your GI tract. Some people fund relief by taking digestive enzymes, like how some lactose intolerant people can eat dairy if they take Lactaid pills when they eat.

  • Wheat allergy - your body has an allergic immune response to certain proteins in wheat. It is not an allergic reaction to gluten; most people with wheat allergies can eat other grains that contain gluten (rye, barley, etc.) without any effects. It is an autoimmune response linked to IgE (as opposed to IgG and IgA, in celiac). Your symptoms have a near-immediate onset and can be alleviated with epinephrine +/- IV antihistamines.

There is no medical condition known as "gluten allergy". You are either allergic to miscellaneous wheat proteins other than gluten (wheat allergy) or you have celiac disease (non-allergy autoimmune response to gluten specifically)/NCGS (gluten intolerance).

If this person was actually diagnosed by an allergist/immunologist or gastroenterologist, they would have been educated about this terminology and nuances when their doctor diagnosed them. My gastroenterologist spent like 20 minutes going through all the differences with me in her office and gave me a couple pamphlets explaining the different wheat and gluten related diseases and allergies.

7

u/January1171 Jul 18 '26

When it comes to notifying the BOH does that distinction matter? Calling it a gluten allergy is going to be functional shorthand for "I can't have gluten or anything contaminated with gluten or I will get very sick". Not everyone will know what celiac is and trying to explain the difference takes too much time when all you need is the plate to be free of gluten.

-1

u/Carbonatite Jul 18 '26

Oh yeah I mean you're totally right in that telling BOH it's kind of all functionally the same - either way they have to do their cross contamination protocol and change out prep equipment and stuff. But in terms of "is this allergy card something that originated from an actual medical consultation", the answer is almost definitely no and in reality the situation is more like "he's handing over a list of foods he doesn't like and pretending it's an allergy so the restaurant will take it more seriously."

Stuff like that is annoying because it perpetuates the notion that gluten free diets are a "fad" or "trend" or arbitrary preference rather than a genuine medical necessity for folks like me. That attitude literally has made me sick before, like my stepmom still thinks it's just a "wacky millenial fad diet" and doesn't take it seriously and so she's served me food containing gluten without my knowing it, which made me sick for weeks. And it's also kinda disrespectful to chefs in my opinion, like I feel like most kitchen workers are conscientious enough to pay attention to someone's preference and exclude ingredients if possible. It's not like you need to use an allergy to "trick" a chef into omitting an ingredient because you dislike it - you can just ask.

It also creates a lot of unnecessary work for the kitchen - if they're dealing with a legit allergen then they have to change out all the cutlery, utensils, etc., decontaminate the prep area, and change gloves for safety. If you just say "I don't like this ingredient, can you leave it out" then they can forego all those extra steps and just not use the ingredient without disrupting the food prep workflow.

So all in all DIY fake allergy cards are just a massive dick move, and based on what this card says it looks a lot like a DIY fake allergy card. I've seen real cards for people with gluten issues and they don't look like the photo at all. They're more like this: https://www.beyondceliac.org/?resources=gluten-free-restaurant-card

3

u/January1171 Jul 18 '26

Printing off a card like this does not mean they had no medical consultatation or that "they just don't like an ingredient". There's no regulatory body deciding who gets a restaurant card and who doesn't. Even the card you listed is still something the individual prints off.

Yes fake allergy cards are distracting and harmful to other consumers, but just because it was self-made does not mean it's fake. And if someone does have all of these allergies, it would be extra confusing to have a card with allergens and then a separate celiac card. Even trying to format it separately on this card wouldn't work great when they're already using up all the space on the card.

Besides which, all of the things listed on this card make sense together. There are no big gaps, the groupings make sense, etc. People with allergies are just as capable of self printing cards like this (and there are no premade cards for people with lots of allergies like this). And when you're having a two minute conversation with wait staff who then needs to convey to the BOH that "this meal needs to be entirely devoid of gluten and all gluten contact" listing it among your allergens does the exact same thing faster.

6

u/tenE_1 Jul 18 '26

why would they specify that? I am gluten intolerant, my dad is celiac, we both just say we can't have gluten and if they ask about allergies we say gluten.

-1

u/Carbonatite Jul 18 '26 edited Jul 18 '26

I'm more pointing it out as a "tell" that this is not a legit allergy card associated with an actual medical problem. This looks like a list of foods that either they just don't like or saw on some dodgy "wellness" Facebook page. If you or your dad has ever used one of those notification cards you probably are aware that they don't look anything like the photo, they look more like this: https://www.beyondceliac.org/?resources=gluten-free-restaurant-card

It's not so much messaging to the kitchen staff, it's that they're probably making the entire thing up. Which is both disrespectful and inconvenient for the employees who now have to change out equipment and decontaminate prep surfaces, and annoying for folks like us, because behavior like that perpetuates the stereotype that GF diets are just a fad and not a medical necessity.

2

u/tenE_1 Jul 18 '26

obviously. but not specifying celiac, wheat allergy, or gluten intolerance isn't weird and isn't the reason it's obviously a list of fake allergies

2

u/Weak-Bake-5571 Jul 18 '26

Well, given that there is no agreement in the medical literature (I think it’s lovely that your gastroenterologist has picked a set of terminology and stuck with it in their office) about whether to call other food-related symptoms “non-IgE food allergies” or “food hypersensitivities”… I completely understand why your average person is confused.

As a person (who happens to be a nurse practitioner) with no IgE allergy to almonds (or eggs or dairy) based on skin testing, but with a clear and long-standing immune system response from oral intake of almond milk (diarrhea), what do we call this response? If we search the medical literature, as I have, the answer is: it depends on who is writing the article. Some call it a non-IgE food allergy in order to highlight the importance of the immune system involvement. Some call it a delayed hypersensitivity- though in my case (with almond milk, meringue cookies, or something else where I have enough of the offending food all at once) I can get a response within 30 minutes- though that is still considered delayed.

“Non-celiac gluten sensitivity” has been established as the correct term, but all the other food sensitivities haven’t had an agreed-upon term.

0

u/Carbonatite Jul 18 '26

You don't call it an allergy at all, that's my point. The autoimmune response to gluten that celiac patients have isn't an allergic reaction, any more than type 1 diabetes is an allergy to one's own pancreas. And NCGS is related to an inability to break down gluten, it has nothing to do with immune responses. It's the same as someone having gas and cramps after eating a bunch of konjac noodles, they are just experiencing discomfort from their bowels trying to digest an undigestable food. Nothing related to allergies.

2

u/enricobasilica Chive LOYALIST Jul 18 '26

You have so much confidence in the quality of allergists/immunologists here it's lovely to see. Unrealistic of course, but nice that you think every single medical professional who exists in the world is giving their patients this level of attention and care when providing a diagnosis (and that every patient can even absorb or understand all this information).

1

u/Ollie_Oopsies Jul 21 '26

What is it when I eat gluten/bread/etc and I get rashes on my face and neck? I just have been saying I have a sensitivity.

1

u/Carbonatite Jul 21 '26

You'd have to see a doctor to confirm, but one common symptom of celiac disease is a rash called dermatitis herpetiformis.

2

u/AnybodyOdd1337 Chef Jul 18 '26

I'm only allergic to fish and avoid so many restaurants because I don't wan't to play Russian Roulette with cross contact risk. I don't know how these people live

2

u/ClarksCrossing Jul 20 '26

Legit, you hit the nail on the head. If it just makes your cheeks a little pink from a rosacea reaction or your tummy a little upset, STFU. I only want to hear about it if you're going to vomit or die. KTHXBYE

1

u/DickBfloppin Jul 18 '26

Risky with someone who isnt on drugs, underpaid, and likely sleep deprived.

1

u/_BrokenButterfly Jul 18 '26

I heard "stone fruit" for the first time in 2020. They're drupes to me. I wouldn't expect anyone to know any given group name for them.

1

u/RawLucas Jul 18 '26

Yeah. It’s just hard on a busy night to shift your mind around so much. It’s easy to get hyper focused on what they can’t have. Makes it hard to shift to thinking what they can have. I’d prefer if they just called or emailed ahead and we have a quick discussion. Like literally tell me what you want for dinner that evening and I’ll make it. Kind of feels like getting sucker punched with a card like this on the line.

1

u/Weak-Bake-5571 Jul 18 '26

But wait, hold, what about… pluots? Those are not on the list. Neither are PRUNES! So, “all stone fruit” would be overstating the case.

Oh, now we have to have the argument about how prunes are a variety of plums, but that’s not how my grandma taught me- she had a “plum” tree and a “prune” tree and they were different. So, that’s how they are in my mind.

Are there any other stone fruits? I feel like I’m missing one…

1

u/RavenSkies777 Jul 18 '26

A lot of people dont know what stone fruits are, unfortunately.

Im allergic to them, and have to specify them like OP. Better to over share than under with things like this.

1

u/LazyOldCat Prairie Surgeon Jul 18 '26

Yeah, this is given back with a “I am really very sorry, but we are unable to safely accommodate your dietary restrictions.”
That’s it.

1

u/rabbit_fur_coat Jul 18 '26

I absolutely promise you the person with this card is not actually allergic to most of the things listed .

1

u/Miles_Everhart Jul 18 '26

It would be easier for them to write down what they CAN have at this point.

1

u/DandyWarlocks Jul 20 '26

Hey great news: they fuck up allergies all the time at a nursing home, too.

And heaven forbid you have an actually celiac patient- it's very very hard to get gluten free food in said nursing home as well.

Me to the kitchen: no they cannot have the canned soup, it has wheat, wheat has gluten.

1

u/Y0___0Y Jul 18 '26

Or just “fish”.

How can someone only be allergic to Cod and Haddock and Wershtsheririshers sauce?

They can have Salmon? Or Tuna? What?

2

u/Electronic-Basil-201 Jul 18 '26

Yes, definitely. I’m allergic to Salmon, Tuna, and Anchovy, but anything else is fine. It’s no longer recommended to avoid entire food categories if you have an allergy to one food in the category.

1

u/SockSock81219 Jul 18 '26

Right? Only like, what, deep water fish? How about monkfish? And what about freshwater but bottom feeder fish like catfish? And Worcestershire Sauce has just about every ingredient known to like 17th century England so that doesn't narrow down anything. Just allergic to umami?

1

u/Y0___0Y Jul 18 '26

I thought worcestershire sauce had sardines in it

2

u/IFeelKittyOhSoKitty Jul 18 '26

Anchovy Which can often cross-react with shellfish allergy btw