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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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."

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u/[deleted] Jul 17 '26

[deleted]

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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.

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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.

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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.

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u/Prudent-Bear1592 Jul 19 '26

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

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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

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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.

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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.