important food question!

[eyespy]

This summer I'll be hitting Europe. The countries I may or may not hit are : Germany, Belgium, Austria, Czech, Slovakia and Hungary.

What I need to know is : Do these countries use peanut/nut ingredients when cooking? I'm deadly allergic to nuts and need to know. I will avoid the obvious such as chocolates and likely ask places when am there, but would like to know ahead of time. I mainly want to know for resteraunts. Are any of these places prone to using nut ingredients in their meals?

Thanks a ton for any responses!

[me]

if i were in your shoes, i'd be especially wary of the food in Hungary, Czech Rep, and Slovak Rep!

these alergies are truly deadly! be careful!

[LHR02]

Germany, Austria and Hungary do not regularly use any sort of nuts in normal cooking....except for desserts. Not certain about the other two. I would have a printed card in that languages specifying your severe allergy to hand to any waiter/cook rather than try to get your message across in less than fluent language. Seem to recall Kim saying she did that with regards to being a vegetarian. To have it clearly written out in 'their' language could well save you a severe reaction.

[Kim]

It's hard to say either way as, like here, it differs from restaurant to restaurant.

I suggest trying to find someone before you leave that speaks the local language of each country and get them to write that you are deathly allergic to nuts on a piece of paper that you can show places to make sure they are understanding you.

Or you could see if you can find cards to order online - this one is printed in English, French, German, Italian and Spanish. Maybe see if you can find one that works for the rest of the countries you are going to.

www.dietarycard.com/pic.html

Kim

[eyespy]

Thanks alot!

Obviously this is a huge concern for me as a traveller as I already rule off Asia, etc.

I am obviously going to stay away from chocolates, ice cream and such like that and I'll make sure to learn the words for nuts and such for when I buy groceries. I'm only planning on eating breakfast and supper supplied by the country (breakfast at hotel, supper in a place in city) I was just wondering if the Germans used peanut oil or anything with their meat and things like that throughout the countries.

Thanks for the help so far, and I'll definately look into it as well as the cards which were a great idea! If anyone has more useful info I'd greatly appreciate it!

[Cat]

Hi there!

Maybe some other members could help you translate, if you can't find cards in all languages.

For example, if you write down exactly what your allergies are, I can translate it in Dutch (I'm a native Dutch speaker) . You might need this, since you are planning on visiting Belgium. People there speak either French or Flemmisch (= similar to Dutch) or German. There are quite a few people who can speak two or three of those languages, but with that allergy, you can't take any risks of course. And you'll need the Dutch translation if you are doing your grocery shopping.

If you are interested, send me a private message on this forum.

Cat

[eyespy]

Thanks for all the help.

As you can imagine this is a big concern for me. I've decided against Budapest and now am mainly only concerned about Czech and Slovak cooking. German, Austrian, and such should be ok aside from deserts.

I'll be sure to learn the words for reading ingredients and the phrase card is a great idea. I may even make one that I can use in an emergency if I have a reaction...especially if I travel alone.

Just wondering...how are the Euro places with labelling ingredients? In Canada/USA they put "May Contain" warnings on anything potentially dangerous (even 1% chance) and I would prefer to know how much caution I need to take over there.

Thanks

[Apedemak]

From someone who works in the food industry, every time you eat make sure that you inform the establishment of your needs. Some dishes that you may not think could contain nuts might. Where I have worked, I have seen cards with allergies printed on them, this works best and is appreciated. The server may not know for sure, always get the card to someone in the kitchen.

Andrew

[eyespy]

Thanks. It's a lot easier in Canada/America and it just hit me the last day or 2 that I need to make sure I get this totally under control. Thanks for all the suggestions.