Restaurant tried to kill me just now!

Capt'n Midnight · 01-12-2014 11:46PM

MadsL wrote: »

14 listed allergenic ingredients in the production or preparation of food.

More info here.
https://www.fsai.ie/faq/allergens.html

Defo a gap in the market there - a dish with all allergens , garlic and really hot and spicy

with the usual *warning this will kill you* disclaimers

you wouldn't be able to shift it quick enough at closing time

Dubl07 · 02-12-2014 12:15AM

tara83 wrote: »

I'd suspect that the pesto actually contained cashew nuts. Although pesto should contain pine nuts which aren't an allergen as far as I'm aware, the pesto in jars generally contains cashew nuts instead. I found out the hard way

Pine nut prices having gone through the roof, I was told recently by a supplier that a number of restaurants are using cashews as a substitute in pesto. At least if the stuff's in a jar you can read down the list of ingredients. If it's on a menu (or unlisted), and you were fine with pine nuts but not with cashews - disaster. Poor form from restaurateurs.

My sympathies, Witchie. Do some batch cooking for your freezer at the weekends and give your system a break from all your known allergens, then you might stop the cascade and even be able down the line to reintroduce some of the foods that currently cause problems. I've been in the A&E on numerous occasions and hooked up to O2 for hours for the same issues. What people fail to realise is that when the immune system goes off-track the list of allergic substances is rarely obedient enough to remain static.

IsaacWunder · 02-12-2014 12:27AM

rawn wrote: »

There are 14 allergens that must be declared on all foods, legislation goes into effect in 2 weeks so the restaurant is fully aware of this so they should have more cop on. And for those saying "he should have asked", he is right in thinking that mac and cheese doesn't traditionally contain nuts, nor does it suggest it in the name. The takeaway owners should know better. I'd give the EHO a bell.

Why do you suggest ringing the EHO? Nothing has been done wrong by the restaurant:

1. Pine nuts are not one of the 14 listed allergens.

2. In any event, as you point out, the regulations don't come in for two weeks.

Tradition doesn't come into it. If you have a rare and serious food allergy it's your responsibility to ask when ordering from a restaurant as a good chef will often substitute ingredients.

Arbiter of Good Taste · 02-12-2014 12:33AM

I just googled "Mac and cheese with pesto"

A lot of recipes come up

Banjo String · 02-12-2014 12:36AM

I have a nut allergy also.

The bastards in my class at school user to make me play 'Russian Roulette" with them almost every day using a bag of Revels. :mad:

Witchie · 02-12-2014 12:48AM

Arbiter of Good Taste wrote: »

I just googled "Mac and cheese with pesto"

A lot of recipes come up

Yeah and if it had been advertised as Mac and Cheese with pesto there is no way I would have ordered it.

suicide_circus · 02-12-2014 01:03AM

The gf ordered some kind of vegetarian panino in a deli the other day. It contained generous helpings of chorizo.

MadsL · 02-12-2014 03:44AM

Jawgap wrote: »

You could mention that the EU FIC Regs come into force next week - they deal with provision of allergen info in respect of non-prepacked food

I did.

ElizaT33 wrote: »

I've a wheat/gluten allergy - it's so annoying when you're in a restaurant and the waiter/waitress looks at you like you've two heads when you ask is a food type safe for you!!

And so many times, because of their ignorance (and they are in the catering trade!!), I've just 'taken the chance' so as not to cause waves - and have been very sick the next day!

Or they could be sick and tired of being told people have a gluten allergy when there is no evidence for it. Celiac desease yes, allergy no. If you haven't been tested positive for celiac then it is unlikely that gluten is the cause of your symptoms.

http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2014/05/14/gluten-intolerance-fake_n_5327420.html

Deenie123 · 02-12-2014 08:18AM

MadsL wrote: »

I did.

Or they could be sick and tired of being told people have a gluten allergy when there is no evidence for it. Celiac desease yes, allergy no. If you haven't been tested positive for celiac then it is unlikely that gluten is the cause of your symptoms.

http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2014/05/14/gluten-intolerance-fake_n_5327420.html

Wow, how condescending. I've had people tell me I'm probably not actually lactose intolerant, or just go ahead and lace my food with it after being specifically told to omit dairy because I can't toleratd it. Not because they know something I don't know, rather, because they just reckon I'm making it up. Check your attitude, if people are being THAT fussy it's probably for a reason.

Barely There · 02-12-2014 09:17AM

There's no such thing as food allergies.
It's just picky eaters who are trying to medicalise their condition in an effort to win sympathy.

Don't fall for it.

Overflow · 02-12-2014 09:41AM

Witchie wrote: »

This allergy has just developed in the past few months out of nowhere and I am still getting used to doing that. I usually do, in fact I always do and not casually! I always list what am allergic to and get them to check and check again.

I think I was a bit distracted being upsetting news I had today and just never in a million years thought that there would be pesto or any kinda nuts in mac and cheese!

I know it is a bit my fault, my allergies my responsibility, but I think am more in shock that anyone would put pesto in mac and cheese than anything else!

Its actually quite common:

https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=mac%20and%20cheese%20pesto

danrua01 · 02-12-2014 09:46AM

I think when ordering mac and cheese you can really expect anything, saying it's not really an Italian dish...

everlast75 · 02-12-2014 10:02AM

On a more general point I think restraunts can be quite lazy/careless when detailing food on their menus.

I have an intense dislike of onions/scallions etc and the amount of times I've ordered food, which doesn't list them as being with the meal, turning up on the plate is enough to turn a dislike of onions into a freaking hatred. They even appear in burgers or egg mayo with no mention.

Everytime I go for a meal now I either ask if there are any onions in the dinner (sometimes to the look of confusion of the waiting staff as if to say "of course not") or don't mention it and be pretty much guaranteed that the little f***ers turn up.

I sympathise with the OP in that respect. I knkw its more serious with an allergy but if you don't reasonably expect it you do feel annoyed. I once ordered a fry one morning and it came out with onions!! I nearly lost the rag

Just have to be vigilant, ask and presume the worst

Penny Tration · 02-12-2014 10:08AM

Barely There wrote: »

There's no such thing as food allergies.
It's just picky eaters who are trying to medicalise their condition in an effort to win sympathy.

Don't fall for it.

Must tell that to my 8 year old cousin who almost died from eating a peanut. Fussy basterd!

pwurple · 02-12-2014 10:09AM

Witchie wrote: »

This allergy has just developed in the past few months out of nowhere and I am still getting used to doing that. I usually do, in fact I always do and not casually! I always list what am allergic to and get them to check and check again.

I think I was a bit distracted being upsetting news I had today and just never in a million years thought that there would be pesto or any kinda nuts in mac and cheese!

I know it is a bit my fault, my allergies my responsibility, but I think am more in shock that anyone would put pesto in mac and cheese than anything else!

Pine nuts are rarely in pesto anymore. You reacted to cashew or peanuts... the cheap filler nuts they horse into pesto.

source: daughter with nut allergy.

Dan_Solo · 02-12-2014 10:10AM

Dumb post tried to kill my brain just now!

Gummy Panda · 02-12-2014 10:10AM

Mac and cheese should not contain pesto

But Mac and cheese is horrible

osarusan · 02-12-2014 10:44AM

Barely There wrote: »

There's no such thing as food allergies.
It's just picky eaters who are trying to medicalise their condition in an effort to win sympathy.

Don't fall for it.

It's quite an achievement to fit so much stupidity into only 28 words.

Dan_Solo · 02-12-2014 10:50AM

osarusan wrote: »

It's quite an achievement to fit so much stupidity into only 28 words.

Gunshots and cancer aren't bad for you. It's just people looking for attention...

darkpagandeath · 02-12-2014 11:14AM

Amazing people who have severe allergies don't tell staff about this, I think you will find it's your responsibility to make sure you don't eat products that may or may not contain your allergies trigger. If they cant tell you 100% it does not contain Nuts for example don't order it. Why is it everyone else's responsibility now ? and people feel it's not their own.

Shenshen · 02-12-2014 11:21AM

darkpagandeath wrote: »

Amazing people who have severe allergies don't tell staff about this, I think you will find it's your responsibility to make sure you don't eat products that may or may not contain your allergies trigger. If they cant tell you 100% it does not contain Nuts for example don't order it. Why is it everyone else's responsibility now ? and people feel it's not their own.

I've no allergies myself but had a close friend growing up who had more than her fair share.

She'd be rather good at always checking the ingredients etc. but you honestly don't expect some allergens to be in certain foods. I remember she had a rather bad attack one day after someone had added chopped hazelnuts to a burger - without mentioning that on the menu.

It would not have occured to me to make sure the mac and cheese don't contain nut - not in a million years.
I think it you as a food producer decide to change a standard recipe to contain non-standard items, it would be up to you to point out that you did.

If I as a vegetarian had ordered the mac and cheese and found it contained chicken or ham, I would be just as annoyed (though obviously in no medical danger) as Witchie.

kylith · 02-12-2014 11:47AM

everlast75 wrote: »

On a more general point I think restraunts can be quite lazy/careless when detailing food on their menus.

I have an intense dislike of onions/scallions etc and the amount of times I've ordered food, which doesn't list them as being with the meal, turning up on the plate is enough to turn a dislike of onions into a freaking hatred. They even appear in burgers or egg mayo with no mention.

Everytime I go for a meal now I either ask if there are any onions in the dinner (sometimes to the look of confusion of the waiting staff as if to say "of course not") or don't mention it and be pretty much guaranteed that the little f***ers turn up.

I sympathise with the OP in that respect. I knkw its more serious with an allergy but if you don't reasonably expect it you do feel annoyed. I once ordered a fry one morning and it came out with onions!! I nearly lost the rag

Just have to be vigilant, ask and presume the worst

I too hate the little oniony feckers, but I've just learned to accept that they're in everything. I won't eat egg mayo that I haven't made myself and with everything else I try to just ignore them and power through.

MadsL wrote: »

I did.

Or they could be sick and tired of being told people have a gluten allergy when there is no evidence for it. Celiac desease yes, allergy no. If you haven't been tested positive for celiac then it is unlikely that gluten is the cause of your symptoms.

http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2014/05/14/gluten-intolerance-fake_n_5327420.html

Yeah, but it's not a waiter's place to decide what food intolerances a person does or does not have. It's their place to tell the customer what dishes are suitable for them to eat. If I order a burger with no onions and it comes with onions on it because the waiter has decided that I'm just a picky fecker then I am sure as hell going to complain.

darkpagandeath · 02-12-2014 11:47AM

Shenshen wrote: »

I've no allergies myself but had a close friend growing up who had more than her fair share.

She'd be rather good at always checking the ingredients etc. but you honestly don't expect some allergens to be in certain foods. I remember she had a rather bad attack one day after someone had added chopped hazelnuts to a burger - without mentioning that on the menu.

It would not have occured to me to make sure the mac and cheese don't contain nut - not in a million years.
I think it you as a food producer decide to change a standard recipe to contain non-standard items, it would be up to you to point out that you did.

If I as a vegetarian had ordered the mac and cheese and found it contained chicken or ham, I would be just as annoyed (though obviously in no medical danger) as Witchie.

That's the problem though if it does not say "No Nut's" next to the menu item I would be asking. We can all assume anything. Jelly may be made in a factory that produces nuts. Would you think jelly may contain nuts ? Food manufactures have to label if it does though.

Shenshen · 02-12-2014 11:58AM

darkpagandeath wrote: »

That's the problem though if it does not say "No Nut's" next to the menu item I would be asking. We can all assume anything. Jelly may be made in a factory that produces nuts. Would you think jelly may contain nuts ? Food manufactures have to label if it does though.

As should restaurants, really.

If the menu doesn't mention the pesto in the dish, I too would complain to be honest.

GG66 · 02-12-2014 12:18PM

Witchie wrote: »

Thank you. I was at a restaurant in Sligo on a hen night back in June and made it clear when booking the restaurant about my allergies, again to the manager when we arrived and again to the waitress when ordering.

My starter and main were fine (not very tasty but safe) and then dessert came, with nuts in it, I said as they were serving those around me that I couldn't eat that coz of the nuts, so they offered to make me a different dessert. They brought out panacotta. As a vegetarian I wasn't going to eat it as it had a layer of jelly on top but 2 of the others at the table decided to eat it.....they then told me that there was coconut in it! So even when you are being careful sometimes restaurants feck it up. It's like food roulette sometimes out there.

That sounds like a familiar experience. We've even started to explain the implications of nuts appearing in food if we don't feel the staff are listening and grasping it. "I may die in your restaurant if you serve me nuts" usually gets their attention"

Corcaigh84 · 02-12-2014 12:51PM

The real tragedy here is OP paid €8.50 for mac & cheese

percy212 · 02-12-2014 01:10PM

Hope you are ok today OP. After Hours is a great place to let off a bit of steam when you are frustrated. As you can see some of the posters are not very sympathetic though....its just that kind of forum. Indeed many of the posts could be labelled "contains stupid"

Rubberchikken · 02-12-2014 01:12PM

odd to put pesto in a mac and cheese. but if you have an allergy like that you would probably be better off double checking, especially in new places.
hope you're not in hospital:)

Magico Gonzalez · 02-12-2014 01:30PM

Sensible restaurants should have a disclaimer along the lines of "our dishes may contain nuts, please ask before ordering to help us avoid killing you"

Mac and cheese is an american invention, probably by some industrial sh1t merchant like kraft. Probably thought that by lobbing a bit of pesto at it they were Italian-ising it.

Was it advertised as mac and cheese or something else? No description on the menu? Seems odd.

maniac2000 · 02-12-2014 01:44PM

Witchie wrote: »

I wanted to check with the chef that it was indeed a full on pesto with pine nuts so that I could know how my evening was going to pan out but as my lips are swollen, whatever was in it, I am allergic anyway. Thankfully I have like a slow motion version of anaphylaxis known as agiodema so I have time to get myself sorted.

I do always check but this one time that I took my eye off the ball........ agggh! Angry at myself.

You might want to dig a little deeper on your condition because angioedema is not a slow-motion version of anaphalaxis but the bodys reaction to this allergen. Angioedema is swelling of the skin and underlying tissue and is a result of an anaphalaxis reaction!

also angioedema generally has a rapid onset which can be quite serious/life threatening around the neck and face (for obv reasons)

Restaurant tried to kill me just now!

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