Bringing Outside Safe Food In?
Which one of these things is not like the other?
Do you see the Bonne Maman jar in the upper right corner of the frame?
Yup, that's mine, from home. It contains about 3 ounces of Lactaid milk for my tea. I'm lactose intolerant and I don't know one restaurant in New York that offers lactose-free milk. Skim milk, soy milk, sure; but lactose-free, not so much. So, I brought my own for this breakfast meeting at Le Pain Quotidien. [BTW: NOT a safe spot for anyone with a wheat or tree nuts allergy as it's all breads and pastries. As you can see I was having a soft boiled egg that was contaminant free].
You know what? Not one person in the restaurant questioned it. I thought I might get a stray look, a glance, maybe even an eyebrow raise but nothing. It was a non-event. Brilliant! If Lactaid only came in UHT packs I could carry some around with me all the time.
**
I wonder how many of you are not eating out because of food allergies and food intolerances? Between cross contamination, aerosolyzed protein particles, poor communication between the kitchen and servers and poorer food safety education, there are many very excellent reasons not to leave the safety of the home kitchen.
Yet, there are other equally good reasons to leave one's house and venture out and even if it's a non focused food event there's usually food with which one must contend. Movies, food. Bowling, food. Hiking, food. Skiing/ice skating, food. Art opening, food. College classes, food. Now they even let you bring food into a Broadway theater! Sheesh.
I wonder how many of you consider bringing your own dinner with you to a social food or non-food gathering? I've brought safe foods to social gatherings many times or I've eaten at home pre-event.
Bringing food into a restaurant? Even I have done that rarely, if ever. My sense is that generally restaurants don't like it when you do that. They charge a corkage fee when you bring your own wine and a plating fee when you bring your own cake, I wonder what would a restaurant charge if I brought my own entree--an entree-age fee?
What if a restaurant didn't feel safe accommodating me but I had to eat there for work or a unbreakable social engagement? I wonder what would happen. Could they deny me outside food? Hmmm, maybe I should trying bringing my tuperwared dinner just to see what would happen; it would be an interesting experiment.
Do any of you bring outside food in?
Do you see the Bonne Maman jar in the upper right corner of the frame?
Yup, that's mine, from home. It contains about 3 ounces of Lactaid milk for my tea. I'm lactose intolerant and I don't know one restaurant in New York that offers lactose-free milk. Skim milk, soy milk, sure; but lactose-free, not so much. So, I brought my own for this breakfast meeting at Le Pain Quotidien. [BTW: NOT a safe spot for anyone with a wheat or tree nuts allergy as it's all breads and pastries. As you can see I was having a soft boiled egg that was contaminant free].
You know what? Not one person in the restaurant questioned it. I thought I might get a stray look, a glance, maybe even an eyebrow raise but nothing. It was a non-event. Brilliant! If Lactaid only came in UHT packs I could carry some around with me all the time.
**
I wonder how many of you are not eating out because of food allergies and food intolerances? Between cross contamination, aerosolyzed protein particles, poor communication between the kitchen and servers and poorer food safety education, there are many very excellent reasons not to leave the safety of the home kitchen.
Yet, there are other equally good reasons to leave one's house and venture out and even if it's a non focused food event there's usually food with which one must contend. Movies, food. Bowling, food. Hiking, food. Skiing/ice skating, food. Art opening, food. College classes, food. Now they even let you bring food into a Broadway theater! Sheesh.
I wonder how many of you consider bringing your own dinner with you to a social food or non-food gathering? I've brought safe foods to social gatherings many times or I've eaten at home pre-event.
Bringing food into a restaurant? Even I have done that rarely, if ever. My sense is that generally restaurants don't like it when you do that. They charge a corkage fee when you bring your own wine and a plating fee when you bring your own cake, I wonder what would a restaurant charge if I brought my own entree--an entree-age fee?
What if a restaurant didn't feel safe accommodating me but I had to eat there for work or a unbreakable social engagement? I wonder what would happen. Could they deny me outside food? Hmmm, maybe I should trying bringing my tuperwared dinner just to see what would happen; it would be an interesting experiment.
Do any of you bring outside food in?
Comments
hmm interesting. did they charge you a fee?
im glad you've been able to find places near you that are cool with that.
i bet there'd be a sigh of relief too if i walked into a resto with my list of allergies and a tuperware pack. i may just have to try it out. ;-)
I've made it a practice to bring my own wheat free tamari to sushi restaurants for ages, though, and no one has ever questioned it. It's easiest when i have one of the little plastic condiment pouches, but I've even brought in pepper jars containing soy sauce... and yes, it leaked.
I brought dessert to a wedding once- best cheesecake ever. ;)
-Sea
www.bookofyum.com
When I was in Paris last summer, I brought a dozen homemade GF muffins with me and took one into the hotel dining room for breakfast each morning (although I paid for a continental breakfast so I could have some fruit and water for my tea). No one gave me any grief about that either.
One trend I have noticed in restaurants of late is how many pre-marinated things there are. Makes it very difficult for those of us with allergies. I try to stick to better restaurants, but I had an experience once where the only thing on the menu that wasn't pre-marinated was the scallops! Lucky for me I am not allergic to shellfish.
Karen
http://herselfgluten-free.blogspot.com
i'm curious, where have you been bringing the pan/spatula combo? neighborhood places or other kinds of restos here in NYC?
“Mostly more upscale Asian restaurants, since they tend to have less dairy ingredients. We started with an UWS place, Rain, because we know one of the owners, and felt that they would take my son's restrictions seriously. They have been extremely gracious each time we go (we always call ahead, and try to go on the earlier end, when they are not as busy). I would recommend them to anyone with allergy restrictions, although probably not for those with severe nut allergies.
We have also had success at a run of the mill Chinese place, although communication (language barrier) was more complicated. But that is the beauty of the pan and spatula from home -- it reduces the possibility that the chef, kitchen staff may get all the ingredients right (which tends to be less of a problem in our experience) but then sticks the safe food on a contaminated grill or pan. This is where communication often breaks down...
We intend to expand our restaurant repertoire, and in that respect, your blog recommendations are great!!”
a try. they have a GF menu and are allergen friendly. i've been there a bunch and co-owner maggie is helpful and allergy aware.
"For years Miss Channing carried her own food in silver containers, to restaurants and social gatherings. Some thought it was an affectation. Not so: her food was prepared with bottled water, because she was allergic to something in tap water, she says. Added to that, was another allergy, diagnosed recently, from her hair dye.
When she stopped using the hair dye, her sensitivity to tap water eased. Now she can eat anything other than sugar."
I love it when people are bold enough to do what they have to take care of themselves without being intimidated by serving staff. Once when I was out to dinner with a doctor friend and his hamburger smelled really bad, he just pushed it aside and refused to let the server know there was a problem, preferring to go hungry rather than call attention to himself or be what he considered impolite.
I certainly understand that restaurants stay in business by selling food and not encouraging people to bring their own, but for the allergic person who otherwise couldn't join their friends it's not an everyday/every meal occurence and the pan/spatula idea is genius!