All posts by Morgan Smith

College with Food Allergies, Emotional Aspects of Food Allergies, Food Allergies & Asthma

Alcohol and Food Allergies

Disclaimer: This post is not medical advice. This article is written from Morgan’s perspective of managing his food allergies to peanuts, tree nuts, sesame, fish and shellfish.

I returned from a trip to Seattle in early September, having educated a bartend at a fairly high-end cocktail bar on how many gins can contain tree nuts, and realized that it might be worthwhile to write a post on navigating alcohol with food allergies. If some bartends don’t even know… I can only imagine where everyone else is! 

This is an incredibly expansive topic. It’s made much more complicated by the growth of the “craft” industry (craft beer, craft cocktails, craft cider, etc.) that yields infinite variations in products. I’m going to address a few background items first and then share some notes on specific types of alcohol. 

Background Notes

Allergy Labeling 

At the end of Prohibition in the U.S., the responsibility for labeling alcohol did not fall to the FDA but a different federal agency, the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB). So as a quirk of history, when the FDA started to regulate nutrition labels in the 1990s on all packaged foods, alcohol was not affected. 

This creates an obvious problem – you don’t always know what is inside the bottle or can you’ve purchased. That means you could buy a bottle of Southern Comfort and have no idea it contains tree nuts as a flavoring product. Or, order a cocktail that uses Frangelico (a liqueur) and the bartend couldn’t check the bottle to see it contains hazelnuts. 

This makes drinking alcohol a minefield for someone who has one or more allergens. At a different high-end bar we went to, my boyfriend ordered a drink that contained a specialty Vietnamese liqueur. It turns out it contained cashew, but it was only through sheer luck that the producer voluntarily mentioned that ingredient on the label. (For the record, I don’t have drinks with mystery liqueurs so I wouldn’t have been drinking it anyway) 

This is something that needs to change. 

Production Labeling

On the other hand, the TTB is notoriously strict about what a producer can put on their label. This is because before (and after) Prohibition, many liquor producers were adding poisonous substances like gunpowder and trying to pass it off as a legit product. In order to restore confidence in products being sold, we forced producers to only use certain terms that indicated a certain quality of production.

Southern Comfort is labeled as “spirit whiskey with natural flavors and caramel color.” Those “natural flavors” include tree nuts derivatives. 

Whereas Four Roses, a popular bourbon, is labeled as “kentucky straight bourbon whiskey.” By law, Kentucky straight bourbon cannot contain any added colors or flavors – it must be 40% ABV or higher, aged in new oak barrels for two years, and must be made from at least 51% corn. In this case, it could be a handy rule to avoid anything that says “natural flavors” on the label.

Not all categories are useful. A “London Dry Gin” is a type of gin made with a low amount of sugar (hence, dry) but can encompass gins that are made with almonds (Bombay Sapphire) and those that aren’t (Tanqueray). 

Craft Production

Due to the federal deregulation of alcohol under Jimmy Carter’s presidency, there has been a boom of small producers across the country – usually called “craft producers.” Some of these craft producers have grown to be mega-brands in their own right, such as Left Hand Brewing and High West Distillery. 

Craft producers are usually more transparent than the big producers. They are also more accessible – since they’re a local small business, you can call them up and ask a question about their production. They will know the answer to whether they use wheat in their craft whisky, for example. Calling up one of the mega-corps? Less likely to be successful. 

Notes on Alcohol Types

I didn’t start drinking until I had conducted thorough research on how alcohol is made. Over the years, I’ve tallied up more insight into each category. This is hardly an all-encompassing explainer, but here are some notes on the major styles of liquor and some things to watch out for. 

I’ve also done distillery tours in Scotland, brewery tours in the U.S. and Canada, and tours of craft producers in the U.S. This kind of information isn’t really something that is a Google search away (or, it would take you a lot of time to compile this – it’s taken me years!).

Visiting the Talisker Distillery on the Isle of Skye, Scotland

Wine

Wine is one of the most straightforward and well-regulated types of alcohol on the market. The primary allergen typically used in production are sulphites, which appear naturally in both red and white wines (although whites usually have far fewer). 

Whether you’re buying a French Bordeaux, an Australian Shiraz, or drinking bottom-shelf wine from a box… wine is always made from grapes or other fruit, but if it’s made from other fruit, it has to be labeled as “fruit wine.” 

Wine is harvested from grape plants and then dried out on large stands before adding yeast to ferment in order to produce alcohol. To make a sparkling wine like Champagne, they put the product in a bottle with more yeast to ferment further. 

Wine is typically aged in glass, ceramic, concrete, stainless steel, or oak casks. They are allowed to add grape juice (or fruit juice) at some point in the production process and still call it wine, as well as Yellow No. 3 coloring and carmine (an additive). 

There are a few odd wines I’ve seen in my time – an almond wine, for example (but they must label it as an almond wine since it’s not made from only grapes). But wine is typically a pretty straightforward alcohol for many people with allergens given the strict requirements on added flavors and production process. 

A small vineyard in Tuscany that I visited in April 2022

Beer

Beer is more complicated. 

The major brands like Bud Light have actually added a voluntary ingredients label (“Water, Barley, Rice, Hops.”) Traditional beer is made from malted barley. Barley, a grain crop, is harvested and then tricked into sprouting its sugary seeds using hot water. This is called malting. After the barley has been tricked, the brewer drains off the water filled with sugary barley, ferments it with yeast, and then makes it into beer. Most brewers also add hops, a bitter flower, for flavoring. 

In 2015, the TTB modified its guidance and allowed beer makers to sell beer with many added ingredients as long as they were labeled on the package. This is about as close as you can get to an ingredients list. You can see a list here. And, you can see their guidance on how those additions might appear on a label here. Basically, there needs to be at least some description besides “beer” that notifies the consumer that there’s been fruit or spices added to the beer. 

However! In recent decades, brewers have also used other grains to make beer – including wheat, rice, corn, oats, and rye grains. In this case, you might find beers that are called “wheat beers” or an “oatmeal stout” (which is a stout, a dark beer, brewed with oats). However, the beermaker is not required to list wheat or any alternative grain unless it comprises at least 25% of the grains used. That is particularly unfortunate if you have a particular allergy to a type of grain, instead of all grains. 

This yields an unexpected trade-off in beer. On one hand – finding out that a mass-produced beer like Heineken is safe for you is very helpful, because they are going to make it the same exact way everywhere in the world and it’s a very simple recipe without any additives. They are using barley, water, and hops (and yeast). On the other, you can call up your local craft brewer and see what kinds of grains and additives they use and get clarity on what they put into the beer. But local craft producers might sneak in unusual ingredients. 

I’ve seen plenty of craft beers brewed with peanut butter, hazelnuts, and other allergens. One particular ingredient for concern from craft brewers is lactose, which makes a particularly creamy kind of beer. It is not always labeled as a “lactose beer” or “beer brewed with lactose” so watch out for those! It is often mentioned in the description of the beer on the package, but sadly, they aren’t required to label it if they use lactose in production. 

Liquor: Vodka

Vodka is a spirit distilled from, well, just about anything as long as it doesn’t have a distinctive taste or color and is bottled at 40% ABV or higher. Most vodkas are grain vodkas, meaning they are distilled from wheat or rye or barley. However, vodkas can be made from other materials like potatoes or sugarcane. 

The good news is vodka must be labeled as flavored or have some other notice if they’ve added anything to it besides the base grain. So if you can have Grey Goose (made from wheat), it will always be the same Grey Goose if the bottle just says “vodka” and not “vodka flavored with X.” 

Tito’s is a famous gluten-free vodka, made exclusively from corn. That’s a great example of a craft brand that’s become super popular in the last 20 years – originally started in 1995, Tito’s has become a big brand in the U.S. for vodka. 

Craft vodkas have more variation than the megabrands in their spirit base. I can think of a local producer here who uses sugarcane, so it becomes slightly sweet, but most vodkas are a “neutral grain spirit” meaning they’re distilled from grain of some kind.

Liquor: Gin

Gin is tea made with vodka. You take an assortment of botanicals (such as juniper berries, eucalyptus leaves, flower petals, and so forth) and steep them in vodka to make a flavored vodka. After the steeping is complete, you re-distill the final product to produce a clear spirit that includes the flavors of your tea. 

While juniper is the dominant flavor, a naughty little botanical can make an appearance in some gins – tree nuts. Both Beefeater Gin and Bombay Sapphire Gin contain almonds. There are many, many craft gins like Monkey47 that also contain almonds. Newer gins on the market such as Four Pillars’ gins contain macadamia or cashew nuts, and walnut is also known to make an appearance. 

My saving grace has always been Tanqueray, a popular mass-market gin that doesn’t contain any nuts. I’ve also heard Aviation Gin, another popular mass-market brand, is safe.

Now, on the craft side, most producers take pride in the types of botanicals they put into the gin. Many times their website will actually list all of the botanicals used, so you might be able to actually identify all 22 botanicals used in The Botanist gin, a popular Scottish gin.

Generally though, to play it safe – this is one to avoid if you cannot do almonds. I’m grateful I can now eat these, but I’ve stumbled into many many gins that have almonds once I looked them up on their website. Let alone other niche craft gins that have other tree nuts! 

A gin & tonic served up at a craft gin bar in Barcelona, Spain

Liquor: Tequila & Mezcal

Tequila is a heavily regulated product from Mexico, made entirely from 100% agave plant. Tequila uses agave from a specific region of Mexico and produces a sweet and vegetal spirit, while mezcal uses agave from a much broader region and is typically smoky (due to a different production process).

The regulations are pretty strict to call it tequila – of a bottle, only 1% can be additives like sugar syrup, glycerin, coloring, or oak extract. Any other flavorings or additives are a no-go. “Añejo” tequila is simply tequila aged in an oak barrel without any extra additives. 

Mezcal has much looser rules and, given the explosion of craft mezcal, can be much dicier. I actually ran into a mezcal once at a bar that was made with peanuts (using a traditional mole sauce as a part of the production process). Cool idea, not great for me to be drinking. I discovered this because the bartend offered some for free, I politely declined, and then looked up the mezcal to learn more because “it tasted so good!” according to them. It’s uncommon, certainly, but a good reminder the craft producers are more likely to take risks in their production processes. The added benefit is the transparency they offer, but it’s always a risk to drink something you don’t know anything about. 

From a regulatory perspective, tequila is much much more controlled. You could not get away with adding a mole sauce into the production of a tequila. 

Liquor: Rum

Rum is broadly three types: clear/white/silver rum, aged rum, and spiced rum. All rum is distilled from sugar cane and molasses. Clear/white/silver rum are brand-new, unaged rums. Whereas aged rums, obviously, are aged (typically in oak casks). 

Spiced rum is the troublesome category. Rum is actually pretty tricky to navigate with a nut allergy because there are many marketing designations that have no basis in regulation: dark rum, black rum, gold rum, etc. don’t actually mean anything. 

Spiced rum is rum that uses spices, many times nuts. I believe Bacardi has five major rums and at least one of them contains nuts. The recipe for The Kraken (a popular spiced rum) is secret. Some rum brands are becoming more transparent, such as Captain Morgan, and disclosing what spices they use. 

Craft rum is a saving grace here as many local distilleries who want to make whisky actually start out by making rum and gin first –– it helps pay the bills while the whisky ages. They will be able to disclose to you all the spices used if they create a spiced rum.

I generally avoid rum. Too many pitfalls. In fact, I think I’ve never had a mass-produced spiced rum. I have had one aged rum before. But if I’m out at a bar or a party, I’m not reaching for the rum. God only knows what is actually in the bottle. 

Liquor: Whisky 

By far the most regulated of the major liquors, whisky is dominantly American, Canadian, or Scotch. There is a big rabbit hole here, but essentially – all whisky is made first like beer, then distilled in copper stills and aged in oak casks, with varying requirements on time. If there are added flavors, it must be labeled. (Even Fireball is labeled “whisky with natural cinnamon flavor”) 

Almost all major whiskies use a blend of grains, typically corn, rye, wheat, and barley. Bourbons must be made from mostly corn, rye whiskies from mostly rye, and single malt Scotch to be made from 100% barley. Blended scotches, such as Chivas Regal or Dewar’s, can be made from a blend of grains. However, different whiskies can use a different “mash bill” or combination of grains. The same producer might make one American whisky using corn/rye/oats and make another American whisky using corn/rye/wheat. And, they don’t have to tell you on the bottle.

Since whisky is always aged in oak casks, there are some variations. In America, the typical aging profile is “new American oak,” meaning it’s a brand new cask. Whereas in Scotland, they typically use “ex-bourbon casks” or “ex-sherry casks,” meaning the cask was previously used to age bourbon or sherry wine, and is now being used to impart flavors to the product. The casks types are heavily regulated – producers can’t simply throw it into anything.

There is a sub-genre of whisky that is aged in rum casks. I typically avoid these because I’m not 100% certain whether those casks were used for spiced rums (they never say, anyway). The only other whiskies I’ve ever been caught off-guard by are the flavored ones. Skrewball is a popular peanut butter-flavored whisky and Southern Comfort is flavored with tree nuts. There are all sorts of “flavored” whiskies and I drink absolutely none of them. Not even the Crown Royal apple-flavored one! The more standard whisky is better and safer as the production is heavily, heavily regulated.

A neat pour of whisky at canon, a bar in Seattle

Liqueurs

Typically a mad dash to see how fast you can have an allergic reaction. I’m only half-kidding. Liqueurs are generally a base spirit or liquor (wine and vodka are common bases) that have been infused with various additives, flavors, and other ingredients. Unlike gin, they are not re-distilled. They often retain the color of the infused ingredients. 

Liqueurs are a black hole of information. Whether it’s cheap ol’ Malibu, Campari, Cointreau, Luxardo Maraschino, Strega, red vermouths, or blanc de blanc vermouths, there is very little transparency in the industry. Closely guarded “family recipes” mean there isn’t much information on what is used in the production of the liqueur. The recipe for one famous liqueur, Green Chartreuse, is only known by three people in the world (yes, really). 

Liqueurs are also tricky due to their variations. Kahlua is a popular coffee liqueur. The original recipe does not contain nuts, but many seasonal variations they release contains nuts (like ‘The Mudslide,’ a riff with peanut butter). Many amaretto liqueurs use almonds, but not all. Disaronno, a popular amaretto, apparently uses cherry pits to achieve the same flavor without using any nuts (but who knows, really, and I haven’t had Disaronno before).

Most vermouths are wine that have been flavored with roots and herbs. I’ve never had a reaction to a vermouth, but I also don’t drink a lot of vermouths, so it’s possible some special vermouth has snuck in some nuts and nobody knows (yet).

Craft producers are absolutely your friend, as many are making “amaros” and “aperitifs” that achieve the flavors of these classic liqueurs like Campari or Aperol but have added transparency in the ingredients that they use. 

Depending on your allergies, you may be left with a real “trial and error” system when it comes to liqueurs. Many craft producers have good alternatives to the mass-produced versions and added transparency on the ingredients they use.

Cocktails & Cocktail Bars

It’s a minefield, but the most common suspects for additional problems in cocktail ingredients (besides a liqueur) would be:

  • Orgeat, an almond syrup, that is used in popular drinks like the Mai Tai 
  • Black Walnut Bitters and/or Coffee Bitters, a lightly alcoholic flavoring agent, that is used in some nicer bars for drinks 

Ironically orgeat is a favorite ingredient in rum-based drinks, so you’ve got a real potential for a double whammy on a nut allergy if they’re also using a spiced rum that contains nuts. 

A sensational craft cocktail at Stravinsky, a top 50 bar in the world in Barcelona, Spain

Craft cocktail bars can range in quality. But any bartend worth their salt will tell you that they cannot possibly know for sure whether the liquor and liqueurs used contain specific allergens. I haven’t had problems with many of the standard liqueurs like Campari or Aperol, but that doesn’t mean you won’t! Craft cocktail bars also use niche liqueurs that would be difficult to research on the internet. 

On top of that, many standard bars do not practice hygienic cleaning. They rinse out cocktail shakers with water but most bars are moving so quickly, they usually mix equipment to make different drinks. The shaken martini for one client using a gin containing almonds will be measured in a jigger and poured into a shaker set; then, after a quick rinse of the shaker (and sometimes the jigger, but not always) they will make your drink. Is that safe preparation for someone with a severe food allergy? No.

More upscale cocktail bars are much more cautious and mindful about preparation, typically because they have multiple bartends on-hand. These environments have been more hospitable for me but it’s always important to tell them your food allergies! 

Other Notes on Staying Safe

Ultimately the safest option is just not drinking. That’s probably the easiest! Here are some other notes. 

Distillation reduces a lot of the protein, but not all, from added allergens.

Hardly medical advice, but a panel of EU researchers in 2007 studied 32 gins and found almond protein (when almonds were used) was not detected above 0.1 mg/L. As they say, “the Panel notes that proteins and peptides are not carried over into the distillate during a properly controlled distillation process.” 

To me, this is small comfort for someone allergic to almonds. It may help avoid a very severe allergic reaction, but doesn’t guarantee someone will not react to protein inside. Also, this only really applies to gin? As noted previously, many of the products that actually “contain” nuts like spiced rums and liqueurs are not re-distilled after introducing the nuts. That means the presence of nut protein is way, way higher in those products! Gin is re-distilled, which helps reduce the amount of protein leftover.

Cocktail menus do not always list all the ingredients.

As someone who travels a lot and enjoys eating at new restaurants, do not take the menu’s word for it. Many cocktail bars add additional ingredients to the drink that are not listed on the menu. Make sure to always clarify your food allergies if you do order a craft cocktail, or stick with something safer. 

Tasting notes or flavor profiles are not ingredients. 

Often times you might run into a description of a whisky or a wine that mentions how “nutty” it tastes. This is almost always just a flavor descriptor. It is very, very rarely a description of what is actually used in the product. If it does actually contain nuts, it will be hinted at on the label (using “natural flavors” or a similar phrase).

Don’t drink if you don’t know it is safe.

Simply put, stick with what you know. I have never, ever accepted a mystery drink at a party. I do not order cocktails off menus with unknown ingredients. I stick with brands and types of alcohol that I know are safe. I always bring up my allergies when ordering drinks. If I’m at a less-hygienic environment like a dive bar, I’m not ordering cocktails period. I’m especially not going to take risks when alcohol is limiting my own cognitive ability to make good decisions or notice any symptoms to a reaction if they arise. 

This is hardly a complete post on everything alcohol related, but I hope it was a helpful starting point for people who are navigating food allergies and alcohol! These are my own notes and experiences. You may have different experiences with alcohol. Please be safe!

College with Food Allergies, Food Allergy, Travel/Eating Out & Food Allergy

Retrospective on 3+ Years of Traveling with Food Allergies

Over the past 3 years, I’ve traveled a lot for work – and for fun. I’ve traveled nationally to San Francisco (CA), Tampa (FL), Whitefish (MT), Seattle (WA) and Boston (MA) a lot – plus some recurring trips inside Colorado where I live. I’ve traveled internationally to Italy, Calgary (Canada), Scotland (UK), and Barcelona (Spain). And I’m currently planning more… Chicago, San Diego, Mexico City, New Zealand, and maybe even Portland (Maine)? My boyfriend has joined me on many of these trips and even has done some of his own to Japan.

Even though I’m allergic to peanuts, tree nuts, sesame, shellfish, and fish, I’ve never had an allergic reaction while traveling. I’ve had a few close calls and one extremely angry waiter, but I’ve traveled freely and enjoyed every second. I think it’s easy to look at this and say – oh wow! Morgan’s got it in the bag. That’s not true. I also travel with plenty of anxiety about food and eating out. I’ve learned some tried-and-true tips that have helped me to manage food safely while traveling and to avoid bad consequences. 

So I wanted to share these practices that have kept me safe and also share some stories that help illustrate how & why it works.

Cadaqués, Spain

#1. Don’t Take Dumb Risks. 

Never had curry before? Don’t try it for the first time on a flight. In a small Irish pub in downtown Boston and they serve fish & chips, but their kitchen looks smaller than yours? Don’t eat the fries. Tell your waitress that you’re allergic to seafood and she says that other visitors with that allergy haven’t had any issues with the food? Don’t take her word for it. Don’t speak the language and you don’t have an allergy card? Don’t eat! Don’t speak the language but you do have an allergy card but you don’t understand their response? Don’t eat! 

These are broadly what I call “dumb risks.” They’re dumb! Use your head. Of all the principles and practices, this is the one that has kept me alive. I read news stories – ranging from sad to tragic – about people having allergic reactions or experiencing severe anaphylaxis because (broadly) they took dumb risks. 

This could also be called the Jungle Juice rule. If you attend a college fraternity party, they’re probably going to serve jungle juice, a cocktail that usually looks like it’s made in a bathtub… and tastes also like it was made in a bathtub. If you’re allergic to almonds, there are a lot of gins that contain almonds. And chances are somebody bought a cheap gin to make their jungle juice. Did you need to know all of that in order to avoid the jungle juice? Did you need to know the specific gin they used in order to decide not to drink the jungle juice?? No! The jungle juice is a dumb risk, period, whether or not you’re allergic to almonds. 

So, a few dumb risks I don’t take: 

  • Eating anything without telling the waiter about your food allergies
  • Eating fried foods at places that serve fried fish dishes 
  • Eating the bread provided, whether or not it has sesame seeds on it 
  • Eating dessert at a restaurant 
  • Drinking something where I can’t identify the ingredients
  • Eating meals prepared on a plane 
  • Eating anything where I can’t identify the ingredients on a proper label
  • Eating a meal that is usually unsafe but is promised “it is safe”
  • Taking the waiter’s word for it, particularly when there is a language barrier 
  • Eating at a restaurant where most of the menu is shellfish and there’s one “safe” looking option

I was out for a work trip in Boston and went out to dinner with the clients. We ate at a nice Italian restaurant. After sitting down and looking over the menu, we each ordered our dishes and my colleagues asked for an appetizer to share that was made with bread and pesto. Traditionally, pesto contains pine nuts, which I’m allergic to. I always give my normal spiel (allergic to this and that, please tell the kitchen, etc etc) and the waiter promised it was fine, everything will be processed with the kitchen, but even the appetizer should be okay. Pesto, historically, is not safe! It is a dumb risk to eat pesto while eating out. So in this case, guess what? I didn’t eat the pesto! Five minutes after the pesto and bread is served, the waiter comes back with a concerned look and says – “oh actually, yes the pesto does contain nuts, you haven’t eaten any, have you?”

Bread is the common culprit while traveling with a sesame allergy, but while I was in Barcelona, I was surprised to learn at one restaurant that their bread may contain tree nuts due to the way it’s prepared in the kitchen. I only found this out after ordering and agreeing for bread to be served to the table as a part of the appetizer…. and then mentioning my allergies. It would’ve been a very dumb risk to not mention my allergies or only mention a couple of them! 

This is a principle I have learned time and again will save my life. It sucks. Of course I’d like the ease and simplicity of hopping on a plane and eating whatever looks good. Of course I’d like to just hop into any hole-in-the-wall and eat what they offer me when I walk in. Of course I’d like to live a carefree life when it comes to food, drink, and travel. 

But I’d also very much like to return home and do it again in a few months, and every dumb risk I might take is a little guarantee that might not happen. 

Isle of Skye, Scotland

#2. Don’t Travel Internationally to Countries Where You Wouldn’t Eat at the Local Restaurant.

My boyfriend traveled to Japan last year with a close college friend. I would’ve loved to go. But historically Japanese food and my allergies do not mix well. The fish & shellfish-heavy cuisine, the sesame used both as a garnish and inside sauces, the hidden fish used as a base for broth (dashi), and so on. I’ve been able to make my own Japanese cuisine at home thanks to a well-curated recipe list, the endless patience of my boyfriend to verify if things “taste alright,” and a keen curiosity to taste things I’ve never had before. 

But here’s the rub. If I’m not gonna eat at the local Chinese takeout place, I probably shouldn’t go to China. Is Chinese food all like the local Chinese takeout place? No! Actually famously, American Chinese takeout is very different than all of Chinese cuisine. But if you’re not gonna get the local version for fear of your own allergies – what are you gonna do when that’s the only kind of food around?

There are a few brave souls who go through the rigamarole of making it work. Maybe one day I’ll be one of those people carting around a hot plate, only eating rice and fresh veggies, and occasionally stopping into some American food joint that’s been exported into the city for a taste of home. But it also feels like a dumb risk going to a country where I can’t eat most of their food. 

My combo plate of allergies specifically rules out East and Southeast Asia… and also the Levant / the Middle East. Could I make India work? I don’t know, actually. I do know that there are some surprising uses of nuts in some Indian curries, but I don’t know enough to tell you the difference because I haven’t eaten at a lot of Indian restaurants in Denver! This principle hits the hardest because I love to travel and I’d love to see the shrines in Kyoto and the majestic mountains of Tibet and hop on a little motorcycle and careen through traffic in Bangkok. But it’s just not in the cards. I can’t even eat at my local Thai place. 

#3. Create a Shortlist of Options.

There are obviously many places to travel, nationally and internationally, that exist in a sort of “gray zone” when it comes to allergies and intolerances. This gray zone has been widened extensively in the last decade as travel and tourism has expanded as an industry. “Gluten-free” and “vegan” are not crazy concepts. Social media has vastly upgraded people’s awareness of these issues. Does that mean the owner of a small pasticceria in Venice is going to go through all the steps to make sure your food is safe for a dairy allergy? No, probably not. That’s a dumb risk. But it does mean that in some corners of the world, there is a surprising amount of awareness. 

I think of this like GPS. In order for your phone to work, it has to ping 3 satellites to find your exact location. So creating a shortlist of options is creating a GPS for a safe meal. I’m figuring out whether (1) the food looks good, (2) the restaurant can probably make a safe meal, and (3) it’s a dumb risk. While traveling in Barcelona, a lot of restaurants were ruled out in buckets 2 and 3. There were specific tapas menus that heavily featured seafood. There were nice, upscale restaurants that had a lot of nuts distributed throughout the menu. Is it possible to get a safe meal there? Maybe! I don’t know. But I’m pinging around my options, trying to create a shortlist of restaurants that I would actually like to eat at and seem relatively safe. 

Having this shortlist is so helpful when traveling in a group. I get pretty anxious when a group of friends just say “oh let’s check out this restaurant up the road!” Me? I’m Googling that, looking at their menu, assessing whether there might be a safe option, and whether it’s a dumb risk… all on the car ride over. I try and circumvent this and proactively offer an option from my shortlist. A response could sound like “oh! You know what, I’ve heard there’s this place not too far that serves incredible X, seems like a good stop, I was planning on trying it out.” In groups, there’s a lot of momentum toward someone who already has a plan. Proposing an option and saying “I was planning on trying it out” gets people to be enrolled in what you already wanted. 

When traveling Italy in a small town near Lake Como, I already had 4 restaurants on my shortlist. There were plenty more to eat at, but either the reviews looked bad, the food looked bad, or their ability to make a safe meal looked uncertain. We hit up those shortlist options to great success. 

When I was in Tampa for a work trip, I made a shortlist so I knew what food options I might have in the area of the event. It came in handy later that night when everyone was moving toward a restaurant I disqualified – and I quickly realized I would need an alternative. I was in a big group so I pulled aside a friend and said, “wanna skip the line? I’ve got another place.” We ended up having 5 or 6 join us. 

A quick aside – I actually developed this principle from trial-and-error (more error) while studying abroad in 2016. I was quick to realize that my friends were happy to wander around a city and just sit down somewhere to eat. That wasn’t going to work for me on a number of levels. They were wonderfully deferential about whether I felt safe at a restaurant, but I quickly learned that it was best to have a couple of options to suggest so we didn’t have to stop at multiple restaurants, only for me to say no. 

Ristorante Borgovino in Lake Como, Italy

#4. Get to Know Labelling Laws.

One excellent shortcut to eating out is buying your own food. It saves you money and saves you time (and probably anxiety) over eating out. The problem is, every country has their own labelling laws. 

Let’s start in the US. Liquor and booze is unlabeled. Manufacturers broadly get to decide whether they add the “may contain” or “manufactured in…” statements. We have our Top 9. And a label looks a certain way. 

That’s not always the case! While traveling in the UK, I noticed their labels look very different. Their nutritional values like calories and carbs look different. And the allergy notice, and which allergies are labeled, are different. Same was true in Italy, in Spain, and (from my boyfriend) in Japan. Japan is a curious example here – by law they’re required to label a Top 7 that includes crab, buckwheat, and egg. But it is optional to highlight or bold 27 (!) other allergens like banana, peach, salmon roe, and yam. You’re not gonna find “yam” highlighted in the US. 

I always look up labelling laws before traveling somewhere internationally. There is a lot of information out on the Internet about what they’re required to label, how it might look, and what their top allergens are. This is very useful when purchasing goods while on the go. I’m not an expert on these things. But it offers a degree of confidence that I wouldn’t otherwise have when I’m purchasing that bag of chips in the train station. 

#5. Get to Know the Culture Before Going.

I’m actually not just talking international here. What’s the famous regional dish? What do people like to eat? How do people like to eat? Are there a lot of a certain kind of restaurant in the city? 

You don’t need to be a cultural anthropologist to get a sense of these answers. Sure, in the US, you might get some similar patterns. But we all know there are regional differences! Austin (TX) is a taco city and famous for its restaurant scene with hip fusion restaurants. Boston (MA) has a lot of pubs and not a lot of breakfast spots. Whitefish (MT) is a big ski resort town so they have a lot of classic American food centered around burgers. Scotland loves its fish & chips. Barcelona cannot get enough tapas. 

In the US, chances are there is always a shot at a local safe fast-food or fast-casual spot that can satiate your food needs if you’re eating out. Traveling internationally, much less so. Watching a few YouTube videos and trying to piece together what people like to eat will help you navigate the culture while abroad. German food has a lot of safe options for me, surprisingly. Thai? Not so much. Knowing these differences helps you navigate common situations you might run into – and make better decisions, especially when creating a shortlist. 

I traveled for about 3 weeks in total in the UK (split between London and the wide open country in Scotland). I never once ate fries – “chips” in British parlance. It just wasn’t worth it. Could I have convinced some poor pub to fry me a separate batch? Yeah, sure. But fish & chips are so pervasive in the culture that it was unlikely I’d ever get a fresh, safe batch. The local Village Inn (an actual place I stayed at) in rural Scotland isn’t going to have an extra fryer on hand. Why go through the bother? I know that, in a principled manner, it’s supposed to be true that we are able to eat the things we want in a safe and reliable manner. In practice, knowing the culture is an easy way to find paths of least resistance and ask for the steak pie instead (after checking on allergies). 

Canmore, Alberta, Canada

#6. Don’t Drink Unfamiliar Drinks.

You may not drink alcohol at all! That’s probably the easiest solution. But if you are to imbibe while traveling – and this is especially true while traveling inside the US – don’t try things that are unfamiliar. This is a dumb risk. But I wanted to call it out specifically for a couple reasons. 

In the US, we have a growing culture of “craft cocktails.” These are a step beyond your classics. They use fancy liqueurs, custom syrups, bitters… all sorts of ingredients that are rife for allergy issues. Plus, the cross contact issue in bars can be exceptionally troublesome. Many normal restaurants are making every drink (using gins that contain almonds, whisky made from wheat, sesame syrups, nut-flavored rums) in the same containers and only rinsing them in between with water. Upscale establishments are much more hygienic, but also pricier and harder to get into. I’ve spent years deeply understanding liquor, wine, and beer to feel safe while drinking. I probably know more than a few sommeliers about the production process, the aging, and the final product of a lot of liquors – I wish I was kidding here. Some of that knowledge has been fueled by visits to producers while in Italy, Scotland, and Spain. But a lot of it is simply internet research and YouTube. It’s one of the reasons I know so many gins use almonds as a botanical. 

If I’m out at a bar and I have the option to choose between a fancy craft cocktail that uses an ingredient I’ve never heard of before (let’s say, Italicus) and a glass of wine – I’m gonna go wine. First of all, they usually pour the wine from a bottle into the glass, keeping it much safer from cross contact issues. Second of all, I’m not gonna sit at the bar and look up Italicus and try to see if there are ingredients for it! That’s a dumb risk to drink a cocktail in which I don’t understand the ingredients… let alone all the other cross contact issues. 

At more upscale establishments, you might have some leeway. In Denver, there is a world famous bar (Death & Co) and while traveling in Barcelona, we went to Stravinsky’s, another world famous bar. Stravinsky’s only serves cocktails and I noticed some items on the menu I didn’t recognize. At Death & Co, when I explain my allergies, they actually go through a whole separate process to ensure no cross contact issues, which is lovely. So I brought it up with my waiter at Stravinsky’s, explained my allergies, and he got it! Not only did he get it, he also understood the cross contact issues and noted that it would be handled properly. It was a great experience. 

#7. Be Sheepish if You Have To.

Don’t feel confident explaining your allergies? Or, just really really tired after a long day and not feeling like explaining it to somebody new for the third time that day? Act sheepish.

“I’m sorry to be a pain in the ass but it’s really important…”

“I’m sure you get a lot of folks like me…”

“Look I know this is kind of a pain…”

There is an undeniable toll on mental energy when you’re traveling with food allergies. Acting sheepish is a great way to shortcut my own inner resistance to bringing it up for the fifth time in the same day. Because I’ve had to live through all five experiences in the same day! The waiter in front of me hasn’t, and it’s just as important to mention it for this meal as the last one. Ultimately, your food allergies are not a pain in the ass to deal with! They are not an inconvenience! 

But at the end of a three week trip in Scotland and the UK, I really just wanted to curl up at home and not have to worry about these damn things for the hundrendth time. So this was my shortcut. I told the waitress “Look I’m sorry to be a pain in the ass but I’ve got severe food allergies and I really just want to have a safe meal” (I laid in all of my actual physical exhaustion into this statement). She listened closely as I explained my allergies, smiled, and told me that the kitchen would know and everything I ordered should be safe, but she’d let me know. I felt better – it was the fifteenth explanation that week – and I noticed how useful it was. 

I’m not saying you should run around using this line with everyone, but when you’re feeling it, use it. It’s helped me stay consistent in always telling the waitstaff my allergies! 

Barcelona, Spain

#8. Deal with the Unexpected.

There’s an old saying that’s goes “expect the unexpected.” Great advice when it comes to a delayed train in the UK, not great advice when the stewardess starts serving nuts on a nut-free flight. I’m much more proactive in my approach: deal with the unexpected. 

When we were in Barcelona, we went to a tapas restaurant that had indicated it was a safe option from their website. Turns out, their menu was seasonal. The menu we were presented once we sat down was very, very different than the one online. It had all sorts of fusion cuisine, there were nuts and fish all over the menu. I thought to myself… “Hm we might need to walk out, but let’s see.” Our waitress María approached the table and asked if we were ready to order. I replied (in Spanish) that I first had a question, and I went about explaining my allergies. As I went down the list, her eyebrows furrowed deeper and deeper. At the end she said, “Okay let’s take a look.” And then to my absolute delight and surprise, we went jointly through the menu and figured out which dishes would be safe to eat. She knew every hidden ingredient like oyster sauce in their eggplant dish or sesame oil in their pork gyoza. They even went so far to replace one sauce from one dish with another (safe) sauce from another dish. She even came back with bad news about one dish, saying the sauce had a “may contain” statement with one of their ingredients. 

Turns out María also works the kitchen in the mornings. That helped. She was also very fluent in English – that also helped. But I also proactively told her about my allergies before ordering, because I wanted to know: is there anything safe for me to eat here? If not, that’s okay, we can go elsewhere, this was unexpected. But she absolutely made it work. (Shoutout María at The Sopa Boba in Barcelona, you were incredible). 

By proactively dealing with the unexpected – speaking up, establishing clear boundaries, saying something is okay or not okay, and clearly explaining what’s going – I’m able to make sure the unexpected is more of a friend than an enemy. I’ve never had a perfect travel experience. I was surprised to have nuts served on a train trip while in Italy (for me, not a big deal since I’m not airborne allergic but still very unexpected). I was surprised to learn a pub in Boston fried their chicken in the same friers as their fish even though they barely served fish. I was surprised to learn a small burger joint in San Francisco used nuts in one of their sauces. I was surprised to learn Delta Airlines likes to serve pistachios to their business class clients. I was surprised to learn a dinner joint in Whitefish MT was completely safe for me to eat even though I had a lot of doubts. I was even surprised to learn a sandwich joint down the street from where I live was completely a nut- and sesame-free kitchen! 

Anyway. My point is that the “unexpected” is always going to crop up. You might expect it, sure, but the stakes on allergies are much higher than a missed train or a delayed flight. It’s best to stay proactive and let the journey take you where it may. For what it’s worth, that might include a stop at a 2nd restaurant that’s actually safe for you to eat at. 

#9. Don’t Fake the Language.

Ah, a tale where I totally messed up.

I learned pretty quickly traveling in Italy that it was easier to explain my allergies in Italian than in English. Something about the language barrier there just left me ill-at-ease explaining my allergies in English. So I figured out how to explain what I was allergic to in Italian.

Here’s the scene: we hit up a local joint while in Venice. After we order a small snack and a couple drinks, I explain to the waiter (in Italian) my allergies. He says something that sounds a lot like what I’ve heard previously – that they use sesame in the kitchen but it won’t be on the food. I said that was fine. When the food was served, the bread had sesame all over it! I realized my mistake immediately. I whipped out my translate app, I apologized for the misunderstanding, but queried again about the allergies. And he came back in mostly-broken English, but sounding plenty frustrated: “I told you the bread had sesame! You said it was fine!” Whoops. We sent back the food, finished our drinks, and moved on. 

Lesson learned. Moving forward, I told future waiters: “I don’t know how to respond to this in Italian,” then used my Italian phrase for my allergies, and then looked at them expectantly. That seemed to do the trick! I always got a response that intermingled the Italian words for the allergies with English explaining the dishes and they did a much better job handling everything. 

When I traveled to Barcelona, I did not make the same mistake. I was practicing Spanish for plenty of time before visiting and I felt comfortable carrying on a conversation. I knew the context clues while ordering and I understood what people would say (in their infinite variations) even if I wasn’t totally fluent. That served me very well again – I felt very safe ordering, every waiter or waitress immediately understood my order, and we could carry on a short conversation about what was safe/why/etc. 

So don’t fake the language. 

A supplemental idea here – learn how to talk about your allergies in the local language. The core concept here is I want clear communication. If their English isn’t fluent, I think it’s a dumb risk for them to understand the English words for my allergies. I want to explain to them, in their language, about my allergies. That’s clear communication. In Spain this was superbly important because every single waiter understood los frutos secos or frutos de cascara (tree nuts) – it’s a top allergen to be labeled on food. Soy alergíco a los fruto secos… is a great a way to get their attention. You’re saying: this is important! If I said “I have an allergy, to all tree nuts” it’s possible I wouldn’t achieve the same amount of clarity. They may hear “nuts” and think nueces which in Spanish is technically only walnuts (although there’s some regional variation about whether that translates to just walnuts). 

I want them to be able to go back to the kitchen and clearly communicate the same thing I told them, and if that requires a little bit of extra work on the front end to learn some context words, and practice it a few bajillion times, then I’m going to do it. Still – don’t fake the language! 

Iceland

#10. Use Your Tools.

Whip out that translator app. Hit up the local grocery store. Stay at hotels with a kitchen (or at Airbnbs that don’t have outrageous fees). Mark your allergy with the airlines. Bring a backpack and carry a snack. Ask questions. Invite friends over instead of going out. Eat at the local fast casual place you know has a safe option.

When I travel to Boston for work, I usually stay in an Airbnb instead of a hotel. It’s usually more cost appropriate and I get a kitchen. I can walk to a local grocery store, buy food for (at least) breakfasts for the week, and store them in the fridge. I travel by myself for those work trips, so this makes it really easy to always have a safe breakfast option without having to navigate a local cafe. There are some hotel chains that also offer a kitchen ensuite, which would suffice. 

I think of my planning decisions for a trip – the type of hotel, the airline, the location, the activities – as building a “menu of possibilities.” Depending on my choices, I get different menus. The hotel I stayed at in Whitefish? Had a mini-fridge and a small sink for dirty glasses. That meant all of my food was going to be at restaurants or takeaway. Meanwhile when I was traveling Scotland, I stayed at a beautiful little Airbnb with a full kitchenette. I stopped by the local co-op to pick up food for the days I was staying there and now I didn’t need to worry about food unless I was out hiking some munroe. 

Making sure you have everything you need beyond the basics of your medication is so crucial to ensure the trip goes well. I did not walk around Barcelona without having the Spanish and Catalan languages fully downloaded inside my Google Translate app. It’s a tool! I might need to use it.

When I was in Tampa, I found a local Chipotle to eat at for a pre-meeting meal. A classic, safe option for my food allergy set. I knew they’d have safe options. Could I have hit up a local joint? Yeah, maybe. But I wasn’t in the mood and I thought – why not use the tools in front of me? Let’s go to Chipotle. 

En Fin

None of these rules or principles have prevented me from running into trouble. 

I still have waiters reject orders at restaurants, saying they aren’t safe. I still have to explain my food allergies everywhere I go. I still need to read ingredient labels. I still have those couple minutes of anxiety, trying something new that I’ve never had before and wondering if somebody messed up. 

Those things never really go away. That’s life. That’s just how it is. Yes, colleagues who don’t have any prior knowledge of my allergies always ask about it once I bring it up with the waiters. Is it tiring to explain it for the 5,000th time in my life? To answer their questions about how severe it is, when I first learned about it, and whether I carry an auto injector? Actually yeah. It is, a bit. But I also know that it comes from a place of curiosity and care. So I share a bit more than I feel like and our bond grows a little bit deeper. 

I know I’m lucky that I don’t have such severe allergies that it might prevent me from hopping on a plane in the first place. I know a lot of this is possible because I like to spend an inordinate amount of time on research. But these things have kept me safe and I hope they help you on your next trip! 

Bon voyage 🙂 

PS – Here are a few other ideas that didn’t make the final cut for this article but I do feel are important to mention:

  • Be mindful of what your date is eating, it will become important later in the night (if the date goes well) 
  • Always carry a snack that you know is safe, even if it means bringing it through TSA 
  • Bring Rx paperwork just in case 

If you want to read more about international travel, eating out, and other previous experiences, check out:

  • Preparing for my studying abroad experience & navigating foreign universities, here
  • Backpacking Iceland for 2 weeks, here
  • Navigating hip upscale restaurants and fusion food, here
  • Traveling in Italy for 2 weeks, here
Travel/Eating Out & Food Allergy

Traveling in Italy with Food Allergies

I’ve just arrived back from a 16-day trip to Italy. It was amazing. It was also my 2nd time in Italy, having previously traveled in 2016 with friends while studying abroad. I wanted to break down some interesting observations from this go-around about navigating international travel, dealing with English fluency, and staying safe while traveling.

As someone with severe food allergies to peanuts, tree nuts, sesame, shellfish, and fish (plus mild asthma), international travel has plenty of minefields to navigate! You can read all about my experiences studying abroad in college by clicking here.

The Florence Duomo

Flights

We booked our tickets through United many moons ago and only later learned we’d actually be flying Lufthansa + AirDolomiti on the way there, while we’d be flying AirDolomiti + United on the way back.

I had never flown Lufthansa and given that the flights were booked with United, I couldn’t go into Lufthansa’s portal and mark that I had allergies. A rather dumb user experience, I have to say.

At check-in, I asked the agent to note that I had peanut/nut allergies on the flight readout (she added it successfully) and she recommended that I mention it to the stewardess upon boarding. The stewardess was…surprised and asked if I had requested a special meal. At that point, I realized this was a flight with meal service. (Ha!) I told her no and she wrote down my seat number on her hand.

What ensued was genuinely surprising: multiple different agents on the plane came over during the flight and asked a variety of questions — whether I was peanut dust allergic and would react if any nuts were served at all on the plane, what I’d feel comfortable eating, whether they could guarantee the meal didn’t have nuts (they couldn’t), and even one time they brought over a platter of food for me to inspect. Amazing service.

I ended up declining all of the meals but they still offered me salads and fresh fruit and yogurt with an ingredient label. Wonderfully accommodating. Also, lesson learned –– call ahead! I’m sure that I could’ve navigated this ahead of time had I thought through the likelihood of a meal service. But since my past many years flying internationally didn’t involve it, I didn’t even think about it!

The AirDolomiti flights were short pond-hoppers with only drinks service, so no worries there.

The flight back was a similar experience with United and I generally avoided the food + snacks served, except for one that did have ingredients labeled on them.

Navigating Eating Out

The last time I traveled Italy in 2016, I had a fairly straightforward experience. I spent around 2 weeks in the country in total, traveling between Genoa, Milan, Venice, Florence, and Rome. As a college student, I kept a fairly low budget and ended up eating pretty simple meals. Pasta, pizza, street pizza, and gelato. It was a straightforward and peaceful experience with very few problems.

A small, quaint restaurant in Varenna, Italy

Coming back, I had expected to have a similar experience. Sadly, not the case this time around.

I think this in part due to my partner and I having a bit of a bigger budget and eating at nicer places than just the pizzeria down the street. It meant navigating a sit-down restaurant environment and English fluency issues.

Italian restaurants are very different than American ones. Most only have a few waitstaff in total. One restaurant we dined at in the Lake Como region sat around 20-30 people and they had 3 total waitstaff who took orders, poured wine, served the plates, etc. I’d say they are not as strained as French waitstaff (who are truly busy all the time), but still quite busy. This is mostly because they’re paid a fair wage and don’t rely on tips to make a living, so the restaurant doesn’t hire as many servers.

A food allergy notice at the back of a menu

Some restaurants followed EU regulations and listed the Top 14 allergens on the menu using their number system. So, on the menu, it would look something like:

  • Quatro formaggi pizza (1, 8)
  • Margherita pizza (1, 8)
  • Anchovy pizza (1, 6, 8)

Where the (1, 8) corresponded to an allergen listing at the back of the menu — in this case, gluten and dairy.

I quickly learned that this numbering is not comprehensive. Many dishes had cross-contact issues or, upon asking, the kitchen would state that in fact a sauce on one of the dishes actually contained nuts even if it was not noted on the menu. This was a surprise (and also unsure if this is breaking the law).

Not all restaurants had this numbering, so I didn’t rely on it. I brought up any questions with the waitstaff directly.

At the beginning, I relied on just talking about my allergies in English. The staff understood, even if they couldn’t respond in full sentences back in English (which always makes me a bit nervous), and I received great care. When one restaurant in a small town in northern Italy served us food, our waiter even vocally confirmed with each dish that it didn’t contain any of my allergens. He also taught me what my allergies were in Italian.

This worked pretty well until one restaurant in Venice, where I was basically berated by a waiter for messing up an order. He didn’t speak great English, so when I asked whether the open-faced sandwiches (a local specialty in Venice) contained my allergens, he stated something which I understood as “no, but there is sesame in the kitchen,” – a common refrain from waitstaff when dealing with allergies – but which later turned out to be that there was sesame in the bread.

I discovered this upon serving. I quickly pulled up a translate app and translated an apology and saying I think we misunderstood each other. To which he now more clearly pronounced in English, “No! I told you there was sesame in it and you said, ‘it’s okay’!”

Clearly, it wasn’t working. So I learned how to say the full spiel in Italian. “Sono allergico a noci, sesamo, pesce, e crostacei.” That always got the attention of the waitstaff. The problem was that they quickly responded in Italian, which then I’d have to correct course and say “Okay I didn’t catch that, sorry, could you say that in English?” This dance continued at a couple restaurants until I started to preface my Italian by saying (yes I literally said this) “I know how to say this in Italian but I don’t know how to respond…”

It became a scot-free experience after that. Some of the waitstaff at nicer restaurants in Rome & Florence even had very fluent English speakers, which made the experience very seamless.

One unique moment was when we were having drinks at a local upscale bar in Florence. I ordered one of their cocktails, which when delivered contained a small something in the glass. This was not noted on the menu, by the way, and very unusual to serve a cocktail with something inside it. Turns out it was a small almond biscuit they dropped in the bottom of the glass. I had to patiently explain to the waiter about my allergies and they thankfully remade the drink without the almond biscuit.

So, I had some close run-ins this time around. It was unnerving, honestly. I think keeping to simpler fare has its benefits. Most of the nicer restaurants always took the extra step to make something “fancy”: sesame-encrusted breadsticks, anchovies in their cream sauces, nutty biscuits in their cocktails. The simpler places kept it, well, simple.

Lake Como, Italy

One extraordinary experience, however, was at a restaurant in a small town near Lake Como. It was one of the first nights we were in Italy. It was a tiny place, probably 10 seats total. The owner was the waiter. After he served us a basket of bread with sesame breadsticks (unusually common in the north of the country), I explained my allergies. Not only did he remove the breadsticks, he cut fresh bread just for us and remembered everything for the duration of the meal. It was a nice reminder that traveling with allergies can be safe with the right kind of service.

Another restaurant was a great example of this. When visiting a recommended restaurant from a friend in Florence, I ordered a simple pasta dish after explaining my allergies. The waiter said he’d go and check the kitchen. He comes back and tells me in somewhat broken English that it isn’t safe, but try one of these other three on the menu. I order the one that sounds good, and then he comes back again and informs me, oops! Those three aren’t safe either. But one of these other two dishes will be. Thankfully, it turns out that last dish was definitely safe. Lots of open communication kept me safe! Saying it in Italian always clearly communicated my needs.

Example food label in Italian

We didn’t only eat at restaurants and sometimes grabbed snacks ‘on the go,’ particularly when we were traveling. I quickly learned what the different allergens were (in the above image, latte or dairy is bolded in the ingredients list, and then a “may contain” puó contenere statement is listed below for celery, mustard, and soy). This was a nice reminder that European packaging laws are much more comprehensive than American ones and I avoided anything that mentioned my allergens in the ingredients list or the puó contenere statement.

Gelato

Gelato is definitely a draw of Italy. Often it uses fresh fruits and flavors to create a creamy, extremely flavorful product. Eating gelato runs the same risks as ice cream from an ice cream shop, although the process to make gelato is a little different. However, the final product is a lot creamier and thicker than ice cream.

Black Cherry Gelato from one of the best spots in Florence

Gelato can be served out of ice cream tins or separated out, covered tubs. From a cross-contact perspective, the tubs are the safest because it uses separate serving spoons and keeps the products separate from each other. However, most gelato shops serve it out of ice cream tins.

One interesting observation my partner had was that, in Venice, almost everyone had “shared” scoops. Like an ice cream shop, there was one scooper they used for all the gelato. This is a major problem for me because pistachio is a very common and popular flavor of gelato. And to navigate the English fluency + allergy conversation for a 2 euro scoop of gelato just… isn’t really worth it.

But most places in Italy outside of Venice actually have individual scoops for gelato. Due to the thick and creamy quality of the gelato, the scooper itself never touches anything except the gelato it’s serving. I don’t have a video to show this, but basically they’ll scoop up a big amount on this serving knife and then “push” it into the tub. So the scooper never touches other gelato or even the cones/cups.

I kept to safe flavors and ate plenty of yummy gelto. Black cherry is my favorite.

(P.S. Sometimes they add a little “biscotti” to the top of the gelato when serving – a plain, vanilla cracker. I never ate it, but I asked one gelateria if it contained nuts, and they showed me the ingredients. Totally safe for me.)

Trains

The last time I traveled Italy, I kept to regional trains. Most countries in Europe have two or three different “tiers” of trains. There are high-speed trains, regional trains, and local trains. The high-speed lines (TGV in France, AV in Italy) are the most expensive. They are also more modern, comfortable, and plush. Regional trains tend to be older, slower, and a lot cheaper. Local trains are usually just local versions of regional trains (like a local rail service that extends beyond the metro lines).

A ticket on a regional train line between two major cities ran ~20 euros and took a half-day or more to get between places. A ticket on a high-speed line between two major cities runs ~40 euros and takes only a few hours or less. We used Italo, a private train company, almost exclusively in our travels because they were a bit cheaper for our routes.

However, I had never taken Italo before and we got a good deal on some first-class tickets. It was very comfortable. Turns out, first-class on Italo also includes drink & snack service like on a plane. I have taken many, many trains across Spain, France, Italy, UK, Denmark – I had no idea this was a thing. I even did some nice first-class travel in the UK. The food service there was “optional” at a little catering stand near the end of the car.

Turns out, they do serve snacks with nuts in their little snack packs. I always declined the snacks and just settled for a drink. Given that the train is not like a highly-pressurized environment like an airplane, I wasn’t necessarily worried about it but I can imagine that this would pose an issue to travelers who are more sensitive to nuts. We just wiped down our seats & tables and kept a safe distance.

Other Thoughts

It was an amazing trip, filled with art, culture, museums, history, and wonderful people. I loved every second!

Venice, Italy

One note is that finding an American breakfast is very difficult in Italy. The common options were some kind of pastry (croissant, usually) or fresh fruit. While in more touristy areas there are restaurants that offer some sort of egg + toast combination, most cafés don’t. Interestingly, almond croissants are not popular in Italy. Pistachio ones make an appearance every once in a while. I kept to cream-filled croissants, fresh fruit, yogurt, and delicious cappuccinos.

Speaking of coffee, it was very unusual to find a café that served coffee with anything but normal milk. I don’t have a dairy allergy, but the “alternative” milk fad has not really reached Italy yet. I love a good oat milk latte, but I only went to one café that had any alternative milks on offer.

But overall, definitely a trip to remember! I’d highly recommend visiting the country. It’s gorgeous, filled with kind people, and so much history.

If you want to read more about international travel, eating out, and other previous experiences, check out:

  • Preparing for my studying abroad experience & navigating foreign universities, here
  • Backpacking Iceland for 2 weeks, here
  • Navigating hip upscale restaurants and fusion food, here
Travel/Eating Out & Food Allergy

Hip Restaurants, Fusion Food, and Dating

I’ve been in my current relationship for over two years now. He’s so great. We’ve done multiple trips together and have begun to settle into whatever this “adult life” means. He even helped during this holiday season to navigate not one, but two, Thanksgiving meals (one with friends, one with family) to make sure the food being served was safe.

Quinn-and-Morgan
Quinn and Me in Seattle earlier this year

During this time, our dates have shifted from the one-off nice dinner to celebrate a birthday or anniversary or the occasional night out with the other spending time watching a show or hanging around inside to consistent outings. It helps to have a salary instead of piecing together scholarship money in college! One consistent feature of these outings has been trying new hip restaurants around town. As Denver has come into its own as a city, new restaurants have popped up all around the city. They’ve overtaken old warehouse buildings, commercial space in new apartment buildings, and even an old ice building.

It’s not a given, but many of these are some kind of fusion food. With the exception of one amazing Italian restaurant we enjoyed that’s sadly now closed down, every “hip” restaurant we’ve visited fuses together flavors from different cultures or countries. Some of it is more tame –– like a now-defunct Hispanic kitchen that fused Cuban and Meso-American flavors –– while others are a lot more bold in its attempts. Just last night, we visited The Wolf’s Tailor, one of Bon Appetit’s Best 10 New Restaurants of 2019. It’s delicious food and a fusion between Japanese and Italian flavors.

The Wolfs-Tailor
The inside of The Wolf’s Tailor

As some of you may know, I’m risk averse to any Asian cuisine. It’s just… hard for me to manage. Being allergic to all nuts, sesame, shellfish and fish tends to knock off every dish at an Asian restaurant –– and if not, it certainly seems impossible to avoid cross contact. The sneakiest tends to be soups, as some Korean and Japanese soups will use a fish base and not mention it. I just don’t do it. I have plenty of other delicious food options that are easily accessible, delicious, and safe. So, no Thai curries or Chinese noodles for me! (My favorite is when I mention this to someone in a group wanting to eat a sushi restaurant, and in an attempt to be generous, they say something along the lines of “well you could have the steak, right?” (I can only laugh, since it’s out of good intention.)

Fusion food then presents a problem: what elements of the cuisine are they using to impart flavor? I’ve run into this problem before at another fusion place in Denver called SuperMegaBien. They throw a party of fusion in all their dishes –– and sometimes, the fused cuisine used nuts or sesame to achieve that effect. In a deep twist of irony, the mole sauce was safe. Mole is a traditional sauce used in some Mexican cooking and often uses nuts to thicken the chili sauce. I was surprised that the mole was safe, but their twist on a marinara wasn’t! So, fusion food represents a minefield: sometimes the most unsuspecting dishes can be safe while the usual suspects may have an unsafe element.

To me, the best way to prepare is just to become more educated about food. Over the past couple of years, I’ve read up more and cooked more to understand different cuisines. I must admit, I had lumped miso paste/sauce into the off-limits Asian bucket before even understanding what it was (fermented soybeans with salt and koji). A favorite stand-by of mine is Salt Fat Acid Heat, a cookbook by the wonderful Samin Nosrat. It’s both a reference book and a recipe book, and I’ve learned so much about food from that book. There’s also a Netflix show she produced under the same name.

To be able to walk into The Wolf’s Tailor with that knowledge helped me read the menu better. Usually, at these new “hip” restaurants, dishes are both seasonal and intensely flavored. A quick trick I usually use at more standard restaurants is to find a dish with seemingly safe ingredients (as they usually list out what the dish has in it). Anxiety sets in if there’s a restaurant where they just have the names of the dishes without any information. In either scenario, of course, I still tell the staff about my food allergies and make sure the chosen dish is safe. Since fusion food often has hidden elements to impart flavor, there’s no guarantee that the food chosen –– even if it lists out dish elements –– is safe. Often those dish elements are incomplete and they use additional food behind the scenes to create flavor. Still, I understood what a miso-honey glaze would be like on a pork rib, whether a chicory salad would be safe, and whether taleggio is a cheese or a vegetable (it’s a cheese).

I’m super emphatic at these restaurants about my food allergies, and gratefully the staff have been understanding and accommodating. The Wolf’s Tailor had to prepare their take on a vadouvan sauce differently (something new I learned about last night!) since there could be some issues with nuts. Amazing accommodation and understanding. Same with the numerous other restaurants I’ve visited. Unless my allergy is embedded within a sauce or stock they’re preparing ahead of time, it seems that many of these restaurants can safely accommodate my allergies.

I also believe fusion food is the future. With globalization and this increasing mish-mash of culture, especially in the United States, there’s more and more experimental restaurants popping up. Sometimes, it’s even fusion food trucks who are trying new combinations of flavor. I love it all! Still, fusion food can be hard to navigate if you don’t understand some of the building blocks they’re using to create food. (Highly recommend some of Bon Appetit’s YouTube series like It’s Alive with Brad. I’ve learned a lot and they’re fun to watch!)

Of course, it helps to have an understanding partner in all of this. Quinn is amazing and accommodating — he searched the menu with me for safe dishes and was happy to enjoy the same exact things I was. Quinn will usually go far enough to not order a cocktail that has gin in it (famous for sometimes containing tree nuts) to make sure that everything is safe. I hope you find someone as accommodating as he is, and I hope you have fun on your food adventures! Try something new and safe: you’ll never know what you’ll find.

Travel/Eating Out & Food Allergy

A Trip of a Lifetime – Backpacking in Iceland

For those of you who regularly read this blog, you know that I’ve been looking forward to going back to Iceland, having stopped in Reykjavik for 36 hours on a layover to my study abroad program in the fall of 2016. Three years ago, I didn’t have near enough time to travel to all of the areas of Iceland that I’d heard so much about. I promised myself that I’d come back, and when I mentioned this to my Dad, we decided to make this a Father/Son trip.

The last blog post, Preparing for a Backpacking Trip to Iceland, outlined what it took for my Dad and me to prepare for the trip. Now, I’d like to tell you about our epic trip in August!

West Fjords

Icelandair

We flew Icelandair just like I flew back in 2016. I confirmed their policy of not serving peanuts on board the airplane. I didn’t ask for any announcement to be made, and pre-boarding wasn’t necessary for me since I had plenty of time to wipe down my seat and tray table. They do sell food on board, but I really wasn’t worried about it since we took an overnight direct flight from Denver to Reykjavik. I figured that not many people were going to eat. And if I had a seatmate who pulled out peanuts or my other allergens (tree nuts, sesame, fish or shellfish), I wouldn’t have had any problem asking him/her to please put them away.

On our flight home, an announcement was made asking passengers to not eat nuts during the flight, so there was someone else on board with an allergy. It was nice to know that they would make that announcement!

Eating Out at Restaurants

Once we arrived in Reykjavik, we got our rental car, our backpacks that we had checked as baggage, and we went out to eat brunch. We ate out a few times in our two weeks in Iceland, and in general I can say that restaurant food is very expensive. After all, most foods have to be imported into the country. Their specialty is lamb, which was a staple on almost every restaurant menu. There are sheep everywhere on the island. One restaurant even had the sign, “Free Range since 876!” – the year that Iceland became a country. We did have lamb one night in a ‘gastropub’ which is kind of a mix between a bar and a restaurant. It was delicious!

Having been in a Scandinavian country in 2016 – I did a research project in Copenhagen, Denmark for a month prior to studying abroad – I knew that breads were going to be difficult for me to eat because of my sesame allergy. Iceland was no different. The bread provided in restaurants, and those that we found in grocery stores all contained or stated “made in a factory” with sesame. Their bread is kind of bland, so sesame and other seeds are used to add flavor. So, no bread for me!

Iceland also has a great fishing industry. My Dad had decided prior to our trip that he wasn’t going to eat any fish while we were camping or in a restaurant, since I have such a severe allergy to fish having had anaphylaxis in the past to one bite of trout. Every restaurant we ate at also had fish on the menu, but the ones we chose (and believe me, we only ate out about five meals the entire vacation), didn’t have fish as the main item on the menu. I was able to find waffles for our first brunch in the country, which were delicious.

Father and Son

All of the wait staff in the restaurants spoke English very well, so I didn’t have any difficulty communicating about my food allergies and how to keep me safe from cross contact. Many of the wait staff were from different countries, and were temporary summer workers. It was great to find out where they hailed from – Czechoslovakia and Denmark were the home countries of two of our waiters.

One night we went out for hamburgers, which were great. When the bill came for $50 US dollars, we realized that cows weren’t habitants in the country, so the meat had to be imported causing the price to be so extremely high!

Most restaurants had a local favorite, Smørrebrød, on their menu. This is an open-faced sandwich cuisine popular across most Scandinavian countries, and many have fish on top. Of course, with the bread also being unsafe, the combination of two of my allergens meant it was definitely not the meal for me!

Food for Camping

We brought Mountain House freeze dried foods for all of our dinners at the campsites which could be prepared in about 10 minutes using a JetBoil and boiling water. These meals saved us money on food, and also made it easy at our campsites to prepare dinner when it was windy or rainy. By the end of the trip, we realized we bought too many Chicken & Rice meals and were begging for some variety… but at least it made dinners easy throughout our trip! 

Morning view from my tent at our campsite

For breakfast, lunches and snacks, we went to a grocery store every day or two and purchased fruit, vegetables, Skyr (an Icelandic yogurt that was wonderful), wraps that were safe, ham, bacon, cheese, Ritz crackers, etc. Mainly we were purchasing foods that didn’t have many ingredients and/or weren’t processed. Iceland is in the European Union, and the labeling was very good. Some labels were in English, and when they were in Icelandic, I had my Google translate app that allowed me to take a picture of the label and get the ingredients translated. I did look up the Icelandic names for all of my food allergens prior to the trip so that I could be prepared to read those on any label. Once we found a safe brand of wrap, for example, then we’d always look to purchase it in the next grocery store as we traveled around the country.

We rented two gas stoves, two coolers, and a table from a camping store in Iceland, but we brought many other items with us like our sleeping bags, tents, pans, plates and utensils in our backpacks. A few mornings when the weather was being difficult to be able to cook an omelet, we opted for fruit and Skyr instead and hit the road to see the sights.

Sleeping in Hotels and Airbnb’s

We stayed in a Hotel the first night we arrived in Iceland. It was kind of a funny situation in that I booked the room and neglected to notice that there was only one queen sized bed, and not two twins as I had assumed from the picture. So, my Dad and I got to be really cozy the first night in Iceland!

I have filters in my searches for hotels and Airbnbs to ensure that the places I stay have no pets, but that really wasn’t an issue in Iceland. We didn’t see any tourists with their own pets, however there were some dogs owned by store owners, but we didn’t see any in the Airbnb’s and hotels we stayed at.

One night, about halfway through the trip, we got rained on all night. Then the next day, we got soaked visiting a waterfall. All of our camping gear was wet, and all of our clothes too! In the moment, we were entirely miserable and ready for a night to dry off, so at the last minute we decided to get a hotel room. The cheapest room we could find was $260 US dollars, and we were grateful to find it! We needed it for our physical comfort, but also for emotional comfort after being wet and freezing.

Yep we looked and felt cold …. freezing!

The only other time we stayed at an Airbnb was the last two nights before we left to come back home. So most of our nights were spent camping, sleeping on air mattresses and enjoying the quiet solitude.

WiFi in Iceland

We purchased a mobile hot spot through our rental car company, which was great. Even when we only had 2G, we could at least communicate by calling using cellular over Wifi if we needed to make a call. Most of the time we had 4G. Cell service was available throughout the country. There are also many Wifi hotspots in Reykjavik, the capital city, but we rarely found one while in smaller towns around the country. 

Seeing Iceland

We spent our days in our rental Toyota RAV4 driving from one beautiful location to another. We would drive hundreds of miles every day, starting from Reykjavik and traveling counter-clockwise around the island. We camped out on the beach one night, and since the daylight lasted until 10 at night, we got to enjoy the scenery even more. We drove through numerous fingers on either side of fjords around the island and got to see waterfalls everywhere.

Skogafoss Waterfall

We’d get out of the car to hike into locations to see more scenery, and then choose where we wanted to camp at night as long as it was a designated camping site. Many times we were the only campers, which was great.

It was just the best trip ever. My Dad and I laughed, talked and walked throughout the two weeks.

Trip Suggestions for You

If you’re thinking about a trip to Iceland, I’d say DO IT! Here are some suggestions I have:

  • Expect to spend a lot of money. Reykjavik is at least $100 US dollars a day. Around the country, you will likely be spending at least this much as you experience the country! Hotels or Airbnb’s will likely cost $300 US dollars a night.
  • Learn the Icelandic words for your allergens
  • Get the Google translate app on your smartphone
  • Get to know some of the staple dishes (like Smørrebrød) so that you can manage your allergens
  • Ask for help if you need it. Icelandic people are incredibly nice!
  • Have a great time!
College with Food Allergies, Travel/Eating Out & Food Allergy

Traveling to Mexico City for a Youth Conference

Unlike traveling to San Francisco, which I wrote about here, Mexico City had its challenges. I was attending a conference in Mexico City called the Youth Congress for Sustainable Americas, which is organized by a non-profit organization based in Denver. I attended with some other students from the University of Denver, including Darylann who was the Vice President of the Student Body with me as President.

We booked flights on United: it was either United or American Airlines and United’s policy for food allergies is much friendlier. They don’t serve any packaged nuts and I’ve flown United before. I can say I was apprehensive since United isn’t like Southwest, but I actually had zero problems on the flights to and from Mexico City. I had to fly through Houston, so it was a long period of travel each way, but I didn’t have much problem.

This was also my first international trip since going abroad in Fall of 2016, so I was very excited! I brushed up on some key words in Spanish and tried to be as best prepared as possible. We arrived late on Thursday, April 5th  and immediately took a taxi to our hotel near the airport. We immediately went to bed. The conference didn’t start until the evening on the Friday the 6th, so we spent the day around the city, mainly in Coyoacán (a borough of the city). We saw the Frida Kahlo Museum and some parts of the city. It was great!

We then went to the conference, beginning with a dinner at a venue in the city (Hotel Carlota)! It was pretty hip venue. I must write and give huge thanks to the conference organizer, Robin. She made sure absolutely everything was safe. She’s also fluent in Spanish, so she could make sure with the service staff that all of it was safe. She was also managing other food restrictions like vegetarian, so she was super cognizant of it all. We had a delicious and safe dinner (I overheard the waiters talking about the “especial” meal for me, so I knew Robin had taken care of everything).

The next day, the conference was in El Club de Banqueros, an event venue in the middle of the city. It was gorgeous! The conference had participants from across the Americas, so we had live translation between English, Spanish, and Portuguese. Mostly, the translation was for us Americans and Canadians who didn’t know Spanish – although most of the folks from Spanish-speaking countries had to use the earpieces for our Portuguese speakers! Robin was coordinating all of the food at the venue. She worked with the staff (in Spanish) to make sure I had safe meals. Truly, she was just tremendous.

Some other conference attendees and myself! Folks from the US, Venezuela, Mexico, and more!

The day was long, but we had an exhilarating dinner that night at a private art venue in the city with a local food crew. They were making tacos that changed my life. They were using all fresh, local ingredients and hand-pressing and heating the tortillas on-site. They made a variety of fillings. Robin helped check which of the fillings were safe with the food crew (again, Robin to the rescue!). I was able to enjoy some incredibly delicious tacos with fresh ingredients.

These were insanely good.

We had one last day of the conference on Sunday, for the morning. After that, five of us from Denver (two staff from the non-profit and three of us from DU) went and adventured around Mexico City for the rest of the day. Darylann and I flew back together on Monday and resumed school!

Now with the sequence of events established, let’s talk health challenges! First, the water. I was careful during the first 36 hours or so. Mexico City does not have great water and I knew that walking in to the weekend. I had bottled water and I knew not to just fill my refillable water bottle at any old water fountain. Then: the hotel we were staying at served (drip) coffee in the morning and while they said that the water they used was filtered, my stomach definitely disagreed. I threw up, recovered quickly, and continued on with the rest of my day. However, it wasn’t a pleasant experience.

The venue we were at for the conference (El Club de Banqueros) actually filtered their water enough: they provided coffee throughout the day and my stomach agreed with that coffee. Lesson learned! I refused to get water or coffee from our hotel for the rest of our time in Mexico City. I exclusively bought bottled water and was much more conscientious about drinking water through the whole weekend.

The second real issue was the smog and pollution. Denver is a pretty clean city so my mild asthma is rarely triggered, even during the springtime season. I’m not consistent with an inhaled steroid (Pulmicort) to help moderate the asthma, especially during the winter, because my lungs are just fine during that time of the year. This was an agreement reached with my doctor, so please talk with your doctor about the best practices to help control asthma if you have it. Anyway, with the spring season only just starting in Denver, I hadn’t really been on Pulmicort, but I brought it anyway, along with all of my other medications, just to have in case anything happened. I’m glad I did! The smog really activated some minor breathing problems the first day I was in Mexico City: essentially, it was just some tightness in the chest. I took Pulmicort regularly through the whole weekend and I didn’t have any further issues (the problems dissipated).

Now, for the weirdest story of the trip! It was our last day and we were adventuring around the city. We went to the Palacio de Bellas Artes, a beautiful cultural center in the center of the city.

Palacio de Bellas Artes

There are gorgeous murals from artists and has some beautiful rotating galleries of contemporary art. Diego Rivera has a very famous mural installed at the Palacio – and after seeing the Frida Kahlo house, I definitely wanted to see some of his art! Everything was going fine for the first fifteen minutes: we dropped off our bags and began wandering around the gallery.

Slowly, my skin became red. It wasn’t blotchy or full of hives either: it just gradually became redder in color. My eyes swelled up and my face turned a nice hue of red as well. My skin was not itchy at all, but my eyes definitely hurt. I had no idea what was going on!! My companions were all very concerned and pointed out my very red skin. I looked like a very sunburned American walking around with very red eyes. However, I had absolutely zero breathing problems and nothing else was happening besides my skin and eyes being very red. Nothing even itched! Such a weird, weird thing.

Anyway, I was wondering if it was something I had eaten for lunch (a delayed reaction, nonetheless, because I had eaten over an hour prior). However, once we grabbed our things and stepped out of the building, I took a Benadryl and my symptoms disappeared within the next fifteen minutes. I still have absolutely no clue what happened, but I’m glad I don’t look like a red alien! If any of those symptoms became progressively worse, or if I had breathing problems, I would’ve immediately asked one of my friends to call emergency services and administer an autoinjector. That would not have been an ideal situation, but it would have been medically necessary.

Other than those three things, the trip was great! Robin was such a huge help in making sure my food was safe for the duration of my trip (she even helped order a dinner at a restaurant our final night there).

The 2018 Youth Congress for Sustainable Americas

The whole experience was amazing, and I loved the city so much! I also loved all of the people I got to meet at the conference and had such a blast. I wish I could’ve stayed even longer, but I had to get back to school.

If you’re looking for more information about traveling with food allergies in general, you should click here. If you’re looking for more information about traveling internationally, you should click here. I’ve had a blast traveling over the past two months and I can’t wait to graduate from college! Happy travels, all!

College with Food Allergies, Travel/Eating Out & Food Allergy

Traveling with Food Allergies and Friends to San Francisco!

Over the past two months, I’ve made two incredible trips: one to San Francisco for over a week and one to Mexico City, Mexico (read about that trip here)  for four days. It’s rather a busy time for me at the moment (I’m graduating from college in literally two weeks!) so I’ve been meaning to write this post for a while. I figured I’d finally get around to it!

San Francisco (Spring Break 2018)

I went to San Francisco with my two best friends, Thomas and DK. We traveled Europe together and currently live together, so we know each other’s travel rhythms and they are both well acquainted with my food allergies (peanuts, tree nuts, sesame, fish and shellfish), allergic reactions and how to administer my Auvi-Q.

We planned on staying in San Francisco during Spring Break from Friday to the following Sunday (a little over a week). Thomas’ aunt and uncle live in San Francisco and they offered that we stay with them! They didn’t have any dogs or cats, which would have been a deal-breaker for over a week’s stay: I don’t have problems with most dogs or cats for a short period of time due to allergy shots, but over a longer stay I wanted to minimize problems. We affectionately called this trip “Dadcation 2k18” because we joke we’re all a bit like dads.

When initially planning, DK believed he was going to be out in San Francisco before we were for a spiritual retreat (he’s planning to be a Catholic diocesan priest). In the end, the retreat was moved so DK merely booked separate flights. Thomas and I, however, decided to fly Virgin America! It was incredibly cheap ($200 roundtrip versus at least $350 on other airlines) when we were booking flights a couple months out. I double checked their food allergy policy and everything was going to work out just fine! They didn’t serve any peanuts and while I couldn’t get a pre-board, I knew I’d just carry along some sanitary wipes and clean off the seat I was going to sit at.

Note: As of late April 2018, after I flew Virgin America, the airline has been fully integrated into Alaska Airlines. Alaska does have a pre-board option, unlike Virgin.

I try to stick with safe airlines (Southwest being the gold standard), but we were very price conscious since we knew San Francisco was going to be expensive. I felt comfortable with my choice and I had absolutely zero issues with the flight!

We took a short Lyft into the city and met Thomas’ aunt and uncle, Mike and Bette. They were absolutely extraordinary hosts and truly loving, wonderful people. We arrived around 8pm and decided to go for a late dinner at a local pizzeria. I immediately fell into the casual rhythm of travel: go with the flow, deal with any issues as they arise, and make sure I always have a safe option. Pizza felt like a good choice, too, since it’s usually not too crazy. It was more of a craft Italian restaurant, so the meal was delicious and I merely asked the waitress to make sure that the pizza was made safely to keep me safe! Worked great.

Since Thomas and I literally had just finished finals (we’re on the quarter system at the University of Denver), we decided to take the first couple of days pretty easy. We slept in, hung around Mike & Bette’s place, and just enjoyed the area. Mike and Bette had asked if we wanted any food around the place and Thomas had merely requested breakfast food so we could go out and experience the city in during the day and eat as we pleased. They provided so much food.

In all honesty, I have no idea whether Thomas informed them of my food allergies. He’s very cognizant of my food allergies after living together for 3 of 4 years in college. Nonetheless, all of the food Mike and Bette purchased was safe. Of course, breakfast food for us was eggs, sausage, fruit, and vegetables so it was pretty hard to find something unsafe.

Over the course of the next week, we walked around most major parts of the city. We also purchased a week pass for the transit system (the Muni). We walked along the entire Embarcadero and the whole pier, saw Chinatown, went to Alcatraz on a night tour, saw two incredible cathedrals, participated in a civic protest, and enjoyed nights on the pier and in Noe Valley. We ate wondrous food, saw incredible parts of the city, and stayed in on some rainy days. It was a truly fabulous week. I want to highlight a couple of events that I did not anticipate.

Dads take San Francisco (Thomas, DK, Me)

On one day, when we were walking down the Embarcadero, we ended up on the far north side in Ghirardelli Square. Technically, that’s up in Fisherman’s Wharf (an area of the city). My general rule with any chocolate is not to eat it unless I have called and made sure the production process is safe since so much chocolate nowadays includes nuts of some kind. Ghirardelli is not safe for me: some explicitly contain nuts and everything else has a “may contain” or “made in a factory” warning. Nonetheless, we entered into their shop and I mildly perused their offerings, just seeing what was around. Thomas and DK were superbly excited because they love chocolate and Ghirardelli. I waited around while they got a milkshake and purchased a couple gifts.

Obviously, I couldn’t purchase or eat anything. I can’t say I was disappointed about this adventure, because travel is a push & pull between what different people want to see or not. Thomas was all about Ghirardelli. I had a similar experience down on Fisherman’s Wharf walking past Boudin Bakery and some of the local seafood shops. Boudin produces world-famous sourdough bread but it wasn’t particularly safe (due to cross contact) and obviously the local seafood wasn’t safe for me. I wasn’t going to get a bowl of clam chowder with the boys, so we went elsewhere that night (we ventured back to a safe burger place in Noe Valley). I had to make sure I had safe food and DK & Thomas were very accommodating.

However, I wasn’t going to let DK and Thomas leave San Francisco without letting them try their seafood. I knew they wanted to eat some of it. So, we made a night where I would see a friend who was in the city (her name is Melissa) and they would go with Mike & Bette to a delicious seafood place. This worked great! I met Melissa in the Mission and ate some wondrous Cancun-style tacos and they ate seafood. This was essentially how we accommodated each other during our Europe trip: I would make sure I could find safe food and then the boys would be able to eat whatever they pleased.

Mike also took us to his club (it’s at the Presidio Golf Course). Very, very nice! We met up with two University of Denver alumni who live in the city with whom Mike & Bette are friends. We ate a late lunch as a group and I double-checked with the servers that the food would be safe (it was). I ate some short-ribs and had a lovely discussion. However, that afternoon was pretty unplanned: we had absolutely no idea where we were going that evening.

Me, Bette, Mike, Thomas, and DK on our last morning in San Francisco!

As it turns out, we wandered around the Presidio and the area: there is an old military base and some beautiful green lands in the area. We took our time and savored the day. We then walked along the beach all the way back down to Fisherman’s Wharf. By this time, I was getting pretty hungry for dinner: the good news being I remembered there was an In-n-Out at the Wharf that I spied when we were at Ghirardelli earlier in the week. I suggested In-n-Out to the boys and they are 100% on board. It worked out fabulously! In-n-Out is a great safe burger place for me, but I definitely double checked that everything was still safe before paying.

San Francisco was an incredible city and it was so much fun! I am so grateful to Bette and Mike for their hospitality and generosity. It was an amazing week and I will forever cherish that time. I had zero issues during the whole trip and I just can’t speak highly enough of the city and our time.

 

College with Food Allergies, Food Allergies & Study Abroad

Selecting Your Study Abroad Program

This is a selection from my new e-book “Studying Abroad with Food Allergies,” available exclusively on Amazon Kindle. I detail all the important things you should think about when planning, traveling, and studying abroad! Buy it here. 

Study abroad is centered upon a program in a certain country. Some programs are run by universities, others run by research institutes, and even others run by American organizations in other countries. There are many different configurations for study abroad programs. Here are some typical categories:

  • University Programs. These programs are like year-long exchange programs where you are considered a normal student at the foreign university. You typically live on (or near) campus in university-provided housing, but homestays might be an option. Depending upon the country or university, classes may be taught in the native language.
  • Research / Experience Programs. These programs typically integrate a research or internship. Students may take classes and then complete an internship or complete both concurrently. These may be affiliated with universities, but are not always. Housing may be a homestay.
  • Language Immersion Programs. These programs are usually not affiliated with universities and are instead independent institutes. Housing is typically a homestay and academic curriculum is taught in another language.
  • Exchange Programs. These are year-long programs where, like university programs, you are considered a normal student at the foreign university. Exchange programs “switch” students from the respective universities: a university in Japan will send two students and receive two students for the whole year.

I have friends that were in each of those different programs. I was on a university program (more on that soon). One of my close friends, Kieran, was in an experience program in Brussels where he lived in a homestay with a local Belgian family, took classes for 5 weeks, and then worked for 5 weeks at a local international security think tank. I have two other friends who were on a university program in southern France, but in a homestay. I have a friend who was on a Mandarin immersion program in Beijing. I also have a friend who was on an exchange program to Japan, and another on an American research program in Chile. There is such a wide variety!

DU partners with programs around the world. One of the reasons we have such a high participation rate is because of these partner programs. DU students pay the university normal tuition, fees, and housing costs and DU helps cover all of the associated costs of registering, applying, and housing costs at partner programs. More importantly, if a student has a 3.0 GPA or higher and studies abroad in their junior or senior year, they qualify for a scholarship program that covers visa fees and flight costs! This scholarship is called the Cherrington Global Scholars Program.

Most universities have an office for study abroad: at DU, ours is the Office of International Education (OIE). OIE has an easily navigable site that lists out all of the available programs and their requirements. Some programs might have a language requirement or minimum GPAs or even certain majors! For example, there is a program in Milan that is specifically for opera majors at DU.

Criteria for Programs

These were some of the criteria I considered when I was selecting my program for study abroad. They at least help narrow down from a wide variety of programs that exist in the world and that DU partners with.

  • Are you comfortable studying in a country where English an official or primary language? Do you speak a second language?
  • Are classes taught in English?
  • Does the program offer credits toward my major or minor?
  • What kind of housing does the program offer? What kind of housing are you genuinely comfortable living in for at least four months?
  • Is the local cuisine (relatively) safe?
  • Is this actually where you want to go?

For me, I immediately knew that I would not be comfortable in a country where English isn’t a primary language. I can butcher some Spanish, but I wasn’t comfortable living in a Spanish-speaking country or communicating in Spanish. Study abroad is supposed to be uncomfortable and it is supposed to stretch your boundaries, but it isn’t supposed to be dangerous. I didn’t feel safe constantly communicating in Spanish or in a Spanish-speaking country since I wasn’t sure if I could constantly maintain food safety for the many months I would be there.

This also relates to another criterion mentioned above: is the local cuisine (relatively) safe? It’s impossible to find any cuisine that won’t contain at least one of my allergens, so I was looking for cultural cuisine that I could, on average, feel comfortable in finding a safe option. This criterion eliminated some English-speaking programs in English-speaking countries like The Gambia because I wasn’t entirely sure if I could consistently have safe food. Even though I wasn’t considering China, Japan, or Thailand by this point, this would also have eliminated those countries from my consideration.

I eventually narrowed down to mostly a few host nations: New Zealand, Australia, the United Kingdom, and Ireland. I also kept the Netherlands, Denmark, and Sweden on my radar because of their high-rate of English proficiency and relatively accessible cuisine.

This narrowing process may be different for you depending upon your food allergies. It might be stricter and you might focus exclusively on European countries (or only one country); it also might be less strict depending upon what you need to manage. Conduct some Google searches to explore different country’s cuisines and their languages. This was immensely useful to me before I started to explore programs in-depth. That way, I didn’t go chasing an impossible program down a rabbit hole.

Lancaster Castle – at the University of Lancaster where I went!

Most of the programs were university programs and I double checked that they at least offered some classes I could count toward my academic degree. Sometimes, students forget that it is study abroad and not travel abroad. This is still an academic experience and it makes sense to take classes that still count for academic credit since you’re paying the money! OIE made accessing these lists at the various programs very easy, so if your university does not offer such a nice website, you might have to do some digging to figure out their academic offerings!

Want to learn more about housing at study abroad programs, coordinating accommodations, planning international travel, and more? Get my new e-book “Studying Abroad with Food Allergies” now, available exclusively on Amazon Kindle. Buy it here.

Food Allergies & Study Abroad, Travel/Eating Out & Food Allergy

Medication & Safety While Abroad

This is a selection from my new e-book “Studying Abroad with Food Allergies,” available exclusively on Amazon Kindle. I detail all the important things you should think about when planning, traveling, and studying abroad! Buy it here. (It’s free with Kindle Unlimited!)

As a part of its study abroad program, The University of Denver (DU), where I attend, offers membership to a service called International SOS. International SOS offers consultation on health and security for individuals traveling abroad. This service was incredibly helpful to me while planning out for study abroad. All DU students are required to have at least one consultation with International SOS (over the phone) before they leave.

I called up International SOS and spoke with two individuals. The first individual was a security and travel expert and she briefed me on the ongoing security situation in all of the countries I was planning on visiting. She gave me a debrief on ongoing developments regarding terrorism and personal safety, as well as general practices as a US citizen abroad. This was great and very useful.

The second individual was a medical doctor. He was incredibly helpful. He had the medical knowledge required to understand my food allergies and the international experience to understand how they could be best managed while I traveled. He made sure I knew how to manage cross contact and how to be careful while purchasing food at restaurants while traveling (a skill I was well versed in!).

He noted that I would be unable to fill a prescription from an American doctor while traveling in other countries; instead, he recommended that I travel with my medicine in their original boxes that have the prescription on them. As such, I planned on carrying all of my medicine, including an extra set of EpiPens, in their original box.

If I needed to get a refill of a certain medicine, I could at least present the doctor in the foreign country my original prescription box to obtain a prescription that would be filled at the local pharmacy. Since different countries set-up their health care systems differently, an American prescription wouldn’t be able to be filled at a foreign pharmacy.

He did not believe there was any required paperwork to carry my medicine (EpiPens, antihistamines, asthma control, etc.) in the countries I was visiting. He recommended that, if it made me feel more comfortable traveling with a doctor’s letter that allowed me to carry my medicine, then I should obtain one. I did.

The US Department of State also offers a service called STEP (Smart Traveler Enrollment Program) that pushes updates to your email on ongoing security alerts in the regions you are traveling in. This also allows the US government to identify that you are in a country in case something happens and get you help. I also enrolled in STEP for my entire time abroad.

Not every school offers a service like International SOS. I think that finding a good resource online is possible. You should conduct thorough research on the countries you are visiting and the rules for bringing in medication. Countries usually have websites that detail these rules. Moreover, you should talk with your doctor about what is necessary to manage your medical conditions.

Want to learn more about other important planning items you need to think about before studying abroad like housing, accommodations, travel, and more? Get my new e-book “Studying Abroad with Food Allergies” now, available exclusively on Amazon Kindle. Buy it here. (It’s free with Kindle Unlimited!)

College with Food Allergies, Travel/Eating Out & Food Allergy

A Private Chef and a Broadway Show

The Broadway Show Rent!

I had a really unique opportunity last week. As the Student Body President at the University of Denver (DU), I get invited to events and special functions all the time – but this time was particularly special. The Broadway musical Rent was visiting Denver and our Vice Chancellor of Advancement at DU (his name is Armin) invited myself, the Student Body Vice President, and two of our student government representatives to go out to dinner with him and his husband and then see the play! Armin is essentially in charge of fundraising for our university, so this was quite an honor.

We began coordinating a dinner place over email. While the Vice President (Darylann) and I had previously had lunch with Armin, I had no expectation that he would remember my food allergies. He first offered a spicy Chinese restaurant in the area. I counter-offered with two local restaurants I knew would be safe (and not incredibly expensive either). Armin tried to reserve a table at either of those restaurants, but they were all booked up.

Instead, he hired a private chef.

I can say with absolute certainty, I’ve never had an experience quite like this. A private chef? At Armin’s fancy place in downtown Denver? And then a Broadway show?? I was completely blown away. Armin asked us to all send along our food allergies or other requirements so the chef could adequately prepare food.

One of the student government representatives, Jake, has Celiac Disease. Darylann has gastrointestinal issues that prevent her from consuming dairy. And I have my own food allergies to peanuts, tree nuts, sesame, shellfish, and fish. (The other rep, Scott, doesn’t have any intolerances or allergies). Darylann, Jake, and I all were joking the chef was just going to serve us a bowl of rice and call it quits!! We underestimated the chef’s ability severely.

The chef, Megan, was incredible. She prepared a four-part meal: a salad with vinaigrette and watermelon beets, a sautéed butternut squash with spicy vinaigrette and yogurt, baked chicken breast with mushrooms and a delicious creamy sauce, and cherry meringue kisses for dessert. It was all 100% safe. She double checked all of the ingredients, prepared Darylann’s dinner without the yogurt and cream sauce, and accommodated all of my allergies perfectly. It was incredible. She was completely at ease accommodating all of our food allergies and intolerances and double checked with all of us.

The show afterward was fun too!! I was still shaking in my boots by how awesome (and delicious) the dinner was and how successful the chef was in accommodating all of our allergies and intolerances. This just goes to show that multiple different food allergies can and will be accommodated in a professional setting with a caveat – make sure to speak up about your needs! This was an exquisite experience!

College with Food Allergies, Food Allergies & Study Abroad

Preparing for Study Abroad

I’m leaving on Monday, August 1st to study abroad! I’ll be traveling with friends for the entire month of August through Iceland, Spain, France, Italy, and Greece; then, I’ll be in Denmark for a month completing a research project; and then I’ll be at a host university in Lancaster, England from October to mid-December. Crazy times!

I’m beyond excited to embark on this adventure of a lifetime.

The planning for this process admittedly started before my Freshman year at college even began. I was excited! The University of Denver has an incredible set-up: during your junior or senior year, you can study abroad at any partner program or university (they have over 160) in over 80 countries around the world. You pay DU your normal tuition, housing, and fees and they take care of the costs at your host program or university! And, with a 3.0 GPA or higher, DU students can also qualify for the Cherrington Global Scholars program, which helps cover visa fees and flights to and from your program! Truly, DU makes it super easy to study abroad.

I knew from the get-go (as I discussed in a previous post) that I would need to study in an English-speaking country where I would have control of my food intake — so homestay programs and shared kitchen set-ups wouldn’t work. I narrowed it down to a variety of programs in the UK, New Zealand, and Australia, but eventually settled on Lancaster University. It’s quite a good school and has a variety of academic + fun programs I can get involved in!

Lancaster Castle
Lancaster Castle

LU

I left all of the study abroad stuff on the backburner until this past fall, when all the study abroad applications begin. After investigating all of my options at Lancaster, I decided to pursue independent research. I had no idea (originally) what my research would be about but I knew it sounded cool and I wanted to take advantage of the opportunity of studying abroad. As a Public Policy major, I’m really interested in how different governments structure their economies, health care systems, and other public sector services. I mulled around a bit with the idea of looking into the National Health Service (NHS) in the UK since it’s so different from the US health care system; but, after doing a lot of research and reading (I kid you not I read three PhD dissertations and two books and forty-odd academic journal articles), I settled on conducting research in Denmark on the way they treat small & medium-sized businesses.

I now knew that I would be spending a considerable amount of time in Denmark conducting this research and I would have to do it before my program began. Lancaster’s term starts late (the first few days of October), so I knew I had September to conduct my research.

And then, I decided that traveling with friends sounded like a cool idea — why not? I’m over there already and my flights were paid for by DU. After many months of figuring out immigration issues and friends committing and then finding out they weren’t able to, my two close friends (Thomas, my first year roommate, and Danny — or DK for short) and I decided to travel together for all of August! We didn’t really have much planned until mid-May, but we knew we wanted to see a lot of Italy.

021

So, the run-down for the next four-and-a-half months came to look like this:

  • I’ll be traveling with Thomas and DK through Iceland, Spain, France, Italy, and Greece.
  • I’ll be staying in Copenhagen, Denmark for the full month of September.
  • I’ll be attending my study abroad program at Lancaster from October to mid-December. I get home December 18th.

I am blessed to have a full-ride scholarship to DU that helps pay for my study abroad experience at Lancaster. I also applied and was awarded grants to help fund my research in Denmark. I started saving over two years ago for my study abroad experience and am also using all my personal savings to help fund my travels and other fun excursions! The point being I started planning for this incredible experience a long time ago, both financially and mentally.

Health & Safety Abroad

This was a top priority for me from the get-go. I knew (from other bloggers and food allergy families) that international travel was completely possible, even if I didn’t speak all of the languages. My Spanish is a little rusty, and I definitely don’t know how to explain anything in French or Greek, so I knew I’d be flying blind. I admit, that’s scary! But, I knew I could prepare successfully for my travels abroad and remain 100% safe.

I downloaded the Google Translate app, which can help translate things on the spot — you can even take a picture of something and it will translate it!

I also downloaded AllergySmartz, an app for my iPhone that allows me to select my food allergens and it churns out a prepared chunk of text describing my food allergies & cross contact issues in multiple different languages to give to a waiter who may not be fully fluent in English. It’s essentially a digital chef card in multiple different languages!

DU also helps its abroad students by automatically getting them membership to International SOS, a company that delivers 24/7 emergency help and advice. They don’t provide health services, but they can call an ambulance or help notify a US Embassy in case of a national security issue. DU requires all of its students call International SOS before they leave to get advice on health & safety while abroad.

My call with International SOS was fantastic. After getting a security overview of all of the countries I was traveling to (and advice to watch out for pickpocketers and such), I got to speak with an actual medical doctor (!) about my food allergies and traveling abroad. He helped clarify that I should carry a doctor’s letter to get my medication through immigration (and what should be in that letter), to always watch out for cross-contact issues in restaurants, and to always carry my EpiPens. It was really great to talk to a doctor who was so knowledgeable on food allergies and travel.

This is, in many regards, the ultimate test of self-advocacy. I’m already really quite good at advocating for myself, but to do it other countries and across languages certainly tests my own limits. My mom helped research potential issues in food overseas by reaching out through her various social media groups to figure out what other things could come up. I found out lupine flour, a flour used a lot in baking across Europe, cross reacts with nuts, and therefore isn’t good for me with peanut and tree nut allergies. Definitely going to avoid that! I have the absolute faith and confidence that I’ll be safe and I know how to take care of myself.

For medication, I’ll be carrying two EpiPens with me at all times, and I’ll have an extra two in my backpack. Because they have become so expensive, I’m traveling with EpiPens that are expiring in August of 2016 (this next month) – these are my two backups. We ordered the two new ones from Canada Drugs and got the MEDA brand, the European drug manufacturer of EpiPens, to make sure I was safe for all of my travels. They cost ~$220. I will be keeping the new ones with me. This is a definite risk, but from conversations with my allergist, the EpiPens won’t become extremely ineffective in the couple months past their expiration date. They may or may not be 100% effective, either, but we simply can’t afford to spend $220+ for a second new pair of EpiPens. I’ll also have other prescribed medication in my backpack at all times.

I researched labeling laws for the EU and the UK. Thankfully, no regulations will be changing due to Brexit in the coming months, so I’m in a sweet spot to come to the UK (especially since the pound sterling is weaker against the dollar)! Over 85% of Danes speak fluent English, so I know I won’t have too many issues communicating in restaurants regarding my food allergies. However, most of their labels are solely in Danish. I’ve become familiar with important words (mainly my food allergies) in Danish to quickly identify those while reading labels in a grocery store.

Traveling & Living

For the next 4+ months, I’ll basically only have a backpack’s worth of belongings. Since I’m traveling for the duration of August, I’ll only be carrying the things I absolutely need. Thomas, DK, and I are traveling mainly by trains, so I can’t be carrying around tons of luggage — it’s inconvenient, heavy, and unnecessary. I’ll have all the necessities, but nothing really more — clothes for different kinds of weather, some hiking shoes, flip flops, swimsuit, my medication, and some electronic & utility stuff, but that’s about it.

For August, we’ll mainly be staying in hostels or AirBnB. We used HostelWorld to find the best hostels (stayed with hostels rated 8.5+ upon the advice of a friend). We were able to check their no pet & no smoking policies, plus cost and living situations. All of our AirBnBs were strategically placed in cities we were staying longer in: for example, we’re spending 5 nights in Rome, so we got an AirBnB so we could cook our own food if we wanted, wash clothes, and so forth. All of the AirBnB’s we chose are non-smoking and pet-free!

The AirBnB we're staying in Rome -- for only $90 / night!
The AirBnB we’re staying in Rome — for only $90 / night!

In Denmark, I’m renting an AirBnB for the whole month. It’s also pet-free and smoke-free and the owner is even giving me a bicycle to use while I’m there! Truly a wonderful set-up. It has a kitchen and a refrigerator and I get to truly take care of myself for that whole month!

While in Lancaster, I’ll be staying in a studio dorm room. I’ll have a bed and bathroom and a small kitchenette to cook all of my food. I can take a short bus ride into Lancaster whenever I need to buy more food. It is also pet and smoke-free!

Final Thoughts

I’ve prepared just like any other student studying abroad & traveling internationally — making copies of my credit cards, passport, immigration letters and documents, making sure my housing is set up at Lancaster, booking trains — and I also prepared as someone with food allergies. I’m going to be cautious. I’m not going to be eating crazy dishes without knowing, for certain, what will be in those dishes.

And, I know, I’m going to have the time of my life! I’ll post an update probably once I get to Lancaster in October. Until then!

College with Food Allergies

Staying Safe in College (and Life)

DU#2

I want to talk about staying safe at college. For many of you, that’s many years off; for others, it’s right now! College is an exceptionally exciting time. You are free from a parental burden, you are living on your own, figuring out life for yourself, and taking on all of your own responsibilities. You have to figure out when you go to class, if you even want to go to class, when to complete homework, when to eat, when or if to exercise, when to hang out with friends, when to go to bed, and so on. There’s a lot of new personal responsibility!

And to top it off, you have to manage your food allergies. You have to make sure you carry your own epinephrine autoinjectors without a (friendly?) reminder from Mom. You have to ask people about what food they’ve eaten before you kiss them at a party. You have to figure out where you’re going to eat. This can be unbelievably scary for parents since this might be the first time they don’t have supervision of your food intake or at least even a general knowledge of what you’re eating, where you’re eating, if you’re eating, etc.

Then there are questions of accommodations — can you feel safe in your dorm room? Will your roommate be willing to accommodate your food allergies? How about the dining halls? Will you have access to a kitchen, and if so, do you feel safe using it?

Really, the questions are endless. They are so endless, in fact, you can scare yourself out of going to college and living your life. So, for the moment, stop asking yourself all of those questions.

Let’s focus on what you can do: you can advocate for yourself.

This is the fundamental principle of staying safe in college, and in life. You must be able to self-advocate. This also isn’t something you wake up one day and know how to do; it is developed over months and years of practice. Self-advocacy is a skill that every food allergic child must learn. It may be scary for your parent to let you learn how to self-advocate because it requires you to step outside of your comfort zone, learn how to tell people about your food allergies, learn the potential consequences of not telling someone about your food allergies, and get yourself into situations in which you must self-advocate. But, let me tell you something: it’s a lot scarier to go out into the real world and not know how to advocate for yourself.

Self-advocacy, at its core, is made of two main components:

  1. Speaking up.
  2. Managing risk.

Speaking Up

Self-advocacy, and therefore staying safe in college and in life, requires you to speak up. You must be able to tell other people about your food allergies, set boundaries around what is acceptable for your safety, and demand nothing less.

To do that, you first must become comfortable with the idea that you have food allergies. Too often, we become the victims of bullying and indifference. We become identified solely as the “food allergic kid” in the class who forces everyone else not to eat PB&J’s or bring in certain foods. We’re teased for it, and in some cases, our life is threatened simply because other kids don’t understand the severity of our food allergy. I had a young boy chase me around the playground in 1st grade with a peanut butter cracker chanting, “I’m gonna kill you, I’m gonna kill you!” The good news? He and I became really close friends after he better understood why what he did was not only wrong, but dangerous.

Time and time again, we are told that we are different, that food allergies make us different. And it becomes difficult to accept the reality that we do have food allergies, that we are different, that our health and safety is threatened by a plate of fish or that croissant with almonds. And, what I still struggle with, is that I have to make other people live that reality with me. I have to ask my date to not eat any of my allergens just in case we kiss later. I have to ask my friends in the middle of Italy not to eat at this one restaurant even though we are starving after walking for 8 hours straight because most of their menu is seafood and I just don’t feel comfortable eating there.

But.

Your life is too important to not speak up. You have to accept that you have food allergies, that you (may) wear a MedicAlert bracelet, that yes you have to explain to every waiter at every restaurant you eat at that you have food allergies. Because food allergies is not a badge of shame, but a badge of pride. Be proud of your differences. Recognize that everyone has them: you have food allergies, she has two moms, he has Crohn’s, she has dyslexia, he can’t stand horror movies, she’s afraid of heights, he gets cold easily, and so on. The beauty of food allergies is that it adds another dash of diversity to the incredible mixing pot of humanity. You are incredible and never let anyone tell you differently.

So speak up. Especially when it feels like an inconvenience, speak up. The first day I was in Copenhagen, I ate at a local cafe with a friend and ordered a simple sandwich. I was exhausted after a full day of traveling, on and off metro stops, planes, and walking everywhere. I almost didn’t ask, because I thought it might be safe. But I did, because I’ve trained myself time and time again to always ask. And it was a good thing too: the bread on the sandwich contained sesame.

Could you imagine what would have happened if I hadn’t asked? The sandwich would come out. I might recognize that it has some weird seeds in the bread, I might not. If not, I eat the bread and then go into an allergic reaction. And even if I do recognize it, then I have to explain to my waitress about my food allergies and then force them to remake the sandwich. All of that could be avoided in the first place.

Never be afraid to speak up. Always put your safety first and never settle for less.

Managing Risk

The second part of self-advocacy provides guidelines around what to do after you speak up. After you explain your food allergies to a waiter, to a friend, or to your roommate, there is an infinite combination of responses. They may be the most accommodating and kind person you ever met; or, the dish you ordered and almost every dish on the menu at the restaurant isn’t safe because of cross contact issues.

Managing risk is the really difficult part of self-advocacy, because it requires you to train your “good judgement” muscle. Like any muscle, you need to work it out for it to strengthen.

I want to give a real-life situation that I encounter at college most days: during lunchtime at the University of Denver, the dining hall has a mix of different stations. There’s a salad bar, a pizza station, a grill station, a soup station, and a variety station that differs everyday. I usually go to the grill station because I know the food selection usually contains safe food.

Why? Because previously in the year, I spoke up. I talked with the head chef in the dining hall and got to understand what food they use and how they prepare their meals. I worked hard to make sure the food I was eating was safe. And, if I have any questions at all, I can go directly to the head chef and ask!

That’s very different than ordering at a restaurant. At a restaurant, especially the ones you’ve never been to before, there’s a high amount of risk on dishes you’ve never eaten before. “Good judgement” says that I need to ask about their food preparation practices for my safety every time. And even if I go back to the same restaurant time and time again, I still speak up.

“Good judgement” is simply following this creed:

Safety is your first priority, so always prioritize your safety. Safety is maximized when there is little to no chance of the food actually containing your allergens and little to no chance of cross contact issues in the food.

Really, there’s not much more to it. You have to learn how safe you feel at restaurants and your parents and doctors can help with that. You probably shouldn’t eat french fries that are cooked in the same oil as their fried shrimp; but, if your chicken is prepared separately from the salmon, you’re far more likely to be safe (if you have shellfish or fish allergies, for example).

Final Thoughts

There is a lot more personal responsibility in college, from school to friends to sleep. You get to add in managing food allergies into that mix.

I personally know how…intimidating it can feel. I was in a new city, in a new room, with new friends, taking new classes at a new school, and I had to figure out what the heck I was going to eat! But my Mom and Dad helped me from a very young age to understand how to speak up, how to manage risk with good judgement, and how to maximize my safety. That’s all self-advocacy is.

You may have a roommate that isn’t accommodating to your peanut allergies, and you’ll have to set those boundaries, especially if he or she is constantly storing open jars of Nutella in the room fridge. Like, that’s just blatant disrespect. Your safety comes first and never convince yourself otherwise.

I haven’t had an allergic reaction since age 10 (to fish on a camping trip when I really had no idea I was allergic to fish). You should never accept the “reality” that you may have an allergic reaction. If you’re having allergic reactions, minor or major, you may need to work on strengthening that “good judgement” muscle. If you’re constantly in situations where you don’t feel safe, you may need to evaluate how well you speak up about your needs.

Do I go to restaurants where they serve seafood? Obviously, yeah. Do I allow my friends to order seafood? Yeah, nearly all of the time. Do I personally order seafood? Obviously not. Do I go to college parties? Not really. Do I deal with drunk friends? Yes, of course, it’s college. Do I eat out with friends? Absolutely! Do I usually have influence over which restaurant we go to? Yes. And so forth. Those are the boundaries that I have set, through good judgement, as acceptable for my safety. You need to figure out yours.

Self-advocacy assures you are kept safe. Really, college is just like any other area in life where you deal with food allergies. Instead of talking to an airline’s customer service about their peanut policy, you talk with the university’s Disability Services Office, or their Housing department. Instead of training your teacher at a 504 Plan meeting, you train your friends. And so on.

College is such an exciting time. It’s merely one part in a big journey through life and food allergies are simply one small part of that adventure.

You are always welcome to ask me any questions or voice any concerns you have to me. Send me an e-mail at [email protected]!

College with Food Allergies, Food Allergies & Study Abroad

Travel, Travel, Travel Abroad! 

I’m writing this sitting in Copenhagen, Denmark after traveling for 30 days through 11 cities in 5 countries. I started in Reykjavik, Iceland and ended in Athens, Greece and visited nearly everywhere in between.

Needless to say, I’m a bit tired.

This past month was fantastic. I cannot even begin to explain how much impact this last month has had upon me. I was a bit skeptical when everyone said “travel will change you in unimaginable ways.” Well, I can say with certainty, it does.

This past month has also re-affirmed a sincerely held belief: having food allergies doesn’t limit you from anything. After ordering food in dozens of restaurants across Spain & France, eating gelato from the best shops in Italy, and having authentic Greek food in central Athens, I know that food allergies are simply another part of traveling.

Threesome in Florence

I traveled with Thomas (my first year roommate and best friend #1) and DK (best friend #2) for the month. They were absolutely hilarious to travel with and we had an absolute blast. Both Thomas and DK knew about my food allergies and were incredibly supportive and accommodating. They had been previously trained in how to use an EpiPen and were aware of cross contact issues. Most of the time, they were more worried about me being safe than I was!

It would take too much space to give a detailed play-by-play of each meal in each city, so I will give a review of where I went and what I saw and then move on to the important takeaways and lessons from this amazing travel experience.

My Itinerary

Thomas & I flew out on August 1st and did a one-night stopover in Reykjavik, Iceland. It was our first city and it was a wonderful first stop. Even though we only had two full days in the city, we got to experience a very different city (in style and living) than most of Europe. If you have the chance, do a free stopover in Iceland with IcelandAir. They’re an excellent airline! We traveled via regional trains for the remainder of our journey.

We departed in Reykjavik and entered mainland Europe, beginning with Barcelona. We spent three days in Barcelona and got a real taste of what it’s like to live there (hint: most people wake up past noon and stay out late). We got to see La Sagrada Familia, a huge cathedral designed by Antoni Gaudí that is still under construction! It’s world famous. But we also ate at markets, got to see the Mediterranean, and walk around a really great city.

La Sagrada Familia

After Barcelona, we left to meet DK in Montpellier, France. With only one night, we only saw the main attractions: a cathedral, a large Arc de Triomphe and attached park, and the great medieval architecture. We got kicked out of our Airbnb (more on that later), so our time was cut a bit short. After Montpellier, we arrived in Marseille, France for two nights. We walked so much in Marseille, but we got see incredible views, churches, and history in France’s 2nd largest city. It was by far my favorite French city. After Marseille, we left for two nights in Nice, France — we mostly slept since we were recovering after Marseille and spent the rest of our day on the world famous beaches. As a note, there were armed French military patrols every 200 meters walking around the streets and along the beach due to their recent terrorist attacks.

Trio in Italy

After Nice, we arrived in Milan, Italy after a brief 3-hour stopover in Genoa, Italy. We got to see the famous Il Duomo and three other incredibly historical churches, a medieval fortress, a museum, and ate world-famous pizza at Spontini Pizzeria. Our two nights in Milan felt really short but that’s mainly because we walked 12+ miles each day we were there! After Milan, DK went to see his cousin in Cinque Terre, a gorgeous coastal area of Northern Italy near Florence; Thomas and I went to Venice instead. Venice was by far my favorite city from the whole trip: picturesque canals, small shops and churches scattered all over the island, and a ton of history. We spent three nights in Venice.

We met back up with DK in Florence and spent a short three nights in Florence. Florence was the ideal “Tuscan” city: a giant cathedral (the Florence Duomo) surrounded by red tile roofs in a picture-worthy valley. We spent most of our time in art galleries and museums (the Uffizi and the Accademia, where Michaelangelo’s David is held). We could’ve easily spent a week in Florence, partly because we found the best gelato shop in all of Italy!

Trio in Vatican City

After Florence, we moved on to Rome. We spent a total of a week in Rome, but stayed in two different areas to add some variety. Our whole group got to see Pope Francis for his Sunday Angelus and now we can claim we have shirts blessed by the Pope! We also got to see all of the Vatican Museums and St. Peter’s Basilica, plus multiple museums and Roman historical sites. I ventured out to Tivoli, Italy by myself for a half-day in Villa D’Este, a 16th century villa with incredible gravity-operated fountains. After 7 days in Rome, we were definitely exhausted.

But no matter! We hopped on a short plane to Athens, Greece (via Aegean Air, another excellent airline) to conclude our trip. By this point, we were pretty darn tired so we split our days between relaxation and seeing historical sights. Still, we got to see a plethora of Ancient Greek history sites and museums.

Threesome in Athens

Upon reflection, Thomas and I realized we kind of moved “backwards” in history — Iceland was the “newest” country, founded in about 800 CE. And we moved all the way back to the cradle of Western civilization in Athens, Greece, which dates as early as 8,000 BCE. It was an incredible journey through history and through Europe!

Scariest Moments

I think there were a few moments that definitely top the list of “what the [heck] just happened?”

  1. We got kicked out of our Airbnb in Montpellier. This isn’t as bad as it sounds, but it is fun to say. Our host said we needed to be out of the Airbnb before “12am” — knowing that many Europeans (especially those less fluent in English) could mistake 12am with 12pm, I asked him if he meant 12am or noon. He re-affirmed 12am. As it turned out, he meant 12pm. Most of the French (and elsewhere) use 24h time, so time after 12h is expressed as 13h–23h instead of 1pm to 11pm. It was a simple mess-up, but his cleaning lady came a-knocking at 12pm. Luckily, we were there by accident since DK needed to grab his water bottle! Unfortunately, his cleaning lady didn’t speak any English so we roughly communicated through Google Translate to figure out why she was there and how much time we had to leave (about 1 minute). We hastily packed everything and ran out apologizing (Je suis désolé !). We explored Montpellier with all of our stuff on our backs until our train left for Marseille.
  2. We were in a restaurant in Marseille, France and I decided to have a dessert — creme brulee! It’s a classic French dessert and it’s really a set recipe. However, their creme brulee was served with a side of raspberry sauce and almonds. I asked for them to leave off the almonds on the side. Thomas and DK got a separate dessert — but when they came to serve the desserts, they didn’t get Thomas or DK’s right (they served them the wrong dessert) so I had an “OH BOY” kind of moment, waiting for the creme brulee to come out with nuts on the side. They actually first entirely forgot about my dessert for about 5 minutes once they corrected their previous mistake with Thomas and DK, but they eventually got it out and it was completely safe, no nuts anywhere.
  3. We were at a restaurant in Athens, getting a late lunch. Our waiter was an older Greek man and his English wasn’t great — although, on the whole, Greeks in the service industry seem to know more English than the French or Spanish do. I explained to him that I couldn’t do any sesame, and he smiled and nodded his head and put his hand on my shoulder and said “it’s no problem, all safe.” I wasn’t entirely convinced. But he served food that was completely safe, since I found out from another waiter their bread was made in-house and didn’t contain any sesame. (Whew)

Most Successful Moments

Obviously I had a couple run-ins with danger, but there were far more successes.

  1. Every meal I ate while traveling, which meant about 90 meals were entirely safe at a variety of restaurants in a variety of countries, explained to servers who weren’t usually fluent in English. So, I only had two mix-ups out of 90 — that’s a stellar record.
  2. I ordered a a simple peach tart in Nice — basically baked peaches with a peach sauce. The waiter actually double checked with three cooks about the processing of the peaches before he came back to the table and informed me that the peaches have cross contact issues in their kitchen with nuts they use in other dishes. How incredible! 
  3. This gelateria! IMG_2343 (2)
  4. This restaurant in Venice!Italian MenuThis restaurant in Rome!
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Those are some highlights (and I actually just realized while writing this that all of those moments were from Italy). Every waiter in Europe that I’ve explained my food allergies to completely gets it. They don’t ignore it and they double check with the kitchen on my meals. Really, truly good service even with a slight language barrier.

Lessons & Important Takeaways

There was a lot I knew coming into my travels. I planned for months in advance for which cities we were visiting and where we were staying. I double checked airline policies for serving nuts (Iceland Air and Aegean Air are two fantastic airlines). I knew I would have to avoid chocolate at all costs because chocolate is usually made with nuts across Europe, and I would avoid it even if they told me their chocolate wasn’t. I even checked immigration restrictions on medicine and bringing EpiPens® into different countries.

But there’s so much I simply learned by traveling. In no particular order:

  1. Never, ever, ever believe your food allergies are an inconvenience. Thomas and DK were wonderful companions and always supportive in finding restaurants with safe menus. After walking 10 miles in Venice one day, Thomas and I were famished and we found a good looking restaurant, but about 75% of their menu was solely seafood (which Thomas enjoys). I didn’t feel totally comfortable with the place even though I could eat there, but it was Thomas who was the really uncomfortable one since he didn’t want us eating there for my sake — how’s that for great friends! He decisively said “no, let’s find somewhere else.” We did. Never convince yourself or your friends that it’s okay to put yourself in danger, because it’s not.
  2. Always restate your food allergies to the waiter multiple times while ordering. Before I ordered, I would tell them “I have food allergies. All peanuts and nuts, sesame, shellfish, and fish,” in English. If they looked confused or weren’t totally fluent in English, I’d pull out my phone and show them the list in whatever language they spoke. Then I’d order my food. Then I’d restate my food allergies. By that point, the waiter or waitress was like “yes, yes I got it,” which made me feel even safer!
  3. Carry all your important documentation in one area and have digital copies available. I feel as if this is a good travel tip in general, but especially for those of us with food allergies. I had a bright red folder in my daypack (that I carried on to flights as well) that contained copies of doctor’s letters for immigration that allow me to carry my medicine, my passport, all of my credit cards and ID cards including health insurance, a copy of proof of health insurance, and a copy of bank statements (really for my travels in the UK). I had all of these documents also saved digitally so I could print them out if necessary. I also had printed verifications of everywhere we were going to stay (AirBnB’s and Hostels) along with flight confirmation information. This way, I had any and all information I needed at anytime I needed it on my person. In case it was stolen, I also had digital copies I could print out.
  4. If you want control over your meals, use AirBnB. I should become some sort of brand rep for their company because I absolutely adore AirBnB. Basically, you can “rent” out another person’s apartment or a room in their apartment for as long as you would like. There are hundreds of options in each city. We stayed with top-reviewed places and top-reviewed hosts (called SuperHosts) so we assured our experience would be a good one. Through AirBnB, we stayed in an apartment in a 13th century monastery, a 5th floor apartment with a grand view of Marseille, a first floor apartment with a river view in Florence, a gorgeous apartment near the Vatican, and a top-floor apartment with a rooftop view of Rome. Oh and a spacious apartment in Athens that had a view of the Olympian Temple of Zeus. And for the most part, we didn’t spend more than $30 or $40 per person, per night. When shared between three people, it becomes really quite cheap to travel via AirBnB. Since you have access to a kitchen, you can cook or at least have a place to store food you can eat at anytime. We stayed in our fair share of hostels, but they’re simply not as flexible or easy to use for food.
  5. Bring an emergency supply of snacks. This should be a small bag of some kind of emergency food. I always bring NutriGrain bars, and those staved off hunger on a couple of train rides. You might end up in a situation where you can’t eat safely or you need to catch a train instead of eating due to bad planning (did that one…). It’s always good to have a guaranteed safe option available.
  6. Please always carry your epinephrine autoinjectors. That’s a no brainer.

Final Thoughts

I could probably write pages and pages more — and I just might eventually! For now, those are the top takeaways.

After Greece, Thomas and DK left for Zurich, Switzerland to meet DK’s family. They’ll be finally settling down in Salzburg, Austria for their study abroad program in the next couple of days. I left for Copenhagen, Denmark where I am now completing a research project on small business performance and growth.

City

International travel can seem scary, I totally get that. I had a lot of fears about communicating with different people in different languages and still feel that the food served would be “safe.” But, it is entirely possible. You have to plan ahead, of course, but once you’re there, you have to figure it out somehow. If you explain you have food allergies, you may be surprised at how many people are willing to help and make sure the food is going to be safe and delicious. You can always figure a way to make it work!

Simply: Food allergies do not prevent you from doing anything in life, unless you let them.

Questions about travel or study abroad programs? Send me an e-mail at [email protected]. I’d be happy to answer any and all questions you have about my travels or about planning for yours!

Food Allergy & EpiPen

EpiPens in Denmark

Hi everyone! It’s Morgan. I’m currently researching small business growth in Denmark at the moment, but I decided to take a quick reprieve from my research and look into EpiPen® pricing here in this country.

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Copenhagen!

The recent outrage over Mylan’s price increases certainly has made international news. Heather Bresch is now viewed as a challenger to Martin Shkreli as worst CEO of a pharmaceutical company, ever. Good.

Seeing all the news and congressional inquiries started to make me think: why does the US have this problem? Is it only a US issue? Why can Mylan get away with this blatant price gouging?

Doing a full cross-country comparison among developed countries in North America and Europe would take a few weeks, so I decided to examine how Denmark does it.

Background

Denmark has a publicly funded health care system with mixed governance structures: the national government sets health care goals, policies, and tax structures while regional and municipal governments oversee the delivery of health care and process payments and reimbursements.

All Danish citizens qualify to be a part of the health care system and self-identify into two groups:

  1. Group 1. 97% Danes select to be in Group 1. It’s entirely free to visit a general practitioner (GP), but you need to get a recommendation to visit a specialist. If you visit a specialist upon recommendation of your GP, it’s entirely free.
  2. Group 2. 3% Danes select to be in Group 2. You can visit GPs or specialists at your pleasure and don’t need recommendations. All GP visits are free, but there’s only partial coverage of costs for specialists.

Denmark offers on-the-spot reimbursements for pharmaceutical costs (more on that later) and it doesn’t matter if you’re in Group 1 or 2.

Pharmaceutical Delivery

Let’s say I’m the CEO of a pharmaceutical company. Let’s call this company Molfyne and say it mainly produces anti-depressants. Let’s also assume that I’m licensed by the Danish government to produce and sell pharmaceuticals in Denmark.

Molfyne would need to apply to the Danish Medicines Agency, a national agency, to have its drug recognized and sold in Denmark. I would need to file an application with the Danish Medicines Agency (DMA) and tell them my selling price of my drug to Danish pharmacies. I also submit documentation regarding the effectiveness, side-effects, and value-added of the drug (among other information) to DMA and wait for their response.

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DMA determines whether the drug will be reimbursed or not based on those factors. It’s not entirely clear from my research whether DMA “negotiates” with my company over my price offered, but I suspect there might be a little negotiating.

Then, if approved, my anti-depressants are bought either by Denmark’s hospital drug procurement company (called Amgros) or by private wholesalers who sell to local pharmacies. If a patient is prescribed my drug in a hospital, there’s no co-pay or any payment since any and all pharmaceuticals are provided by the hospital and payed for by taxpayers.

If a patient is prescribed my drug by their GP or specialist and needs to buy it from a local pharmacy, they are reimbursed on-the-spot by the Danish government on a tiered system. This means that if a drug cost $50 and they qualified for a “$10 reimbursement,” they would only pay the pharmacy $40. This tiered reimbursement system is determined by how much you’ve spent on pharmaceuticals this calendar year. These tiers are 2015 numbers and are adjusted annually.

(DKK refers to the Danish Krone, their currency; $ is US Dollars)

  • You pay out of pocket up to DKK 925 ($138)
  • You get a 50% reimbursement for DKK 925 to DKK 1515 ($138 — $227)
  • You get a 75% reimbursement for DKK 1515 to DKK 3280 ($227 — $491)
  • You get an 85% reimbursement for expenses higher than DKK 3280 ($491)
  • You get a 100% reimbursement for expenses higher than DKK 3830 ($574)

To translate this, if I need to get $200 worth of drugs in February, I pay $138 out of pocket, and get 50% off the remaining $62. But if I need to buy $200 of drugs in June, I get the 50% reimbursement on the leftover of the second tier ($27 worth), and get a 75% reimbursement on the remaining cost. It means the more drugs you need to purchase, the less expensive it gets for you.

There’s only one catch: reimbursements are calculated based on the least expensive generic product. Pharmacies are required to issue the least expensive generic product, unless a doctor says otherwise (this is unusual). So, if your doctors says “not the generic one” you may have to pay a bit more, but it is still heavily reimbursed.

EpiPens in Denmark

Denmark makes it really easy to find out how much drugs cost across the board: they even have a website (http://www.medicinpriser.dk/) you can explore. It is in Danish, but you can select “English” in the upper right to view it in English.

If you search “EpiPen” you get this screen:

epipens

Notice that there are three items for 0.3 mg doses (the Stryrke column) from three pharmaceutical companies: 2care4, Orifarm, and Meda (the Firma column). Look at the consumer price (far right column)! 440 DKK is the equivalent of about $66. This means that you would pay $66 for an EpiPen® (a single one, not a two pack). The Meda EpiPen® costs 446.15 DKK, which is about $67. Really not much difference between the companies.

I was blown away seeing this. $66 for one EpiPen is cheap, even though it is an increase from previous years. Furthermore, if I have other drug costs from the year and need to get an EpiPen, this could cost me $33 (50% reimbursement), or ~$16 ($75% reimbursement). That’s quite inexpensive.

Lastly, drug companies are only allowed to adjust prices every other Monday, and they must be publicly recorded with the Danish government. There is also a law-binding agreement between an association of pharmaceutical companies (called Lif) and the Danish Ministry of Health to only raise drug prices ~1.5% every 4 years. Only some companies, like Sanofi and Pfizer, are a part of this association.

What’s the Trade-Off?

Obviously, this lower price for an EpiPen® is not happenstance. But, before we get to taxes, I’d like to note two important changes in the Danish system:

  1. Drugs available to hospitals are negotiated by one sole entity. There is a “monopsony,” a literal single buyer in that market (Amgros). Amgros is the only entity that provides Danish hospitals drugs and therefore drug companies have to negotiate with Amgros to sell their drugs. This means an emergency responder or a hospital does not need to worry about using an EpiPen® since the price is reasonable.
  2. Drug reimbursements are approved by a national health authority, the Danish Medicines Agency. As I clarified earlier, I can’t find too much about the DMA negotiating with drug companies, but I bet they wouldn’t approve reimbursements for drugs that are exorbitantly expensive, which means Danes wouldn’t have access to them by any practical means.

On to taxes.

You pay 8% on all gross income — regular income, wages, pension benefits, and so forth. There are deductions for interest dividends up to about $7,000 a year.

Then, you pay the following national income taxes (2014 rates):

  • 5.83% for incomes between 42,900 DKK to 421,000 DKK ($6,420 to $63,100)
  • 15% for incomes above 421,000 DKK (above $63,100)

You also pay between 23% and 28% to your municipality (averaging about 24% across Denmark). They’re merging their national healthcare contribution tax (3% for 2016) into their national income taxes over the next few years, but you pay that too. In total, you could pay upwards of about 57% of your income to governments of various levels every year. That’s a lot of taxes.

Oh and there’s a 25% value-added tax (kind of like a sales tax) on all goods.

Benefits

The Danish government provides a lot more than just universal healthcare in exchange for those taxes. There’s extensive unemployment insurance, social security, education (including higher education), job training, and vocation schools. Plus you get the “normal” benefits like paved roads and national security. This kind of system is referred to as the “Scandinavian welfare model.”

Lessons for the United States

Health care is a complicated system. There are pharmacies, health insurance companies, pharmaceutical companies, medical device manufacturers, hospitals, emergency providers, private practices, and so much more. Denmark decided to basically keep most of that private (only doctors at hospitals are “public employees”; most health care providers are private employees) but fund it all publicly. They figured out ways to keep regulatory compliance low and efficient.

It’s also important to note there are a lot of differences between the United States and Denmark. Geographic size, population, and regional inequalities all play a role. If you live in a rural region of Denmark, you’re going to get the same kind of schooling or access to health care as kids in Copenhagen — that’s not necessarily true of Mississippi versus Minnesota. Denmark is only 5 million people large; that’s barely the size of Colorado. And, of course, it’s a tiny maritime nation on the north end of Germany versus half of the North American continent.

Nonetheless, I think there a few key takeaways:

  1. The US needs to get serious about price negotiations. The Economist recently ran an article on EpiPen® pricing and the failures of the US system (note: there might be a paywall). It’s illegal for Medicare, our nation’s largest health insurance entity, to negotiate with drug companies on pricing. Only private health insurance companies can do that and they’re heavily constrained in their negotiating — only in 6 broad categories. The idea behind this choice was that competition would result in lower prices, but it obviously hasn’t worked. From the article: “As a result America spends 44% more on drugs per person than Canada, the next-highest.”  That isn’t working. A publicly funded entity like Amgros could help lessen the price of drugs across the board, but it’d be very politically unpopular.
  2. The US needs to get serious about pharmaceutical influence in politics. Denmark spends about 9.8% of its GDP each year on healthcare (12.4% of that total expenditure is on pharmaceuticals) and pharmaceutical companies comprise about 13.5% of its exports. Pharma is big in Denmark. To compare, all machinery exported by US companies comprised 13.7% of our exports. The Danish government has every reason to bolster their pharmaceutical industry and loosen regulations, but they don’t. On the flip side, as the Economist article pointed out, “[Mylan’s] chief executive, Heather Bresch, heads the generic-drugs lobby and is the daughter of an American senator.” There’s some questionable influences in American politics over our regulation of and choices regarding the pharmaceutical industry.
  3. Lastly, the US needs to get serious about insurance reform. Drug companies are notorious about offering coupons and deals for many of their more expensive drugs, especially if your insurance doesn’t cover their drug. They do this so they “look good” and can avoid regulation by Washington. But, they don’t do this for insurance companies. Insurance companies have to pay for the expensive drugs without the deals some consumers gets. In the long-run, that raises insurance prices for everyone. The Affordable Care Act (y’know, Obamacare) only did so much to combat that and, in some cases, ran counter to that goal by causing insurance price increases.

We need some serious healthcare reform. Most of it is going to be opposed because (from the Economist, again) “the only thing that Americans detest more than an expensive drug is a bureaucrat who says they can’t have it.” But, there are obvious lessons from countries around the world who have effectively dealt with price gouging by pharmaceutical companies like Mylan.

Travel/Eating Out & Food Allergy

Dealing with Airlines While Traveling

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Planes are the trickiest for those of us with nut allergies. Airlines are not always friendly to nut allergies and it is up to the airline to determine their policy regarding peanuts and other nuts on the airline. You should do a quick Google search for your airline and nut allergies: for example, I’d search “Southwest nut allergies.” Most airlines will have their policies easily accessible on their website grouped in with their “Disability Accommodations” or similar.

All of the airlines will have some kind of disclaimer that reads: “We cannot prevent passengers from bringing products containing nuts or other allergens onboard our flights. Therefore, we are unable to guarantee a nut- or allergen-free flight. Attempting to do this would create a false sense of security for passengers with severe allergies. We encourage passengers who are allergic to nuts to consult with their doctor regarding the safety of air travel.” It’s true that you’ll be stuck in a metal tube with limited ventilation for a few hours while flying and exposure to nuts in flight could cause serious issues, so you will want to consult with your doctor about the safety of air travel. However, this shouldn’t dissuade you from flying, especially because different airlines will have different policies regarding flying.

Most airline websites will have a section devoted to accommodations and there should be a small section about nut allergies. There are a few different kinds of policies airlines have:

  • They won’t serve nuts if they are given notice.
    • Southwest is famous for their “Peanut Dust Allergy” document. You’ll mark that you have a disability – a “Peanut Dust Allergy” – when you book your flight online (or you can call Customer Service and they can do this too). When you get your boarding pass, you’ll also have a printed slip that says you have a peanut dust allergy. You present this to the service representative near your gate and they will give you an extra copy and a pre-board slip (see below) that you will give to the crewmember aboard your flight and they will not serve nuts on your flight. This doesn’t mean it will be a nut-free flight as other people could have nuts, but they will usually make an announcement asking passengers to refrain from eating nuts as well. They’re fantastic!
    • Delta changed their policy a few years ago, so you just need to notify the crewmember that you have a peanut allergy and they won’t serve nuts. It’s very similar to Southwest’s policy, just more informal.
  • They will allow you to pre-board to help wipe down seats.
    • Southwest allows you to pre-board if you show you have a Peanut Dust Allergy document to the service desk next to your gate. Basically, this allows you to board before everyone else, find a safe seat, and clean your area before anyone else gets on your flight. I’d highly recommend this if you fly Southwest.
  • They will give you a “buffer” zone.
    • This seems to be the predominant policy from airlines that do accommodate allergies in some way. United, AirCanada, JetBlue, Alaska Air, and many other airlines will offer to create a buffer zone of one to three rows on either side of your row. The crewmember will ask all of the people in the buffer zone to not consume any nuts and they won’t serve nuts to those rows, if they serve nuts at all. JetBlue, WestJet, and AirCanda and a couple other airlines don’t serve nuts on their flights but will still offer a buffer zone to prevent other passengers from consuming nuts on the flight. This can be useful to help assure a safe surrounding.
  • They won’t accommodate at all.
    • American Airlines is rather infamous for this. They don’t serve peanut products, but they do offer warmed nuts for first class occupants and will not grant buffer zones or even allow you to pre-board to wipe down seats.

Obviously, flying is the most complicated form of travel simply because different companies have different policies regarding food allergies. My best experiences flying have been with Southwest. I know other families have had great experiences with WestJet, JetBlue, and Air Canada as well, but I’ve always flown Southwest. The combination of a pre-board, no nuts served, and relatively inexpensive rates to most places in the country have served me well.

There are a lot of online resources regarding traveling – just do a quick Google search and you’ll find a host of blogs and other resources to help you decide.

The airline is one of the most important considerations when you’re traveling as a group. It’s likely that your teacher or coach will be booking flights without regard to your food allergies or food allergy policies. You must tell them ahead of time if they’re booking on an airline that is not friendly to food allergies and explain why it’s important to have accommodations (at least a buffer zone) on a plane for your food allergies, if you have a nut allergy. If your teacher or coach has already booked flights for the trip, you must decide whether you are comfortable flying the airline and have a thorough conversation with your teacher or coach about other ways you could get to your destination if you’re not comfortable flying the same airline.

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(Example Southwest Boarding Slip + PDA Document)

College with Food Allergies, School & Food Allergies

Top 10 Dating Tips for Teens with Food Allergies

Morgan & Friends April 2016

Tip #1: Carry your auto-injector (please do this anyway)

Make sure you carry your auto-injector with you all the time. Certainly, you should be doing this anyway whether or not you’re on a date. Make sure you have them on your person: they should be within your arms length whether you carry them on your person or in a bag. A purse could suffice as long as you don’t leave your purse lying around anywhere. Your auto-injector is the single most important thing you need to have just in case something happens (we’ll hope nothing does).

Tip #2: Tell Your Date… Really.

You can’t assure your safety without telling your date about your food allergies. It doesn’t have to be awkward explaining it to them! It could go something like this:

“Hey, so I didn’t know if you knew, but I’m actually really allergic to [x]. I could get really sick – even die – if I eat any of food that has it.” You don’t have to explain that kissing could create a problem (yet) unless they ask. Make sure you clearly list out your allergens and make sure your date knows that you could get really sick and/or die if you make contact with those food allergies like kissing someone. When you make the problem sound serious, your date will take it seriously.

If you’re on a dinner date, then tell them about this on the drive over to the restaurant. Lock the doors so they can’t escape! Just kidding. But really, tell them about your food allergies. If you can choose a place for dinner, make sure you choose a place with lots of safe options for both of you (i.e. Red Lobster may not be the best choice if you have a seafood allergy). If you’re meeting at the restaurant, make sure to tell your date before he or she orders.

Tip #3: Kindly make your date order a safe dish.

Usually, it works really well to immediately follow the “I’m allergic to [x]” with “I’d really appreciate it if you didn’t order anything I am allergic to.” If you’re on a date with someone, hopefully they’ll be super accommodating to your food allergies. If they’re not, you probably shouldn’t date them. Keep an eye and ear open to make sure the food they order is safe.

Tip #4: When explaining food allergies and cross contact issues to the server, make sure to say “we” and not “me.”

As is good practice, you should tell the waiter or waitress about your food allergies when you order food at a restaurant. However, make sure you say “We can’t have any of these foods so if you could mark it on both of our orders.” Whether or not your date actually has food allergies is irrelevant. Making sure the food they order is prepared safely as well mitigates problems that could occur later in the night (like a kiss). If your date asks, explain it like this: “I just wanted to make sure that all of the food on this table was going to be safe.” You don’t have to explain your desire to kiss them to get it past them. They’ll be understanding anyway.

Tip #5: Tell Your Date (Yes, Really, Again).

Have you not told them? Sheesh. You need to tell your date! You must tell them. They can’t keep you safe – heck, you can’t keep you safe – if you don’t tell them about your food allergies! They could have had a plan to take you to Texas Roadhouse but they wouldn’t know that was a bad idea if you didn’t tell them about your peanut allergy (for example).

Tip #6: Making the move: don’t make it too awkward

So it’s time for the kiss. Maybe it’s the end of the first date. Maybe it’s the end of the second. Whenever this time comes, you don’t need to make it awkward. The reason I prefer dinner dates is because I can assure that the hours before a kiss is possible contain safe food. That mitigates problems from the kiss. Hopefully (although this is not guaranteed), they are also hygienic and they brushed their teeth before they went on the date with you. You can’t assure this happens but dinner dates lengthen the time between consuming unsafe food and the ensuing teeth brushing with a potential kiss.

However, if you’re simply seeing them at night after sports practice (for example), you should ask them what they had that day. You wouldn’t want to be kissing them if they just ate a PB&J sandwich with their team for dinner and you’re allergic to peanuts. That’s not a good combination. You need to set that boundary and say, before you kiss them: “Did you eat anything that I’m allergic to today?” It can help if you list off those allergens if they’re unsure. If they just wave it off and say “no, no, I didn’t,” pressure them! Make them confirm. You don’t need to make them list off every item from every meal of the day (unless if you want to), but you do need to make sure they haven’t eaten anything unsafe in the past few hours. I know that this doesn’t keep the “moment” intact, but your life and safety is far more important than kissing someone (even if they are superbly attractive).

If you don’t feel comfortable kissing someone after a dinner date (even if they ate safe food) because you don’t know what they ate earlier in the day, it is completely okay to ask them what they ate throughout the day. It doesn’t have to be an extensive list, but frame it as if you’re concerned and you really want to kiss them but you just want to be safe. Or, you can simply postpone the kiss for another night (even if that isn’t the best solution, it is the one that keeps you safe).

Tip #7: Over for dinner? Come early or be the chef!

Your date has invited you over for dinner – oh no! Even if you’ve told them about your food allergies, you can’t guarantee that they’ll be as good as you reading labels and preparing safe food. You can either come early and read all the labels (explaining to your date that you just want to make sure all the food is safe). Even if your date assures you that all the food is safe, read the labels anyway. Make some excuse about being weird and paranoid and that you just want to make sure the food is safe, even though you trust that they have read it. Also, if you want to be extra safe, make sure they clean pots and pans before they start making dinner. You never know what has been cooked in those pans previously. Personal note: I’ve cooked a balsamic sauce in a pot before and even after three thorough cleanings, I still get a hint of balsamic in anything I cook in that pan. Needless to say, some food can stick around in the pans (especially if they’re poor quality pans like mine are).

Your other option is to be the chef! If your date invites you over for dinner and you don’t/can’t come early, insist on cooking. That way, you can bring all the safe ingredients and tools to make safe food. You can even invite them over to your place for dinner.

Tip #8: Meeting the parents: Go to a safe restaurant or be the chef!

Your boyfriend/girlfriend is now wanting you to meet their parents. That’s intimidating anyway – there’s no need to make it more complicated, confusing, or stressful with your food allergies. Your date’s parents may not fully understand your food allergies, even if it’s been explained it to them multiple times. That means there is a possibility for mistakes – and that’s something you want to avoid.

You can first invite them to a safe restaurant. If there are safe options available, kindly ask your date to order one of those and again use the “we can’t eat any of my allergens” statement from Tip #3. If you wish, you can also ask your date’s parents to order food that couldn’t cause issues. For example, I do ask for them not to eat shrimp pasta since we’re in such close proximity. I’m not going to be partaking in it, but it makes me feel uncomfortable. I’ve never had a negative reaction to this request since they can forgo one night without their shrimp pasta.

You can also be the chef! Offer to bring your food and pans to their house to cook a family meal. You can also invite them over to your house and cook them a meal. That may be a nice meet-and-greet opportunity as well between your parents and theirs.

Tip #9: Know safe “staple” foods and brands for easy shopping and food.

Eventually, you may find yourself in constant company with your boyfriend or girlfriend. It’s important to know go-to brands of food and restaurants. If they become hungry, you can simply say “how about [x restaurant]?” That way, you always have a safe option in the back of your head. This works great especially when you are with friends of your boyfriend or girlfriend; they can all enjoy good food and you can have safe options.

For long-term relationships, knowing safe brands of food means you can answer their parents’ requests about what food you would like. If you find yourself at a grocery store needing food, you automatically know which brands are safe and which aren’t.

Tip #10: Please train them.

Unfortunately, most people don’t know anything about food allergies or how to administer an epinephrine autoinjector. Train them! If you don’t train them about signs of an allergic reaction or how to administer your auto-injector, they cannot help you in times of emergencies. It doesn’t take long and it’s a very important part of keeping safe.

BONUS TIPS

Bonus Tip #1: Long-term relationship tip: give them a toothbrush and toothpaste to store in their car

This may seem like a weird one, but it’s important. Maybe your boyfriend or girlfriend accidentally ate a KIND bar during a break at work and they’re seeing you later that night. You want to mitigate any possibility of having issues from kissing them later that night, so give them a toothbrush and toothpaste to store in the car.

Obviously, it’s preferred if they don’t eat any of your allergens. That sacrifice may be difficult for some and it’s up to you whether that’s a deal-breaker in the relationship. You must determine the boundaries you are willing to live with. Personally, I would prefer them not to eat anything I’m allergic to (and I voice it clearly) but I’m not super strict about it. I understand that they will be eating nuts every once in a while, but I make sure they are fully aware of the consequences. If you’ve been dating a while, it may be time to have a conversation about whether they’d be willing to give up eating a food you’re allergic to – but that’s all up to you.

Bonus Tip #2: Avoid Alcohol

Let’s ignore the fact that underage drinking is illegal. There are two parts to this.

First, alcohol allows you to do stupid things. It hinders your ability to think straight and you could end up accidentally eating something while you’re drunk that you’re not supposed to because you forgot to read the label. Usually when you’re drunk (in high school and college), you’re surrounded by other drunk people. Those drunk people will most likely be unable to help you if you eat something you’re allergic to because either a) they can’t think straight like you, or more likely b) they don’t know how to administer an autoinjector in the first place.

Second, a lot of alcohol contains food allergens and they’re not required to label it. This quite literally means your first drink could be your last. You could be your diligent ol’ self and promise to only have a sip of something even after reading the labels on the alcohol, but you don’t actually know what it is in it because they aren’t required to put it on the label. For example, Bombay Sapphire contains tree nuts and it appears nowhere on the label.

I know alcohol seems enticing and helps you “fit in” with friends. Most people respect your decision if you say “no” to their offer of a drink; however, if they continue to pressure you into drinking even after you’ve said no, then it is time for you to leave the party and maybe even find a different friend. In this instance, your life is on the line and you need to choose responsibly instead of “fitting in.”

Bonus Tip #3: Enjoy your dating life!

Life is too short to take it too serious. You should always try and keep yourself as safe as possible and I hope the above tips help out with that. Remember: you’re on a date! You’re supposed to have fun with this guy or girl who you like and who you think is really attractive. Don’t let food allergies ever stop you from dating. Be yourself and have fun! It’s a date.

College with Food Allergies, Food Allergies & Study Abroad

Studying Abroad in College with Food Allergies

Studying Abroad is a rite of passage at the University of Denver, where I attend college. There are numerous steps for every student to prepare appropriately for being in another country for a school quarter or semester. For me, adding food allergies into the mix, generates even more necessary preparation!

The University of Denver (where I attend college) is #1 in the nation for study abroad participation rates. Nearly 3 in 4 students at DU study abroad, typically during the fall of their junior year. I kid you not, it seems like the entire junior class disappears during the fall and magically reappears in the winter. DU makes it excessively easy to study abroad: they partnered with over 130 universities and study abroad programs around the world in dozens upon dozens of different countries. With a good GPA (3.0+), a student is eligible for the Cherrington Global Scholars (CGS) program. If you’re eligible for CGS, you pay DU the normal tuition and housing costs for a quarter; in return, they pay for tuition and housing at your host university abroad and reimburse visa and flight costs (among a few other things). It really makes studying abroad superbly easy (plus, they have an easily searchable database of available programs!)

I knew this coming into freshman year and I’ve spent a long time looking at the programs available. I knew a few things:

  • Unless I magically became fluent in another language, I would need to go to an English-speaking country. The language barrier present in trying to explain my food allergies to chefs or other people in a country that does not predominantly speak English would be a challenge that puts my life at risk. That was unacceptable so I knew I would have to look at an English-speaking country in which to study abroad.
  • I could not do a homestay program. This is especially true in non-English speaking countries. In a homestay, I would have little to no control over the food served and thus would be putting myself in danger. I knew a homestay would not work.
  • Most importantly, I would have to find a university or program that had classes that interested me and was in a country that interested me! I wouldn’t want to study abroad in a country that I didn’t like or at a university/program that offered no classes that interested me. That wouldn’t be fun and I want to have fun while studying abroad.

I found a few programs around the world in the UK, Australia, and Ireland that interested me. After narrowing it down, I found an awesome program at Lancaster University in the United Kingdom. It’s about 3 hours away from London (by train) in rural England and it’s ranked as a pretty good university!

Lancaster

Because I love to plan ahead, I knew this was the program I wanted to attend before I even started school my freshman year (last year). It had all of the academic courses that I desired, and the housing was on the university campus with access to a kitchen.

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I did a bit more research into the program at Lancaster during the winter & spring of my freshman year and realized that the dormitory system may throw a wrench in my plans. Lancaster is set-up in a college system. Each college has its own dining hall, common areas, and living spaces. The majority of the dorms were set-up in a shared kitchen style, meaning that food would be stored in a shared refrigerator (or two) and everyone would have access to the same pots and pans to cook. That posed a lot of cross-contact issues both in storing and preparing food. I knew that I could probably buy my own pans and pots while I’m there, but I couldn’t mitigate contact between my food and other people’s in the same refrigerator. I made a judgment call and determined I didn’t feel safe with that option.

I found that some colleges have a “private ensuite” option: I have a kitchen and storage and a bed all to myself in my own self-contained suite. This mitigates a lot of the issues that could arise in a shared kitchen facility. I became really excited since I knew that the option was available! I just had to find out if I could secure a “private ensuite” while I study abroad.

I dug into Lancaster’s website and found their disability office contact. I sent an e-mail with my concerns (explaining my food allergies, their severity, the problems with shared kitchen facilities, and the possibility of a private ensuite). I heard back from the office and they said that it was a definite possibility! They remarked that it wasn’t a preferred set-up for a study abroad student simply because it limited my social interactions with other people, but they said my health always trumps those concerns.

I was really excited. I knew that I could study abroad and find safe housing at my host university. I started to research labeling laws for the UK and got some help from the Anaphylaxis Campaign in the UK in identifying the regulations. Since the UK is a member of the European Union (EU), the EU’s regulations apply to all UK manufacturers and producers.

At the University of Denver, the Office of International Education (OIE) supervises all of the study abroad programs. Students get a study abroad advisor depending upon their country and that advisor helps answer any questions regarding studying abroad and helps coordinate all of the application process.

I told my OIE contact person about my food allergies and why homestay/shared kitchens would not work. I wanted to reconfirm through him and his contacts at Lancaster that a private ensuite option would be available for studying abroad. The staff at Lancaster confirmed this! I would need to submit some medical documentation, coordinate with the disability office, and include the request on my study abroad application, but otherwise, everything was a go!

After spending the last few months coordinating with OIE, my academic advisors, and Lancaster University, I decided to add a month of research in Copenhagen Denmark, prior to the start of the school quarter at Lancaster. The research will be within my two majors: economics and public policy.

Copenhagen

Denmark is also, technically, an English-speaking country. 86% of Danes are fluent English speakers, meaning that I won’t have problems assuring my safety in urban areas. I’m still securing a lot of the details around my research since it is a relatively new adventure! I know I’ll be staying in a no-pet and no-smoking Airbnb in Copenhagen for the month, with access to a fully-furnished kitchen. This makes it really easy to make sure I’m safe: I buy all of my own food and cook it myself! I’m still researching labeling laws in Denmark, but given that they are members of the EU as well, I’m sure their regulations are very similar to the UK’s.

I’m so excited to have this opportunity to study abroad, and to do so with my food allergies handled in a way that makes me feel safe!

 

 

 

College with Food Allergies, Travel/Eating Out & Food Allergy

Traveling Alone with Food Allergies

My Trip to New York!

I recently traveled to New York – alone – for a conference put on by the Roosevelt Institute. As I’ve mentioned before, Roosevelt is a national organization trying to re-engage young people in the policymaking process. They offer a national training each year to leaders of the Institute from around the nation at Franklin D. Roosevelt’s home in Hyde Park, NY. Since I started my chapter of the Roosevelt Institute at the University of Denver, I was invited to attend!

They offered to cover my flight out (which is great)! I had a great few e-mails with their operations specialist at Roosevelt and then I called and voiced my concerns about which airlines I could fly. Since I’ve really only had good experience with Southwest, I told them that I would prefer to fly with them. However, there was one main problem: I had to be at Grand Central Station in NYC by about 2:45pm on Thursday, August 6th to catch my train to Poughkeepsie, the nearest train stop in upstate New York. Only one flight from Denver would get me to LaGuardia airport at 1:40pm (landing time). I knew that it would be a tight push to get off the plane, get my luggage, and get to Grand Central in an hour.

Instead, I had Roosevelt book a flight the day before. This allowed stress free traveling and some extra time. Since I didn’t book the trip online, I called in to Southwest customer service and explained my peanut allergy so that it would be noted on my reservation.

The next problem was, where would I stay? My Mom and I had a couple discussions about friends and family we knew in NYC and in Poughkeepsie. We looked up a hotel in Poughkeepsie that was relatively cheap. However, we eventually settled on renting through Airbnb.

If you’ve never used Airbnb, it’s wonderful! It is a website where home owners advertise a room or their entire place for you to stay in, like a hotel. Usually, however, you’ll have access to a full kitchen and all the amenities you may not have in a hotel. Plus, they must mark if smoking and/or pets are allowed. By default, they’re not! This makes the stay even better. I found a very awesome room to rent in Poughkeepsie, NY. I submitted my request to room there for the night and had a great conversation with the owner through Airbnb before I went confirming the non-smoking and the no pets! I didn’t get into my food allergies since I knew I could find safe food. She and her boyfriend lived together; they were both lovely and fully accommodating.

Roosevelt arranged housing for the duration of the conference at a nearby motel called the Golden Manor. I was supposed to have a roommate, but he didn’t show up. Instead, I got to have a room to myself! Now that I had my housing arranged, I had to make sure I had my food all in order.

I coordinated again with the operations specialist at Roosevelt for a menu of the food provided at the conference. (I’m allergic to peanuts, tree nuts, sesame, fish and shellfish.) She got back to me and we realized that, in fact, all but one of the meals would be safe! She double checked with the caterers for ingredients and confirmed that all the meals (except one) would be perfectly safe. The lunch on Friday was Chinese, which was not safe for a multitude of reasons. Instead, they bought me a frozen meal that was perfectly safe (it was a burrito bowl and we both triple checked the ingredients) that I ate instead of the Chinese food.

I also brought extra food for myself (a few homemade granola bars and a couple of bagels) just in case a breakfast or a lunch turned out not to be safe. That way, I always had something to eat!

The trip itself went very smoothly. I arrived in NYC at LaGuardia airport, got my luggage, and hailed an Uber. Uber is another great app that allows you to hail a (more or less) private driver – like a taxi, but usually they’re nicer cars and nicer people – that will take you anywhere. The fee for the ride is all conducted through the app and tips are automatically added. It’s really a seamless experience and I had a great Uber driver on the way into New York City.

The driver dropped me off with my luggage at Grand Central. I forgot how many people lived in New York City! Despite the masses, I found my way to a ticket booth, got my ticket, and got on the train to Poughkeepsie. It was about an hour and 45 minutes long. Once I arrived in Poughkeepsie, I walked the short walk to the Airbnb place and arrived home for the evening! Since the owners were out, they left a hidden key outside and let me know via the Airbnb app. Once they arrived back, we chatted for a while before we both went to bed. I had packed food for the trip and I ate along the way.

Airbnb room

In the morning, I had a granola bar and some coffee. A light breakfast, admittedly, but I kind of spaced on what I would do for that morning. Even with all of my careful planning, I did overlook it, but I was grateful I had brought extra food. After a while, I said goodbye to my wonderful hosts and walked back to the train station. Roosevelt promised to shuttle us from the train station up to Hyde Park, where FDR’s home is.

Roosevelt home

The conference was absolutely amazing. We got a tour of FDR’s home and presidential library (both of which were great!). We also did some great trainings for leadership, strategic planning, policy making, coalition building, and even PR techniques. The food went absolutely perfectly throughout the entire weekend and the staff were so wonderful! Every time I went to get food, the staff was double checking with me about the ingredients of the food and what I could eat. It was just wonderful.

One night, a huge group of us walked 15 minutes up the road to a nearby diner. Just like any restaurant I go to in a foreign place, I played it safe and got some French toast. I double checked with the waiter and he double checked with the chef; everything went great. It was really tasty French toast, too!

After the conference was over, I took a mid-morning train back to NYC from Poughkeepsie on Sunday, August 9th. Even though I had a small suitcase with me, I decided I wanted to look around NYC a little bit, so I ventured my way onto the metro and went down to the World Trade Center. The memorial was absolutely gorgeous and the new One World Trade Center is great! I grabbed Panera for lunch before going to the airport via Uber.

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Panorama 9_11

My safety for the entire trip was assured by planning ahead and making sure everything I was going to eat was safe. I just communicated my concerns and I made sure all of it would work! Overall, it was an amazing experience.

College with Food Allergies, Travel/Eating Out & Food Allergy

Go with the Flow when You’re Invited to a Business Lunch

Last Friday, I was in Denver meeting with a bunch of non-profits and elected officials for my most recent project: the University of Denver Roosevelt Institute. I’ve made mention of it before, but to recap, it’s an undergraduate non-partisan think tank. We’re a chapter of a national network of campuses that is attempting to re-engaging young people in politics (a tall order, I know).

Anyway, I had a meeting with the Governor’s Senior Advisor, Jamie van-Leeuwen. Jamie advises the Governor of Colorado on social policy and projects (like homelessness) and has a wealth of experience in urban and economic development. He actually started his own international development foundation called the Global Livingston Institute. Needless to say, he’s very intelligent and was great to meet with him. He’s an absolutely whirlwind of energy – I swear this man never sleeps.

I had scheduled a meeting with him at 12, but he was late. He had to finish up a panel discussion with a number of interns in the Governor’s office. Once he arrived, the conversation went something like this:

Jamie: “Hi, Morgan, right?”

Me: “Hi Jamie, yes. Nice to meet you!”

Jamie: “Nice to meet you to! I’m running late, sorry about that.               But I’m actually supposed to be at a lunch – do you mind                             coming along?”

Me: “Uh, sure! I’d love to.”

Given that this was the only opportunity for me to meet with him in a month (he’s in Africa now working on projects related to his foundation), I figured if I had to talk to him on the way to a lunch (and at the lunch), I would. We basically raced to his car and started a short drive over to the Denver Center for the Performing Arts, where the lunch was being held.

As it turns out, a celebration of culture for North & South America (called the Biennial of the Americas) was going on during last week and Jamie served on their board. Since this was the last lunch of the event, he needed to at least make an appearance. While I chatted him up on our car ride over, my mind was already thinking about the food at the event. I figured I would wait until we got there and see what they were serving.

Morgan Post

After a few brief hellos with people Jamie knew, we sat down at a table. There was a salad with spiced chicken on it and a vinaigrette already drizzled over it. Accompanying it was a chocolate cupcake with a nut-looking topping. As I sat down, a server came over and began to pour some water. I turned to her and immediately asked if the salad has any of my allergens. She tells me she will ask the chef and departs.

Jamie and his friend we sat down with immediately turn to me and ask if everything is all right. They were very interested in my safety! I briefly explained that I had severe food allergies; they completely got it. The server returned and told me that everything in the salad was 100% okay. They did not prepare anything with shellfish, fish, or sesame. They aren’t a nut-free kitchen but the salad did not contain nuts. I felt very comfortable with that answer and began to dive into the salad.

While the lunch was going on, there was a really great panel between the Mayors of Denver and Calgary, and a former Mayor of Bogota. They were talking about the importance of local community change. I always think about how important it is for parents of food allergic children to work with their schools and the school board on making sure food allergic children are safe in their schools. That’s a great example of what the Mayors were talking about.

Without even asking, the server later returned and said the cupcake was topped with pumpkin seeds and not nuts, but cautioned me again that they weren’t a nut-free kitchen. I thanked her. As a general rule, I always pass on dessert simply because most desserts have some sort of cross contact issue with nuts, whether or not the topping is pumpkin seeds.

Overall it was a great lunch and Jamie was awesome to talk to. I certainly wasn’t expecting to go to lunch, but everything turned out just fine! I always make sure to ask about the food served, especially at big galas. Who knows what’s in the food!

Travel/Eating Out & Food Allergy

The Sometimes Incompetence of Waiters

The other weekend I went with a friend and ate at P.F. Chang’s. For those of you who are familiar with the restaurant’s menu, it seems like an odd choice for my food allergies (peanuts, tree nuts, sesame, fish and shellfish). It’s Asian cuisine and most of the menu items contain some sort of nut or shellfish/fish ingredient. However, I’ve eaten at P.F. Chang’s since I was very young and I’ve always had an excellent experience. I became good friends with the Head Chef and then Assistant Owner of a local P.F. Chang’s in Colorado Springs so I knew what went on in the kitchen and what menu items could be prepared safely.

PF-Changs-logo2

My favorite menu item is Crispy Honey Chicken – a very “play it safe” but delicious dish. I’ve eaten it dozens of times and never had any issue.

Anyway, we sat down and the waiter came over and introduced himself. He brought us menus and we ordered water for drinks. I knew what I wanted to order because of my allergies and I knew the dish would be safe. When he came back, I notified him of my food allergies. He told me that P.F. Chang’s has a “matrix” or print out of items on the menu that would be safe for me. He returned quickly with this print out and let us scan through it. I don’t know how this list is compiled, but it is most likely a list of dishes that “may contain” the allergens input. I never received clarity on it.

To my surprise, the Crispy Honey Chicken was not on the list, despite my eating of it a mere month or two before. There were probably only four or five items on the entire list. When the waiter returned, I notified him of the issue and he said he couldn’t do anything about it, nor could he assure that the item was safe. I went ahead with it anyway and ordered Crispy Honey Chicken. I knew it was safe and I had eaten it many times and very recently too. I simply asked him to notify the chef of my food allergies or put it in the system so they could prepare it separately from all the other food – something I know P.F. Chang’s does for food allergic customers.

The waiter said the chef couldn’t do that. They couldn’t guarantee the safety of my food or prepare it in an area away from the regular food. I was surprised and at this point a little scared. What if I couldn’t actually eat my “play it safe” dish? What if P.F. Chang’s had changed? Or, was it just this location that had different practices? I told the waiter to give me a few minutes to think about it.

I was mainly surprised because the Head Chef and Assistant Owner I knew from my youth made it very clear that the kitchen always has a separate area to prepare dishes for food allergic customers. I decided to take matters into my own hands and call the restaurant – from within the restaurant. I asked to speak to a manager. I told the manager: “Hi! I’m looking at coming to your P.F. Chang’s but I have severe food allergies. I’ve eaten at many P.F. Chang’s but I just wanted to check your practices. I know you have a matrix print out, but I was wondering if the chefs prepare food for customers like me in a separate area.” The manager confirmed! She told me that the chefs use separate pans and oils to prepare food for food allergic customers and I only would have to notify my waiter to put it into the system.

I was much happier at this point because I knew I could have a safe meal. I made sure the waiter had put it in the system when the meal was ordered (really, I double checked) so I could have a safe meal. The meal was delicious and safe and nothing went wrong.

Within a couple days, I called the restaurant back and spoke to a manager (a different one) and explained to him what had happened. I also made clear it wasn’t a big deal for me but that it could be an awful experience for a family who had never eaten at P.F. Chang’s. They would either be very scared or they would simply leave. He was deeply apologetic and told me he would have a deep conversation with the waiter about practices. The odd thing (for both the manager and I) was that the waiter was not new and was pretty familiar with the kitchens’ practices for food allergic customers. That aside, the manager sent me a $15 gift card and I’ll definitely be returning for more Crispy Honey Chicken.

I think there are a few important lessons from this adventure:

First, waiters can be wrong. They can also be right! I’ve had many positive experiences with waiters at restaurants, including P.F. Chang’s. Sometimes, however, they can be incompetent and unwilling to ask their manager or the chef. In those cases, you need to take matters into your own hands like I did to make sure you’re getting a safe meal.

Second, play it safe. I knew Crispy Honey Chicken was a safe dish even though the matrix didn’t have it. That’s a risk I took but given that I had eaten it a mere month before, it was a relatively safe risk. If you’re at a restaurant you’ve eaten at before with an incompetent waiter, eat something you’ve had before to play it safe. If you’re at a new restaurant, get something that looks like it is the least risky dish.

Finally, I think it’s very important to be patient. I could’ve lost it and gone after the waiter but I didn’t. Working it out and getting as much information is super important to understanding the situation at hand. Getting in touch with a superior (like a manager) also helps. Being patient makes sure that you are careful and deliberate in your decisions.

Overall, it wasn’t the best experience. I certainly had moments where I was unsure or scared that the food was not going to be safe but I had faith in the chefs in the back to keep it safe. Everything turned out well – and hey! I have a gift card of $15. Always good.

College with Food Allergies

Freshman Year at College with Food Allergies

I cannot believe I have finished my first year of college at the University of Denver (DU). It is CRAZY!

Spring Conference

The main event in Spring Quarter was flying out to Los Angeles to attend a conference at the University of Southern California. I founded a chapter of the Roosevelt Institute at DU. Roosevelt is a non-partisan, non-profit, undergraduate think tank (how’s that for a mouthful) that seeks to empower young people in political change ranging from K-12 reform to international development, economic justice to public health issues (like food allergies!). The Western Region held an annual conference at USC that I was invited to since I had recently started up the chapter at DU. They were very understanding of my food allergies and expressed an interest in accommodating them.

Everything didn’t work out how I had planned. I had initially understood sandwiches were going to served for the mid-conference lunch but that was soon changed to Indian food. Needless to say, I was at a loss as to how to work around Indian food. I decided to bring my own bagels and snacks in my suitcase for a safe alternative for food. Thankfully, the breakfast they provided was safe. I knew I had to work around it since it was a last minute change, and I didn’t throw up a fuss. Since I could bring my own food (or heck, even order Jimmy John’s to deliver once I was there), it was not a problem.

For dinner, I ate at In-n-Out Burger. I’ve had In-N-Out before on a trip my senior year and I knew it was safe. I double checked once I was there and they assured me nothing contained sesame. It was absolutely delicious!

Just to reinforce something, this was the first time I had flown alone – no friends, no family, nobody with me besides, well, me! It was a big leap forward. However, I flew Southwest Airlines so I knew no problems would arise. You can indicate (like I did) a “peanut dust allergy” when ordering tickets and get two things: a preboard slip and a PDA slip. Preboarding allowed me to enter first and clean off my seat from any previous flight to prevent contact with allergens. The PDA slip I gave to the flight attendant and because of it, they do not serve peanuts on the flight. Overall, the conference was a safe and successful trip!

Morgan & Thomas June 2015

My Roommate

I have to say: the reason my first year at college was successful was because of my roommate, Thomas.

Thomas comes from the humble little town of Buena Vista, CO and he is one of the best people I know. He wouldn’t eat my allergens in the dorm room, he’d wash his hands if necessary, be considerate of the restaurants we’re eating at, watch out for my health, and simply would be a good guy. Thomas was truly an amazing roommate. We were randomly assigned through the housing system and I have to say I was very fortunate to be assigned to room with him. I can’t offer enough praise for having such an awesome guy.

I trained Thomas about allergic reactions and what symptoms to look for, and how to administer my EpiPen. He’d even read labels on things! I hope every food allergic child has such an awesome experience.

Certainly, Thomas was aware of my food allergies because I told him – an essential step. When your food allergic child(ren) go to college, tell them this: do not keep them hidden from the person/people you’re living with! I set out the standards of asking him not to eat things I was allergic to in the room and everything worked out amazingly.

Wicked

To celebrate the end of the quarter, I went and saw Wicked, the famous Broadway musical. I have seen it before and I absolutely love the play. Very catchy show tunes – they’re still stuck in my head almost a week later!

The program at DU that helped sponsor this also paid for a pre-show dinner at a local French restaurant called Bistro Vendome. They offered a choice of two appetizers, four entree dishes, and two desserts since we had such a big group (over 30 people!). I told the waitress about my food allergies when I ordered the dishes I wanted and told her also about cross contact issues. She was very nice and helpful and triple checked all the dishes with the chef to make sure they were safe! It was a wonderful and delicious (and free!) dinner.

On Campus Food

The last quick note I’d like to make is that I still had no issue with the food on campus. The local dining hall actually had a change in staff so there was a new head chef! I made sure to introduce myself but since all the food has ingredients clearly labeled on television screens, I knew there wouldn’t be an issue.

Have a wonderful summer!

College with Food Allergies

Learning More at College by Morgan Smith

The second quarter of the year has been fantastic!

Trip to Buena Vista, Colorado

About three weeks into Winter Quarter, my roommate (Thomas), two friends (Bryce & Kieran), and I decided to go down to Thomas’ house in Buena Vista for the weekend. We just wanted a weekend away from college and to be able to relax; what a wonderful time it was! I drove us down Friday evening and we stopped by Beau Jo’s pizza, a famous Colorado-based restaurant. I had absolutely no issues with their pizza and I did double check with the waiter and the chef if it was. We arrived late Friday night at Thomas’ house.

The entire weekend (Friday through Monday morning) was mainly comprised of lounging around and watching movies, but Bryce & I did utilize the kitchen a lot. She and I made breakfast both days and she was very mindful of my allergies. We didn’t make anything I couldn’t eat and, despite her being a vegetarian, the majority of her nut-filled snacks were eaten on the road and she made sure to wash her hands afterward.

Thomas has a dog, Lucy; however, I had absolutely no issues during that weekend with Lucy! It was a huge improvement from a few years ago before I got allergy shots. I didn’t have any tightness in my chest or coughing and I definitely didn’t have an allergic reaction.

We drove down to Salida, CO on Saturday and hung around for a few hours meandering through the streets after having lunch at a local restaurant. The restaurant was very accommodating. The cooks typically pre-prepare their meat at the beginning of the day; because of this, the waitress was concerned that many of the meats could have cross-contaminated with fish and shellfish. When this concern was expressed to the chefs, they made an entire new section of meat just for me so I could have a safe meal! (I was having spicy chicken quesadillas)

On Sunday, Bryce and I coordinated the final dinner, but everyone helped out making an Italian feast comprised of garlic bread, olive oil asparagus, brown butter pasta, and a safe dessert of creme brulee (which I realize is not Italian). The group shopped together and I made sure everything was safe.

On our way back to Denver, we stopped by my parent’s house in Colorado Springs and grabbed lunch, which is always safe!

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Winter Quarter Activities

This quarter has been quite busy; although I took one less class than I did in the fall, I filled my spare time with lots of activities.

I arranged an internship at the Colorado State Capitol, working for State Representative Pete Lee who represents downtown Colorado Springs. Rep. Lee and I had met at a previous dinner hosted by a mutual friend, and he had mentioned that I could intern for him during the legislative session! Since Colorado’s legislative session runs for only 5 months, it would be a perfect internship during the Winter & Spring quarters.

There isn’t any food involved, thankfully. The only food in Rep. Lee’s office is in a shared refrigerator, and it is composed of string cheese and Frappucinos. Since I typically intern in the mid-afternoon, I usually don’t bring food and I leave before I need to eat dinner. Even if there was an issue, I know the staff in the office would be superbly accommodating.

I’m also actively following HB 15-1232 in the CO State Legislature. The bill allows organizations other than schools to acquire and stock epinephrine auto-injectors. A food allergic child who is involved with such an organization must get a doctor to sign-off on a prescription allowing the stock epinephrine. It also requires those organizations to train its employees on the use of an epinephrine auto-injector. It’s exciting! It got through the House Health & Human Services committee and is now in House Appropriations for amendment-related information. It’ll be interesting to see if it passes or not!

Near the end of the quarter, I also helped out at the Boettcher Foundation’s annual Finalist interviews. The Boettcher Foundation is a Colorado-based non-profit that awards full-ride scholarships at any Colorado university to a select group of students who show strength in academics, leadership, service, and character. I was fortunate enough to be awarded a Boettcher Scholarship last year and I decided to volunteer my time this year!

The Foundation interviews 100 Finalists and must select 40 who receive the scholarship. Needless to say, it’s a rather stressful time for all of the Finalists. I volunteered to be a helper in the waiting area to calm down the nerves and just talk with all of the Finalists as they await to be interviewed.

I worked for almost 5 hours with all of the Finalists, from a little before noon until about 4:30. The Foundation provided lunch to all of the volunteers. The week before, I e-mailed the coordinator of the day and I asked her what food was going to be served. Stephanie, the coordinator, is already aware of my food allergies and is absolutely wonderful! The catering company made an entirely separate lunch that was safe for me and contained all kinds of safe food, like a salad, chips, and a sandwich with safe bread. Stephanie let me know this was happening beforehand and the moment I walked in the door she told me exactly where to find my lunch.

Food at the University of Denver

Winter Quarter was a host to a couple of different events.

To start off, the daily meals have been absolutely wonderful and stress-free. The dining halls always have safe options for breakfast and lunch and I can always find something tasty, somewhat healthy, and safe to eat. The typical breakfast includes fruit, hashbrowns, and sausage (with pancakes somedays).

There are a few exceptions to this. One night, it was Chinese New Year and the dining hall did decide to get a themed dinner going! Unfortunately, all the dishes either contained or cross-contaminated with dishes that contained one of my allergies (nuts and shellfish were the typical ingredients). I walked a minute north on campus to the other dining hall that provides a food court style of serving. They have an entirely safe Mexican option that is reminiscent of Chipotle. I got a safe quesadilla for that night and everything was good. I don’t know if I felt left out, but it certainly was unfortunate that I couldn’t eat with my friends for that night simply because of the options available.

Thankfully, DU is amazing in all other aspects. They have the Fritz Knoebel School of Hospitality Management that runs all of their social events, especially the dinners. For the entire year (there was an opening dinner with the Chancellor at the beginning of the year and a couple of interspersed events I got into that also provided dinner), they have been absolutely accommodating. When I RSVP for the event, I include information about my food allergies and I ask what they can do about it. Every time, they respond that “everything is handled!” and guaranteed, it is. For example, they handmade a salad for me so that it didn’t contain nuts (like the rest of them did).

Final Notes

Our Chancellor has office hours once a month and last month I stopped by to introduce myself and ask a couple of questions. Before I left, I mentioned to her about how great DU is with food allergies. She agreed! She comes from two east coast private universities and they did not accommodate food allergies well.

I’m off to another 10 weeks of school! Hopefully, nothing too exciting happens – food wise!

Best wishes,

Morgan

College with Food Allergies

The First Quarter of College by Morgan Smith

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The first quarter of college was exhilarating!

The University of Denver (DU) runs on a quarter system: there are three 10-week quarters during the regular school year plus an optional summer quarter. I went up to school the last day of August for a week-long orientation at DU before classes began and I arrived home the week before Thanksgiving after successfully completing all my finals.

Before arriving at the school, we met with dining services to discuss food options (my mom wrote an entire blog post here about that visit). DU uses Sodexo as their food provider for their three different dining halls, convenience stores, and various cafes around the campus. In the past, I haven’t had extraordinary success with Sodexo; however, at DU, they are simply the best. When we originally visited, the executive chef at the local dining hall – Nelson Hall – had agreed that I could ask him anything about any of the food served, what it contained, and how it was prepared if I didn’t feel safe eating it. Needless to say, he and I have become really good friends. The dining hall has lots of good options for all meals: fruits & veggies are always available and safe flatbread/pizza is available for lunch & dinner. All the chefs are trained by the university on how to use an Epi-Pen as an extra precaution just in case something occurs.

A dining hall, only a little farther north on campus, has a food court-style service: there is a Greek option, an American option, a Mexican option, and an Asian option. The nice thing about this dining hall is that the menu never changes: they always offer the same food no matter when you arrive. More importantly, the Mexican option is 100% safe (after discussions with the executive chef at that dining hall) and the Greek option is safe as long as I don’t eat the pita bread. They also have “to-go” boxes so I can bring the food back to my dorm if I don’t want to eat it there.

Honestly, the food is working out superbly. I typically go grab the Mexican option for lunch in between classes and select one of the safe options at Nelson for breakfast and dinner. I always have friends around when I eat, which is great.

Classes are pretty difficult overall. I only had one 8am class this quarter and there was a surprising lack of food from students in the class. I decided not to tell any of my professors about my food allergies since I didn’t feel it was pertinent to my success as a student. Given that college is very individualistic, the expectation would be for me, and not for the professor, to ask someone not to eat a PB&J next to me. There was never any issue in any of the classrooms related to food. I kept a wary eye out in that 8am class just in case but the only potential “issue” I ever encountered was someone eating a Snickers on the other side of the classroom. I certainly was not worried.

I live on the Pioneer Leadership Program (PLP) floor at DU. PLP is a leadership program at DU that allows a student to obtain a minor in leadership studies. There are a lot of programs like this at different colleges around the nation; however, PLP is unique given that the students of the program live together on a floor in a dorm. Each year, PLP takes 66 new students and these 66 live together on the floor. They’re very driven, responsible, and intelligent students and it’s a blast to live with them! Our Residential Assistants (RAs) are older PLPers who know what the first year is like.

My roommate is phenomenal. He’s so understanding and we established from the get-go rules about food in the dorm: none of my food allergens in the room and if he eats anything that I would be allergic to, he just washes his hands. We have a refrigerator, but typically it’s stocked with caffeinated drinks, not food. We have pretty similar sleep schedules and personalities, so we get along super well. I feel super lucky to have such a good friend as a roommate (but honestly, I get along with everyone in PLP really well).

I applied before the beginning of the school year for an air conditioning unit that filters pollens out of the air to control my asthma; the university approved my accommodation. My roommate was definitely grateful for some cold air given we have windows that face the sun the majority of the day. This has helped immensely and I haven’t had any breathing problems.

I still carry two Epi-Pens and Benadryl in a Garmin case in my right pocket at all times. This is true when I eat, when I go to class, when I walk around the dorm, or really anytime I’m not sleeping. I also have a massive container under my bed with extra medication: Epi-Pens, albuterol, Pulmicort, Nasacort, etc. My roommate has a very similar tub under his. We constantly joke that we could run an underground pharmacy out of our dorm room if we wanted to.

As with any new living situations come new challenges: surprisingly, none of it involved my food allergies or asthma. My first quarter was plagued with sickness, instead.

The first week of class (of all weeks) I got superbly sick that I actually had to go home Wednesday through the weekend to recover. I had a nice combination of headaches, nausea, a fever, and exhaustion for quite a few days; while antibiotics knocked out the majority of my symptoms, I found out (through blood work) that I had an early infection of mono. Thankfully, I didn’t have any continuing symptoms.

I got a head cold halfway through the quarter and a stomach bug near the end of the quarter, and some close friends in PLP were happy to help supply (safe) chicken noodle soup to help me out. I made it through finals week and went home the week before Thanksgiving – the end of the 1st quarter.

The day before Thanksgiving, I woke up with swollen lymph nodes and was pretty tired. Through the weekend, I developed a fever, a superbly sore throat, and once again, I became absolutely exhausted. This time, it was a full blown “re-activated” infection of mono. I’m happily recovering after a week of antibiotics to combat a secondary infection of tonsillitis with plenty of rest, fluids, and reading. Thankfully, I’m home until the New Year so I have plenty of time to recuperate my health and prepare myself for the next quarter.

Certainly, I had more than a couple 2:30am mornings this quarter working on school or hanging out with friends. I think I might be limiting these next quarter to make sure my immune system can cope with everything.

If I had any one suggestion for college, it’s to talk to people. They are your best resources for your health, happiness, and sanity in school. When you’re sick, they can bring you fantastic chicken noodle soup. When you’re healthy, they can be excellent resources for studying, motivation, and even for a break every once in a while.

Overall, my first quarter was absolutely fantastic. College is a blast and I’m so grateful for all of the wonderful people at DU that make it a safe opportunity.

Happy Holidays and I wish you the best for 2015!

Travel/Eating Out & Food Allergy

Nationals Trip for Speech & Debate

My last high school-related adventure involved traveling to Kansas City for the National Speech & Debate Tournament, an event I had qualified to attend earlier this year.

Before we left, I gave a health care plan to my Speech & Debate coach that explains procedure for an anaphylactic reaction, my allergies, and has an array of information on who to contact. I trained my friends/teammates on EpiPens as well.

We left Sunday morning from Denver International Airport, flying Frontier to Kansas City. Frontier does serve food, but you have to pay for it (i.e. there are no complimentary drinks or food for most passengers). I asked the stewardess the moment I got on the plane if they served peanuts, and she replied, “You can certainly buy them.” I quickly assured her I wasn’t going to buy them due to a peanut allergy. Since the flying arrangements for this trip were made by the school, all six of us traveling to Kansas City got to sit together. This was important since peanuts could still be served on the flight to someone who was interested in buying them; that issue was mitigated since I was sitting with my friends.

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After arriving to the hotel, it was about 1:00pm (an hour ahead from Denver), and we were pretty hungry, so we walked across the street to Panera Bread. Panera is notable for its homemade bread that is mostly all cooked together. I talked with the manager about some safe options (it differs by store on how they cook their bread), and settled on a simple grilled cheese for lunch. I had a salad at Panera for dinner, probably the far safer option due to the possibility of cross contamination. Weighing the information given though, I decided that the grilled cheese was safe since it was not cooked with nut breads and they have rigorous cleaning procedures.

Speech & Debate tournaments occur in high schools, middle schools, and sometimes (at Nationals) in elementary schools. In Overland Park, Kansas (where we were), they had dozens of different schools for the thousands of competitors, each dedicated to a specific event (like solo debate or humorous interpretation). We had our coach and two parents joining us with rented cars so they could go and buy safe food for us.

Breakfast was served at the hotel and there was a McDonalds across the parking lot for variety. I found out I could eat McDonald’s breakfast items after my California trip (read about it here). Lunch and dinner varied by days and locations (if we were at a different high school, we might eat something different).

To be honest, each day was about 17 hours (from 5:30am to 10:30pm), so I don’t remember exactly which days I ate what. Here’s a list of restaurants I did eat at:

  • Chipotle – this was for dinner (I believe) Tuesday evening. It’s a safe option for me and it’s a chain restaurant, meaning most (if not all) of its locations serve the same thing.
  • Applebee’s – another safe chain restaurant that was dinner the third night there.
  • Jimmy John’s – an easy, safe option for lunch sandwiches. The team got Chick-Fil-A, but my coach made sure that I got a safe option for food, and made arrangements for Jimmy John’s (she’s the best coach, by the way).
  • Potbelly Sandwiches – another option for lunch sandwiches. I hadn’t had Potbelly’s before, but I checked their website and called them up and talked with their manager about breads, sesame, and nuts. Everything was safe (besides their cookies) and it worked out great!
  • Kolache Factory – Kolaches are…dough balls that have filling like cheese & sausage, or pepperoni & mushrooms. Once again, I hadn’t had Kolache’s before, but I called ahead and talked with the owner about their procedures. The breads that do contain nuts are cooked entirely separate from the regular dough (at least at this location). I have to say, that was an AMAZING lunch – they were so good (and safe!)
  • El Fogon – a local Mexican cuisine restaurant we went to for lunch. Just like every other restaurant I hadn’t eaten at before, I called ahead. Notably, Mexican food is mainly safe, but various styles can include sesame and nuts. El Fogon did not use either in any dish or topping or side, which was great news! Even better, the food was absolutely delicious (I got a steak quesadilla)
  • Cinetopia’s Food Service – the last night we were in Kansas City, we went and saw a movie at the local movie theater. Unlike most, they have these “family rooms” with couches and reclining seats instead of the regular airpline-style seating. You also get to order food from their menu. I checked with the staff about their options and settled on another Mexican-style evening with nachos and a quesadilla.
  • Jack Stack BBQ – the crown jewel of our food adventures, Jack Stack has some of the best BBQ in Kansas City (if not the country). Barbecue sauce can be especially dangerous since some restaurants use peanut butter as a thickener and/or nuts as a spice. Jack Stack uses neither in their homemade, exquisite BBQ sauce. I have to admit, that was the best food we had all week!

Story of the Week: Due to its fame, Jack Stack’s is always pretty busy. Instead of dining in, we went over to their takeout side of the restaurant. While waiting for our food to be ready, we got in a nice conversation with a man who was picking up his own BBQ meal. Very genuine guy, who was interested in Speech & Debate and our interests. Right before leaving, he actually gave our coach $200 to spend on dinner for another night!! (We used it at the Cinetopia because, while their tickets aren’t that much more than normal, their food is abhorrently expensive). It was a very kind gesture.

This was the longest trip that I’ve been through where we haven’t brought/planned food. I had combined a list of possibly safe restaurants before the trip began and sent it to my coach (it included Jimmy John’s, Jack Stack’s, Chipotle, and Applebee’s). That helped dictate a few choices, but we also got recommendations from the locals (for El Fogon and the Kolache Factory, for instance).

Here’s a few tips on dealing with new restaurants:

  1. Always talk to someone in charge. Servers are knowledgeable about the menu, not how the food is prepared. Find a manager or the owner or the chef and talk to them about food preparation and the process of cooking food. Also talk with them about ingredients.
  2. Try and eat at “safe-cuisine” restaurants. Typically, Mexican cuisine is safer than, say, Asian cuisine for me (not only due to the use of shellfish & fish in Asian cuisine, but nuts as well). I’d automatically feel safer at a Mexican-style restaurant than an Asian-style restaurant.
  3. Call ahead, if possible. Don’t waste your time at restaurants that aren’t safe. Call ahead and talk to someone in charge about food. If it turns out the restaurant is not safe, you didn’t waste your time and you can find another safe option.
  4. There is always a risk. It’s really unavoidable – there is always a risk involved in eating new food. I ate at more new restaurants during Nationals than I had in the past 5 years combined! However, I felt safe and comfortable doing so.
  5. The two-minute rule. That being said, I’m still cautious! This is a personal thing that I do: when I try food at a new restaurant, I take a small bite and wait two minutes before eating anything more. From my previous experience with anaphylaxis, my first symptoms occurred within the first two minutes after eating fish. I cautiously eat a second bite after the first two minutes and wait a little while longer. If nothing happens, I eat my meal entirely. If something does happen, I would immediately tell someone about it.

Nationals was one of the best experiences I have had – not only due to the intelligent and humorous people at the event, but also the safe food that was readily available. I also broke to Top 80 at Nationals in Lincoln-Douglas debate, a solo debate centered around values & ethics.

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If you would like to view the National Tournament Highlight Video (published by the National Speech & Debate Association), click here. I make a cameo appearance at :49 (I’m in the background looking up. The camera isn’t focused on me). Plus, there’s a great music video at the end of it.

Travel/Eating Out & Food Allergy

Morgan’s Senior Class California Trip Updates – Saturday and Sunday

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Hello everyone! I decided to update all of you with just one post covering both days given that a good portion of one was in Disneyland.

Saturday

There is a McDonalds in the vicinity of the hotel, which makes getting breakfast easy. When planning, I was very surprised to find out that none of the foods that McDonalds serves at breakfast contain nuts (or any of my allergies).

I simply got pancakes and sausage and while it may not have been the most healthy breakfast, it certainly tasted good!!

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After breakfast, my whole group went out to the President Nixon Library and Museum. It was a phenomenal experience!!

I got to see the old Marine/Army 1 (depending on the branch of the pilot) that President Nixon departed from his presidency in. I also had the chance to learn all about President Nixon’s life and successes. No food was allowed in the museum, so I didn’t have any problems.

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After the Nixon museum, our group went to Disneyland! We were there from 1pm until midnight. I can say that I haven’t had that much fun in a very long time.

Food at Disney wasn’t hard at all. I stopped by and had some food at a Sandwich joint for lunch and balanced out some safe BBQ for dinner. I had simply asked about the sauce they use for their BBQ – they graciously provided ingredients for all of it. It was absolutely delicious!

Food is always a big issue when you’re at a theme park. But, what about carrying around your cell phone and EpiPens? If there is ever a problem, people need to be notified. I carried my EpiPens, cell phone, and wallet on me at all times. I didn’t leave them in a bag or put them in a locker.

Splash Mountain certainly made me a little wet, but my cell phone was fine and my EpiPens were stored in a Garmin case and remained in their waterproof case, as always.

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I was thoroughly exhausted by midnight. It was a fun day – I even got to see the whole castle lit up!

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Sunday

I once again had breakfast (and included a delicious and completely  unhealthy cinnamon melt) at McDonalds.

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We visited the Museum of Tolerance. No pictures were allowed, so I can’t document anything from the museum, but I can say it was one of the best museums I have ever visited. It was enlightening and heavy, examining the consequences of our words and propaganda against another group of people. It specifically looked at the Holocaust, and I nearly came out in tears from one of the gas chambers.

After the Museum of Tolerance, we went to In-N-Out burger.

I have never eaten such a good burger. And fries. And milkshake. It was amazing fast food. Fast food burger joints are nefarious for their use of sesame seeds on buns. I had called ahead to the restaurant chain to make sure they didn’t use sesame on their buns – they didn’t. Their fries are also not cooked in peanut or sesame oil – another wonderful and tasty victory!

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After In-N-Out, we visited President Reagan’s library and museum. That was an another awesome experience! We got to revisit Reagan’s life and successes along with the old Air Force One. That took the rest of the afternoon.

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For dinner, we got to eat at restaurants in the vicinity of our hotel. I had checked before the trip, and there was an IHOP just down the block. IHOP is what I call a “pocket” restaurant – it’s always safe and I can just pull it out of my pocket as a safe backup.

I’ll post a final update tomorrow after my flight home! I’ll leave you with this awesome California sunset taken from President Reagan’s library.

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To read Morgan’s other post about his Senior Class Trip on Friday, click here.

Travel/Eating Out & Food Allergy

Senior Class California Trip – Morgan’s Update for Friday

Hello everyone! I figured I would do a few updates throughout the trip just to keep all of you apprised with the day to day happenings.

With traveling, I believe planning is one of the most important things you can do. Before leaving, I charted out all the locations my group was going to and located safe places to eat. The teacher in charge is super detail oriented, so the itinerary we received was very detailed with times and locations. After calling the different places, including In-n-Out Burger, Rainforest Cafe, and a local pizzeria, I had my entire menu for the trip planned! As a note, the Rainforest cafe (and two other meals) take place inside Disneyland. Disney is renown for their ability to take care of food allergic children.

I also created a list of everything I would need to bring, including medications. This way, I make sure I have everything I’ll need (mind you, this trip is only 4 days so it wasn’t an extensive list).

For TSA, I removed ALL the liquid medications (like eye drops and nasal spray) and put them in the bag with my other liquids. This ensures I won’t hold up the line. I also always wear my MedicAlert bracelet, but that’s never been a problem with metal detectors. It never sets it off. I do remove my EpiPens in my pocket and set them in the bin to have them scanned.

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Above is my boarding pass. When I fly Southwest, I typically have “PDA” printed on my boarding pass, which means “Peanut Dust Allergy.” This means that I can preboard the plane and wipe down the surrounding areas. (It also means I get to choose the best seats!) Thankfully, United doesn’t serve peanuts on their flights, so it wasn’t a problem for this trip.

I did bring a few snacks for the plane ride – NutriGrain bars, apple slices, and banana bread from home. If I were thirsty, I would have bought a soda near the gate for the flight.

The flight went excellently. There were no problems and I sat among friends so no one ate nuts.

After the flight, we immediately went to the beach! It was a great time. For lunch, I had pizza from a local pizzeria that I had checked with beforehand. It was delicious! I then went and played at the beach with friends for a few hours. There was a shellfish shop or two along the beach, but obviously I didn’t eat at them (nor my friends)!

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We also met a seal (pictured above).

After the beach, we returned to the hotel to change and then went to dinner at Rainforest Cafe in Downtown Disney. I had called ahead and checked their menu to make sure there was a possibility for safe food.

When I arrived at Rainforest Cafe, I let the server know I had severe allergies right after I ordered my drink. She was super kind and immediately brought out the kitchen manager – a sort of combination between chef and manager. He asked what my food allergies were, took them down, wrote down my meal, and then specially prepared it (he even served it to me)!

The steak fajitas were delicious.

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It was a wonderful Friday!! I’ll keep you updated about Saturday with journeys including Disneyland!!

To read Morgan’s post about his Senior Class Trip for the rest of the trip, click here.