Allergy Disclaimers

Allergy Disclaimers

23rd July 2019 0 By Allergendad

A bit of new experience for me: We spent much of Saturday in Guildford and planned to have dinner out before driving home to put Piglet to bed. We hadn’t planned to eat anywhere in particular but knew there were a few of our reliable regulars to fall back on. That said I didn’t really fancy pizza again and besides which Piglet had requested chicken and rice (what a surprise!), so we started looking for Indian or Thai curry places. The curry house was the place with the new allergy experience… But first let me give you the context of the day.

The day started early with a 6:00 am alarm for swimming lessons (Piglet’s). The earliest alarm in the whole week unless you count Piglet as a sort of natural one? He’s started running into the bedroom early in the morning to carry on sleeping. How cute? Depends where his feet end up. Back from swimming we pottered around the house for a while and then were treated to a remarkably tasty lunch courtesy of my wife. Specifically a smoked mackerel dip made with Oatly Creamy Oat Fraiche. It was surprisingly fresh, light, tasty and, most importantly, very in line with my new reduced-calorie diet. (Less said about Thai or Indian curries the better although I did achieve my target for the day). We had the pate with some crudites and toasted tortilla wraps. I must share the recipe someday. Piglet in particular adored it!

We drove to Guildford straight after lunch and piglet fell asleep, triggered by James and the Giant Peach on audiobook. It’s a shame because I’ve really been enjoying the story and we stop it when ever he falls asleep so I’ve literally heard the same 10-15 minute section over and over again as we re-wind to recap what he’s missed. First stop on arriving was to raid a health food shop. Particularly ahead of camping, we picked up biscuits and coconut aminos (expect to read about coconut aminos in more detail on another blog at some point. In short: I was wrong about them) and peanut butter cups among other things. In fact we had to head straight back to the car after this one shop because we’d already filled out bags!

Yes, I ate this in bed that very next evening. Must. Find. More!

The rest of the shopping constituted looking for summer clothes and picking up a few pieces for camping that we learnt from the last trip are probably worth having. For example, using kitchen frying pans on an open wood fire doesn’t really work! A quick stop at k.alm kitchen cafe for a smoothie and a juice gave much needed respite from the heat and crowds. We’ve eaten here before as well – it seems like a really nice place. Although unfortunately they weren’t 100% confident on the ingredients one of the cakes they stocked. Better to be honest at least! The final stop of the afternoon was Trotters for a toddler’s hair cut. I’ve talked about Trotters before. They’re a wonderful little children’s store who sell a range of department store style clothes, shoes, books etc. and also do hair cuts. They use a giant fish tank instead of a mirror and are equipped with books, games and, most importantly, patience to cut the hair of reluctant little ones. Piglet actually loves getting his hair cut here now but there was a while when he first had it done and he hated it. If hair cuts are a battle for any little ones you know I thoroughly recommend them.

So, sporting a fashionable new barnet, Piglets thoughts turned, as they so often do, to food. We found one Indian restaurant that had great reviews but looked more Michelin star than family dining. The next one was a place called The Guildford Spice. The food looked nice the reviews were positive and it wasn’t too far from where I was stood trawling my phone while Piglet rode on the “insert coin” emergency truck next to us. Speech marks because of course I did no such thing.

It was fairy early so there weren’t many people in the restaurant when we arrived. As I find is often the case the Indian restaurant presents a sort of formality that seems at odds with the tone or nature of the restaurant otherwise. I used to feel a bit intimidated by this and have learnt to override my reaction (or at least try to). Piglet on the other hand leans back in his seat, tucks into a tray of poppadoms and tries to order from the wine list.

It’s in the menu that I see something that I haven’t seen before. I’d kind of noticed it on my phone but hadn’t fully digested it (no pun intended!). The restaurant menu specifically mentions allergies and advises that you speak to the staff about them before you order (common, good practice). However they also go on to say that there is a risk that any of the common allergens could be found in their food. The final sentence: “Customers with any allergies, eat at their own risk.”

I’ve seen this before – most notably on Twitter. I’ve even seen the stories of being asked to sign a disclaimer; something I’ve never had to do. Actually disclaimers hold no weight in allergy law. Restaurants have to provide some provision for allergies and no disclaimer can get around this (although they might find it useful if you wanted to sue them). My first thought is that it is at least factually correct. Whether a restaurant has the most incredible allergy policy and super attention to cross contamination or a slap-dash nod towards their legal responsibilities, they can never truly guarantee that you are at no risk of an allergic reaction.

But the bit that bothers me is that it just doesn’t need saying. Anyone with allergies is very well aware that they are at risk of allergic reaction and they have a constant battle to manage that risk against, primarily, their requirement to eat but, secondly, just to engage in the normal social eating experiences of other human beings. Be that child, family or just adult.

By saying it – they’re simultaneously acknowledging that they have legal responsibilities but call into question how sure they are that they meet them. Incidentally, I was actually fairly impressed with their handling of our requests. The menu already highlighted the items that contained dairy (the most likely culprit in Indian cuisine out of that, soya and gluten) and were happy to discuss whether they added flour to their sauces or any uses of soya. It turned out that practically everything we wanted to order was suitable. The only thing that wasn’t was the pilau rice as they used butter. I meant to check, and I’m kicking myself that I didn’t, whether that was down as ‘dairy’ on the menu and I missed it (it was a bit of an after thought on my part) or whether they hadn’t labelled it. Either way, I was fairly impressed that when the order was put through to the kitchen they’d obviously registered the allergies to highlight that we couldn’t have it. We simply changed to boiled rice instead.

Not my image but one of theirs. It tasted as good as this looks!

The food was delicious. We ordered a chicken rogan josh, a vegetable biriyani and some tarka dhal (no ghee, I checked). Everything was beautifully spiced, fresh and tender. The only surprise was that Piglet wasn’t devouring it. We’d deliberately chosen dishes that wouldn’t be too spicy (although the chicken had a surprising warmth) and it would usually be something I’d expect him to love. It turned out, after saying that he’d finished – a couple of times – that he was actually just feeling a bit uncomfortable and needed to go to the toilet. I took him up and brought along his pyjamas and toothbrush to get him ready to sleep in the car as soon as we’d left (it was fairly late for him by this point). What followed next hit a particular nerve for me – one of those really bad ‘dad feelings’…

After he’d finished on the toilet and I was washing his hands, I tried to get him into his pyjamas. He became hysterical. Granted he was fairly tired and I couldn’t really get out of him what was the matter but he clearly didn’t want to wear his pyjamas. Eventually I calmed him down enough to find out what was wrong: He was very happy to put on his pyjamas and sleep in the car, but only once he had finished eating. It was crystal clear in his mind that he’d just come up to go to the toilet and would then, in more comfort, finish his dinner. When I suggested that it would probably have been taken away, the tears streamed down his face. I had just ruined his world. No amount of reasoning: “you did say you’d finished”, and “you know once you get down from the table that means you’re done” was going to cut it. We hurried back downstairs only to be met by the bemused look in my wife’s eyes of ‘why is he crying and why isn’t he in his pyjamas’? One look at the completely clear table and Piglet was set off again.

The one saving grace was that, as well as after dinner mints we probably couldn’t (and didn’t) eat, they’d provided a plate of orange slices. A cuddle with mummy and the prospect of eating these to himself was an adequate tonic. The staff we so nice that they offered a second plate on seeing how much he liked it (and how much happier he’d been than before they arrived!). Piglet was now in a state to share and kindly offered segments to each of us (just one each out of the 12 or so he’d been given). I promised that we’d come back and have curry again some time and Piglet was content to walk back to the car.

The manager was keen to talk to us as we left, enquiring where we were from and how we’d found out about the place. We didn’t mention our thoughts about the disclaimer but said, in honesty, that we’d probably come back sometime. I’d be interested to know your thoughts about the allergy notice – is it fair to state cold hard truth or does it do more damage than good? My worry is that it actually makes them look inconsiderate of allergies rather than set up to cater for them which, in truth, I think they were. At least to the point of knowing ingredients – I couldn’t be sure what their cross contamination risks are like. I’d be very interested to know your thoughts in the comments below…


P.S. If you do have a look at their website – I suspect it’s still in development (I know the restaurant had only recently been redecorated); much of the placeholders for text appear to still using a Latin filler text!