A small dietary restrictions rant...

[bumbershoot]

But I'm wondering why, if you have a pineapple allergy, you would pick a Hawaiian themed restaurant for dinner?

Because her family wants to go.

 

[maxiesmom]

Wanting to be with your family is a good reason, in my book. I'm someone who paid for a meal at CRT and then was stuck not eating and filming the whole things, because sis wanted to help her kids interact and wanted it all recorded. They fed me after, so it was all good. Gotta take one for the team sometimes.

 

[Pumbaa_]

I am glad they do not have a database with everything in it

can you imagine if its wrong? just one little teeny tiny typo and someone thought that because the db said so it was ok?

there are also a plethora of websites (including here on the DIS) with recipes GALORE from many restaurants. It's on the cooking board. You can always check there too to see what they publicly list in the recipe

as a huge non-fan of 'Ohana, I would send the family there to enjoy and find a much better use of my time

 

[WildMouser]

I can totally empathize with your feelings. My DS has a number of allergies including some that are non-top 8 (peanut, sesame, mustard, potato, avocado). The combination can be challenging, particularly until he could recently eat milk products. I have an onion allergy which is challenging as well.

We too have struggled to find information for particular restaurants beforehand. It is one thing to approach a kiosk and inquire into the ingredient book and find out there are no safe foods. It is another heightened type of disappointment to be seated at a restaurant and learn that none of the menu items will be safe without significant accommodation.

While I sincerely appreciate that Disney goes out of its way to accommodate food allergies, we have had many dry/bland meals without sauces, etc. If we knew that in advance, we likely would have made other arrangements and had less disappointments. I am not suggesting that they should specifically create masterpiece meals for my DS and myself at every meal. To the contrary, if we had the knowledge beforehand, it would help us make better restaurant selections which would help us and Disney.

FWIW, we have great success with eating at our resort. Our resort has been fantastic and accommodating ensuring there is food that is safe for my DS and that he is excited to eat.

 

[nco91590]

I get that your family wants to go, but per OP's description: "but once you spend six hours writhing in pain while all of your insides wish to be on your outsides", I would think her family would take one for the team and not pick a restaurant that has pineapple in literally every dish.

I don't think it would be too much to ask to eat somewhere she might actually be able to enjoy the food.

 

[BigAlsGal]

Wait till your adr. Talk with the chef. Everything will be fine. I can't imagine spending any more than 5 minutes on this issue. Especially a non life threatening one. Mountains out of a mole hill..

 

[hildarumpole]

I understand your frustration trying to get basic ingredient information so you can make an informed decision, especially since it's often necessary to make ADRs 6 months in advance for the more popular restaurants. Ohana's menu changes from time to time, but pineapple is a consistent ingredient. Unless it's some sort of lab-created chemical composition rather than real pineapple, you're going to have problems with a lot of the food. The components of the menu have not varied greatly through years. It's the Ohana bread, skewered meats, shrimp, skewered or not, several Polynesian/Asian inspired sides, and bread pudding. The kid dessert varies. Once a new menu is agreed upon by the culinary team, it doesn't change for months or even a year. Suppliers of the basic ingredients do change frequently, so things like wheat, soy, dairy, and nut warnings will vary due to different manufacturing facilities. What you are asking should be fairly simple for someone to answer well in advance. Ohana chefs don't show up to work and decide to get artsy, marinating the chicken chunks in rosemary wine sauce for a fun twist or because the pineapple marinade didn't get delivered one day. This isn't a knock on Ohana, but it has an institutional approach to food prep. The menu is fixed and fairly consistent to feed a large volume of people every day who expect to eat something that resembles a Polynesian meal befitting the setting.

 

[_auroraborealis_]

I would think her family would take one for the team and not pick a restaurant that has pineapple in literally every dish.

Absolutely agree. One of my best friends has a life-threatening peanut allergy. We don't go to Thai restaurants when he's dining with us.

In the case of Ohana, you're really in a similar situation. Pineapple permeates that kitchen. Isolating the pineapple and avoiding it entirely isn't just an "inclusion in recipe" issue. You can assume a Polynesian Feast is going to have intimate relations with pineapples without a lot of extra data, just like you can assume a Thai kitchen will have had peanuts on every surface.

 

[Nugent]

I had a similar issue many years ago with a reservation for the luau at the Polynesian. The phone CM who took the reservation assured me my MSG allergy could be handled with a phone call the day before. Turns out, it couldn't - and then I practically had to beg, plead, and issue threats to get my money refunded for the meal I couldn't eat. The problem is that Disney's requirement that you book way in advance conflicts with their inability to offer concrete nutritional info way in advance. Fortunately for me, health consciousness has reduced the prevalence of MSG in food, although I wouldn't dare try the luau again.

 

[nco91590]

Absolutely agree. One of my best friends has a life-threatening peanut allergy. We don't go to Thai restaurants when he's dining with us.

In the case of Ohana, you're really in a similar situation. Pineapple permeates that kitchen. Isolating the pineapple and avoiding it entirely isn't just an "inclusion in recipe" issue. You can assume a Polynesian Feast is going to have intimate relations with pineapples without a lot of extra data, just like you can assume a Thai kitchen will have had peanuts on every surface.

Lol "intimate relations with pineapples".

 

[bumbershoot]

I get that your family wants to go, but per OP's description: "but once you spend six hours writhing in pain while all of your insides wish to be on your outsides", I would think her family would take one for the team and not pick a restaurant that has pineapple in literally every dish.

I don't think it would be too much to ask to eat somewhere she might actually be able to enjoy the food.

That's how my immediate family is, too, but not all families are. My little cousin has an obvious peanut allergy and her family still has peanuts around. I've watched her react (her airway) after her dad ate a sundae with peanuts and then kissed her. And they still don't have an official diagnosis, nor an epipen, and they think it's a mild allergy. (It's an extreme example and I'm not equating the ops family with them but it just shows that families are different)

I might have a zucchini allergy (was tested but disliked my docs so I never went back to get results) (and hello latex-adjacent allergy) and if DH and DS wanted to go to a restaurant that was All Things Zucchini they would go when I wasn't there. They would send me to get a massage or manicure or to have tea or something while they went. But not all families are like that.

 

[Missyrose]

Last October I was able to get reservations for 6 at Skipper Canteen for the next day. We weren't in MK, so I couldn't just pop in and speak to the chef. I called Disney Dinning and after an hour on hold I spoke to a CM. I wanted to know what my gluten free options were before I got there.

If you're ever in this situation again, head to GR for whatever park you're in and see if they can help. They at least have access to the actual restaurant phone numbers to call for you instead of dealing with the call center that can't help.

 

[ConnecticutFlea]

If you're ever in this situation again, head to GR for whatever park you're in and see if they can help. They at least have access to the actual restaurant phone numbers to call for you instead of dealing with the call center that can't help.

Thanks for this information!

 

[prgal0715]

I have no idea about specific ingredients in 'Ohana dishes, but I need to tell you that the phrase "digestive pyrotechnics" literally made me laugh until I cried...and I really needed that today! Good luck with this menu adventure, @Honeybee83

 

[Tigger's ally]

Absolutely agree. One of my best friends has a life-threatening peanut allergy. We don't go to Thai restaurants when he's dining with us.

In the case of Ohana, you're really in a similar situation. Pineapple permeates that kitchen. Isolating the pineapple and avoiding it entirely isn't just an "inclusion in recipe" issue. You can assume a Polynesian Feast is going to have intimate relations with pineapples without a lot of extra data, just like you can assume a Thai kitchen will have had peanuts on every surface.

I'm wondering if a person with such an allergy could actually order off of the Kona menu and it be brought from an entirely different kitchen????

 

[_auroraborealis_]

I'm wondering if a person with such an allergy could actually order off of the Kona menu and it be brought from an entirely different kitchen????

Pretty sure Kona is going to have a whole bunch of pineapple too, though. The macadamia-pineapple pancakes come to mind, and there's a sushi roll with pineapple in it. (OP should not order it, as it also features avocado.)

It ends up coming down to allergy protocol having to come into use. It's not just about ingredient, but about prep tools and surfaces as well. And you're at the Poly. They have pineapples carved into wood everywhere, it's going to be in all the kitchens.

 

[Donald - my hero]

THIS! a thousand times THIS!! I could have written your post (minus the lovely relationship you have with the prickly fruit! Mine is spices and other odd things) and I only want the same basic question answered before i even show up at a restaurant "Will you be able to accommodate me?" I don't want you to read me secret recipes or quote ingredients from labels that might change overnight, a simple "sure we have x or y protein in the kitchen that hasn't been marinated so a meal can be made for you"
It's very easy to deal with the staff once you arrive at a restaurant and i've never worried that I'll have something to eat BUT that's only after i do hours of research, looking at pictures of meals, reading postings by others with dietary restrictions and where they've had great service. HOWEVER, there will be that time when a location is requested by a family member that i might avoid on my own and i'd like to know BEFORE i show up if I should eat first so i don't sit there drooling. This trip it was the Star Wars dessert party for me... cost us $69.00 for me to have 3 buns they snagged from the Brown Derby, a couple of cookies, some cheese cubes, one dessert and a can of pop!

The comment made by someone that because we deal with non-life threatening dietary issues we are making mountains out of molehills is not fair. Will i die if i eat that tomato based sauce or that garlicy goody, or will i really be that much bother if i have something that's been steeped in alcohol? NO, but i will be confined to bed for what can amount to literally days & I will go through a lot of expensive RX medications.

 

[Honeybee83]

That is a great idea........IF folks wouldn't sue. Our litigious society has made such a system absolutely nonviable. There is no way to ever keep a database like that up to date, food prep is FAR too complex. Consider this pineapple allergy. Very rare. But if they know, they can use an area of the kitchen that doesn't have bowls, knives, or pans that were just used with pineapples. Even if the food itself doesn't have pineapple, if it was prepped on a board next to pineapple, there could be cross-contamination. After all, this restaurant specializes in a cuisine that utilized pineapple extensively. So the only safe way to accommodate all the varied and unpredictable food allergies is to handle each one on a case by case basis.

I understand your point. I am fortunate that my intolerance does not include cross contamination and is not an anaphylactic allergy. It is true though that those are out there though. It just gets really frustrating when WDW as a whole has become a place that really does require advanced pre-planning and then makes it so difficult to get questions answered. It is hard, when you can't necessarily just go to another table service restaurant that you might like, to say just wait and talk to the chef when you get there.

 

[Honeybee83]

I hope this doesn't come across as rude. But I'm wondering why, if you have a pineapple allergy, you would pick a Hawaiian themed restaurant for dinner? Especially one with a set menu. Pineapple is a main ingredient in that cuisine. I think I would just assume that almost everything is going to have pineapple in it...all the glazes, sauces, marinades etc. I would just avoid the place all together.

It's expensive too! I would not want to pay for an entire menu's worth of substitutions. Plain chicken, plain rolls, noodles no sauce, plain brownie for dessert. You would probably get a better meal for your money elsewhere.

You're not rude at all, I should have explained better. My husband is really excited about trying this place, but completely understands that we won't go there if I won't be able to eat anything. Because I want him to be able to have the experience, I'm trying to get these questions answered ahead of time so that, if it's not a viable option, I can find something else entirely or just eat something before we go and explain the situation to the staff so they know that I won't be dining.

 

[Honeybee83]

Hi Honeybee,
Your set of allergens is typically indicative of someone who has a latex allergy as well. Have you been tested?
While I feel pretty confident that most food prep kitchens utilize nitrile or latex-free gloves for this reason, it might be worth a mention to the chef as well. Studies have shown that latex gloves can shed reaction-inducing particles into food.

I actually work in the medical field and am allergic to latex. How interesting. Do you have any understanding as to why this is or what causes it?