New Orleans and food allergies

[AustinTink]

Headed there for a family event soon and pretty worried about my severe shellfish allergy. Every menu I look up is heavy on shellfish obviously and I worry about cross-contamination. I'm allergic to all shellfish both mollusks and crustaceans. I also react to airborne steam like when a hot plate passes by me. I'll have my epipen, but I'd like to avoid a trip to the ER.

Has anyone maneuvered NO with a shellfish allergy and have tips to share?

 

[EMom]

It's been ages, but I remember it being a challenge. Always check out menus ahead of time to make sure there is something for you to eat, because sometimes THERE ISN'T. I always carry two EpiPens, and ask to be seated as far from the kitchen as possible and alert them to my allergy. Then I explain to the waiter that this is a life threatening allergy, and they always tell me they use separate pans, etc. No one at my table can eat shrimp which needs to be peeled. Don't sit at the bar. Those people are always peeling shrimp. Beware of the sauces for fish. Many contain shellfish. Good luck. Having a shellfish allergy bites.

 

[AustinTink]

It's been ages, but I remember it being a challenge. Always check out menus ahead of time to make sure there is something for you to eat, because sometimes THERE ISN'T. I always carry two EpiPens, and ask to be seated as far from the kitchen as possible and alert them to my allergy. Then I explain to the waiter that this is a life threatening allergy, and they always tell me they use separate pans, etc. No one at my table can eat shrimp which needs to be peeled. Don't sit at the bar. Those people are always peeling shrimp. Beware of the sauces for fish. Many contain shellfish. Good luck. Having a shellfish allergy bites.

It's crazy how many sauces have fish/shellfish in them in some form. I've had to educate myself over the last 10 years dealing with this allergy. You are correct, it bites.

 

[Lisa_lvspplmvr]

I would research the family event first .Call the restaurant or hotel and get that figured out first . Then I would research any restaurants you think you may have good luck with. Obviously try restaurants that aren’t mainly seafood places . Also bring your own food and order groceries to your hotel so you have something to fall back on. Good luck and have fun!

 

[Grand Koalafornian]

Sneaky Pickle appears to have no seafood on their menu. Most of the menu is vegan, but they have Wagyu beef, too.

Vegan with a Twist When I looked at the menu, for a second I thought "how can you call yourself vegan if you serve oysters?" Then I clicked to see that it's oyster mushrooms, Lol.

The Daily Beet is largely vegan, though they do serve eggs and lox if you want some animal protein. I don't see any shellfish on the menu.

Breads on Oak is a vegan bakery that sells sandwiches, soups, and other prepared foods, in addition to bread and sweets.

Kindred is vegan and more traditional southern/NOLA than the others I've listed. I wanna try this place next time I go.

Tal's Hummus has mediterranean fare. There are several meat options, but I don't see any shellfish on the menu.

Meals From the Heart, Carmo (I ate here and loved it), Green Goddess, and Bearcat Cafe all have shellfish on the menu, but they also have vegan options, so they should be used to keeping foods separate/free from cross-contamination. These might be good options if someone in your party wants more seafood options than the other restaurants I listed.

Source: Am vegetarian with a vegetarian/sometimes vegan sister who loves NOLA and has been over a dozen times. I've only gone once, but it was with her and she was trying to eat mostly vegan at the time.

Hope this is more helpful than overwhelming.

Edit: my brain totally skipped over the "event" part. Hopefully you can find something to eat there. I second talking to the chef. These are more useful if you're staying a few days.

 

[NotUrsula]

I'd advise eating at off hours if at all possible, and asking to speak with a chef. In most restaurants the waiters really are not that knowledgeable about what minor ingredients are in the dishes unless they also work the line. Just so that you know, sauces for fish dishes often contain shrimp or crawfish stock; they make it from discarded shells. (It's both incredibly delicious and a huge money savings.)

If this family event happens to be a wedding, be aware that in New Orleans, shellfish (along with plenty of liquor) is considered the mark of a good host; the more of it you serve, the more you will have spent, so it's a point of pride at most weddings to serve as much shellfish as one can possibly afford. I can't remember the last time I was at a non-Jewish wedding that didn't serve crawfish, shrimp, oysters & crab. Many fin fishes will be served "stuffed" with crabmeat or crawfish if they are not deep-fried, but deep-fried food is something you should probably avoid, because it's pretty much a guarantee that shrimp &/or oysters will have recently been in the fryer.

 

[AustinTink]

Sneaky Pickle appears to have no seafood on their menu. Most of the menu is vegan, but they have Wagyu beef, too.

Vegan with a Twist When I looked at the menu, for a second I thought "how can you call yourself vegan if you serve oysters?" Then I clicked to see that it's oyster mushrooms, Lol.

The Daily Beet is largely vegan, though they do serve eggs and lox if you want some animal protein. I don't see any shellfish on the menu.

Breads on Oak is a vegan bakery that sells sandwiches, soups, and other prepared foods, in addition to bread and sweets.

Kindred is vegan and more traditional southern/NOLA than the others I've listed. I wanna try this place next time I go.

Tal's Hummus has mediterranean fare. There are several meat options, but I don't see any shellfish on the menu.

Meals From the Heart, Carmo (I ate here and loved it), Green Goddess, and Bearcat Cafe all have shellfish on the menu, but they also have vegan options, so they should be used to keeping foods separate/free from cross-contamination. These might be good options if someone in your party wants more seafood options than the other restaurants I listed.

Source: Am vegetarian with a vegetarian/sometimes vegan sister who loves NOLA and has been over a dozen times. I've only gone once, but it was with her and she was trying to eat mostly vegan at the time.

Hope this is more helpful than overwhelming.

Edit: my brain totally skipped over the "event" part. Hopefully you can find something to eat there. I second talking to the chef. These are more useful if you're staying a few days.

Thank you so much for this list! This is like gold. I will be there a few days, so I will definitely hit many of these spots.

 

[AustinTink]

I'd advise eating at off hours if at all possible, and asking to speak with a chef. In most restaurants the waiters really are not that knowledgeable about what minor ingredients are in the dishes unless they also work the line. Just so that you know, sauces for fish dishes often contain shrimp or crawfish stock; they make it from discarded shells. (It's both incredibly delicious and a huge money savings.)

If this family event happens to be a wedding, be aware that in New Orleans, shellfish (along with plenty of liquor) is considered the mark of a good host; the more of it you serve, the more you will have spent, so it's a point of pride at most weddings to serve as much shellfish as one can possibly afford. I can't remember the last time I was at a non-Jewish wedding that didn't serve crawfish, shrimp, oysters & crab. Many fin fishes will be served "stuffed" with crabmeat or crawfish if they are not deep-fried, but deep-fried food is something you should probably avoid, because it's pretty much a guarantee that shrimp &/or oysters will have recently been in the fryer.

The groom's family is Jewish but the bride's family is not so who knows how that will determine the menu.

 

[bcla]

It's crazy how many sauces have fish/shellfish in them in some form. I've had to educate myself over the last 10 years dealing with this allergy. You are correct, it bites.

You'd have a tough time with Chinese food since a good many cooks use oyster sauce using natural oyster extract.

Not sure how you negotiate New Orleans. I'd worry about the possibility that something might use some sort of extract from shellfish as a seasoning. But I guess the best your can do is find places that don't have any shellfish on the menu and then copiously ask about it. My mother-in-law has a nasty allergy to squid. She's constantly asking if there's anything squid related in almost everything - even when we went for Thai food.

 

[mefordis]

Valid concern. My daughter is ordering a crawfish omelette tomorrow morning from the room service menu. I've never heard of such a thing.

 

[AustinTink]

You'd have a tough time with Chinese food since a good many cooks use oyster sauce using natural oyster extract.

Not sure how you negotiate New Orleans. I'd worry about the possibility that something might use some sort of extract from shellfish as a seasoning. But I guess the best your can do is find places that don't have any shellfish on the menu and then copiously ask about it. My mother-in-law has a nasty allergy to squid. She's constantly asking if there's anything squid related in almost everything - even when we went for Thai food.

Yep, I haven't had real chinese food in 10 years. Almost everything has oyster sauce in it, even vegetable spring rolls. If I go with my family I just get plain rice and steamed chicken and vegetables, if they offer it.

 

[AustinTink]

Valid concern. My daughter is ordering a crawfish omelette tomorrow morning from the room service menu. I've never heard of such a thing.

That sounds good. I used to love crawfish (all fish and shellfish really) before the onset of this dumb allergy.

 

[Imzadi]

It's crazy how many sauces have fish/shellfish in them in some form. I've had to educate myself over the last 10 years dealing with this allergy. You are correct, it bites.

I remember you explaining how Worchestershire sauce is made from anchovies and how those with shellfish allergies will have a problem with it.

 

[AustinTink]

I remember you explaining how Worchestershire sauce is made from anchovies and how those with shellfish allergies will have a problem with it.

Yep, and it wasn't listed on the ingredient list of a bag of snack mix from Sam's. It sent me to urgent care.

 

[Imzadi]

I'd advise eating at off hours if at all possible, and asking to speak with a chef. In most restaurants the waiters really are not that knowledgeable about what minor ingredients are in the dishes unless they also work the line.

It's not just the waiters who are not that knowledgeable. Sometimes the supervisors aren't that knowledgeable either. I was working a special event a couple Christmases ago. I was standing behind some table, talking to the event coordinator about something. There was a bunch of foil wrapped chocolates, shaped like a heart or something on the table. I remember seeing one of the bags of chocolates a while before. I purposely looked at the bag to read the ingredients. Unfortunately, it was a generic, clear cellophane bag, with no brand name, no ingredients on the bag, and no paper insert listing the ingredients. It had come in a plain cardboard case, also no brand name, of just cheap generic "party favor" chocolates, I guess.

A girl of about 8 years old, comes up to the table and asks if she could have a chocolate. "Sure." I pick one up and hand it to her. Just as she's about to take it, she then asks, "Is this made with any nuts?"

I'm about to say I don't know, when the coordinator says, "No, there's no nuts."

I swivel my head to him and ask, "Are you SURE??? I couldn't find any ingredients label. This could be made with peanut oil or something like that. in which she could have an allergic reaction" He thinks for a second and admits, no he's not sure. I pull back the chocolate and say to the girl, since we don't know whats in it, it's safer for her if she doesn't have it.

She's backing away, nodding, not even looking disappointed, as whatever reaction she would have had to the nuts wasn't worth being disappointed about not having the chocolate. I look further behind her and her dad was standing about 6 ft back watching the whole exchange. He nodded to me, glad that an allergic situation had been averted.

I worked as a waiter decades ago. It's just amazing to me how many waiters, captains, and supervisors just can't admit, "I don't know." And instead just make up an answer, trying to sound like they know the answer when they don't. And a lot of the time, their answer isn't the safe one. And when you tell them how serious an allergic reaction could be, they just shrug and don't get it.

Professional chefs are trained to know and state if they are using any of the key allergic ingredients.

 

[bcla]

It's not just the waiters who are not that knowledgeable. Sometimes the supervisors aren't that knowledgeable either. I was working a special event a couple Christmases ago. I was standing behind some table, talking to the event coordinator about something. There was a bunch of foil wrapped chocolates, shaped like a heart or something on the table. I remember seeing one of the bags of chocolates a while before. I purposely looked at the bag to read the ingredients. Unfortunately, it was a generic, clear cellophane bag, with no brand name, no ingredients on the bag, and no paper insert listing the ingredients. It had come in a plain cardboard case, also no brand name, of just cheap generic "party favor" chocolates, I guess.

A girl of about 8 years old, comes up to the table and asks if she could have a chocolate. "Sure." I pick one up and hand it to her. Just as she's about to take it, she then asks, "Is this made with any nuts?"

I'm about to say I don't know, when the coordinator says, "No, there's no nuts."

I swivel my head to him and ask, "Are you SURE??? I couldn't find any ingredients label. This could be made with peanut oil or something like that. in which she could have an allergic reaction" He thinks for a second and admits, no he's not sure. I pull back the chocolate and say to the girl, since we don't know whats in it, it's safer for her if she doesn't have it.

She's backing away, nodding, not even looking disappointed, as whatever reaction she would have had to the nuts wasn't worth being disappointed about not having the chocolate. I look further behind her and her dad was standing about 6 ft back watching the whole exchange. He nodded to me, glad that an allergic situation had been averted.

I worked as a waiter decades ago. It's just amazing to me how many waiters, captains, and supervisors just can't admit, "I don't know." And instead just make up an answer, trying to sound like they know the answer when they don't. And a lot of the time, their answer isn't the safe one. And when you tell them how serious an allergic reaction could be, they just shrug and don't get it.

Professional chefs are trained to know and state if they are using any of the key allergic ingredients.

I heard that peanut oils aren’t much of a concern when there are peanut allergies. I asked at my kid’s preschool that had a nut free classroom. Once my kid stayed over with the grandparents overnight and they provided transportation to school and lunch, and I got a call back that they had packed something with nuts.

Some professional chefs are a bit protective of their creations. I read about one chef who refused to remove peanuts from a dessert on a fixed price menu for a nut allergic customer. Said that it wouldn’t be her vision if nuts weren’t included.

 

[AustinTink]

Some professional chefs are a bit protective of their creations. I read about one chef who refused to remove peanuts from a dessert on a fixed price menu for a nut allergic customer. Said that it wouldn’t be her vision if nuts weren’t included.

Not surprising. So many people are completely dismissive of those with food allergies. Somehow they think it's not a big deal, like how could a peanut or shrimp kill someone. There are many in my extended family that don't understand food allergies it at all, so I speak from experience.

 

[TwoMisfits]

Not surprising. So many people are completely dismissive of those with food allergies. Somehow they think it's not a big deal, like how could a peanut or shrimp kill someone. There are many in my extended family that don't understand food allergies it at all, so I speak from experience.

I try to give them more benefit of the doubt...if you developed the allergies as an adult, and they were used to you having none as a kid, first they forget. Then, they think it's an intolerance (I'll never forget my sis saying "you can't have cow's milk, but you can have sheep or goat's milk, right?" But she was clueless, until I pretty much said, I'm the person who reads the box on the ingredients looking for any trace of milk or milk derivatives). And then they remember...and when you get a 2nd allergy 2 years later (yeah, me), they remember the 1st allergy, but start the process all over again with the 2nd...Eventually, they get there...here's hoping I don't get a 3rd one by the time they can successfully cook for me...

PS - Yeah, I haven't eaten my siblings' food yet, although we've gone out to eat together...baby steps...

 

[NotUrsula]

Not surprising. So many people are completely dismissive of those with food allergies. Somehow they think it's not a big deal, like how could a peanut or shrimp kill someone. There are many in my extended family that don't understand food allergies it at all, so I speak from experience.

To be fair, I think a lot of that is at the feet of the number of folks who claim to be allergic to things that they simply don't like, or which give them minor gastric distress. That isn't at all the same thing as an actual allergy, but they claim an allergy anyway. With so many people claiming "allergies" they don't actually have, it's become the lesson of the boy who cried wolf. People have been conditioned not to believe. (We need to make it OK for kids to simply refuse foods that they don't like, because that's what mostly causes allergy-faking -- being "picky" is looked down upon, so they quickly learn to claim an allergy instead, because that's an acceptable reason for refusing a food.)

None of that excuses ignoring an allergy, of course, but it makes the ignorance a bit easier to understand.

The mother of an allergic child I know has trained her NOT to say that she's allergic, but instead to say, "I can't eat that because it makes my throat swell up, and I don't want to go to the hospital again." She says the key part of the statement is the "again" -- it makes it clear to the skeptical listener that it has happened before, and is not simply an aversion or an irrational fear of the unknown. Detailing the consequences up-front makes the presence of a real allergy crystal clear.

 

[AustinTink]

To be fair, I think a lot of that is at the feet of the number of folks who claim to be allergic to things that they simply don't like

Except it's not fair at all to those of us who could actually die. I don't care how many fakers have come through any particular restaurant, the chef needs to listen every time in case that one time is the real deal.