Tonight I was at an awards dinner for the technology industry in BC. The first course was seafood spring rolls with peanuts sprinkled on the side. I passed my plate to a colleague. I was shocked that a shellfish and peanut dish was served to such a large group. Perhaps I have become so allergy aware that I am naive once more.
This week a 9 year old peanut allergic boy died in the UK after putting a piece of candy into his mouth. The boy had prior peanut reactions but none this severe. Sadly it often takes a severe reaction for parents to realize how dangerous the allergy is. This was the case for us and this particular story reminds me of how lucky we were.
Although our daughter had two minor reactions before her major reaction on Boxing Day, we were not educated enough to truly understand the risk. If your child has a history of even the smallest reactions to peanut you are advised to have an epinephrine auto-injector, such as an EpiPen, with your child at all times. At the first signs of an allergic reaction you should immediately call 9-1-1 and summon up the strength to use the EpiPen should that be necessary. If the reaction becomes more severe it is advised to use the EpiPen versus bringing it to the hospital with you.
Our (first) ambulance driver said it best, "don't mess with a peanut allergy".
NoPeanutsPlease Restaurant Reviews will assess a restaurant's level of allergy awareness based on three categories: Menu, Server Reaction, Attention To Detail. I will then provide an overall rating of Peanut (allergy risk) or NoPeanuts (allergy friendly). Where possible I will foward the URL of the post to the reviewee to give them the chance to reply.
For those with food allergies every restaurant poses a risk. The point of this series is to outline where restaurants can improve and highlight restaurateurs who are astute when it comes to serving food allergic patrons. Even if you do not live in Vancouver these reviews should be helpful in terms of showing you what we look for.
Reviewee
The Avenue Grill on 41st Avenue in Vancouver, BC.
Menu
The Avenue Grill has a fairly broad lunch menu but it stays true to its bistro-meets-diner ambiance by offering up a page of egg dishes and a variety of burgers and sandwiches that all seem to include mayo. For those with egg allergies this menu is an issue. Though you could order your sandwich without mayo, the large volume of eggs going through the kitchen heightens the risk of cross-contamination. We ended up choosing a fruit salad and cottage cheese for our daughter.
Server
In my opinion, when it comes to managing an allergy the most important person in the restaurant is the server. The cook plays a central role but the server is the one who walks a food allergic patron through the menu and makes the cook aware of the allergy. I prefer to see a server who is receptive, attentive and sincere while helping us select safe food items. In this case, when we told our server that our daughter had a severe peanut and egg allergy we were met with a blank stare. I suspect she was either indifferent or slightly overwhelmed. It is critical to watch for this first reaction as a parent.
Attention To Detail
We made it fairly easy for our server by ordering a fruit salad for our daughter. We did forget to ask for no mayo on my wife's sandwich and my burger. Though we should have caught this ourselves, it would have been impressive if she noticed that mayo would pose a risk to our egg allergic dining mate.
Peanut vs NoPeanuts?
Unfortunately my inaugural review presents a great example of why I decided to add this feature to the blog. The Avenue Grill would be a suitable place to eat for many but for the food allergic, (and especially those with egg allergy), it should probably be avoided. The lunch menu offers up only soup and salad as items that are egg free and though you could ask them to hold the mayo on sandwiches, with so many eggs going across the grill the risk of cross-contamination is high. In addition, our observations did nothing to convince us that the restaurant takes care to clean surfaces fully and avoid cross-contamination in the kitchen. Though our daughter did not come into direct contact with eggs, by the time we left she had well over two dozen hives on her arms and face. This was not a good experience.
Overall Rating: Peanut
General Comments:
Though this feature is focused on the allergy awareness of a restaurant, I figure that readers would also like to know what our overall impressions were. An institution for decades, the Avenue Grill was high on the list of neighbourhood restaurants that I wanted to try. Unfortunately the inattentive service and fairly bland meal did nothing to make me want to return. There are better options for lunch in Kerrisdale, egg allergy aside.
If you have been to a baseball game or other major sporting event you are well aware of how prevalent unshelled peanuts are. Interestingly there have been several press releases recently advertising 'peanut restrictions' at sporting events. The most recent was for a peanut free home date for a Michigan soccer team. Another prominent example from baseball is the Minnesota Twins, who offer a peanut free skybox for four of their home games.
While a peanut free game is encouraging, I find the Twins offering to be patronizing, more than helpful. Though the Twins' press coverage generates allergy awareness, offering up one section for 5% of your games when you are averaging 28,000 fans in a 48,000 seat field is a pittance. I challenge the Twins and other major league teams to do more. It is great that they recognize this to be an issue. Though it would require some planning and oversight, it would be ideal if every stadium had a reasonable percentage of its seats designated as peanut free, or at least as peanut-shell free.
The last five times I have gone to an NHL game, in three different arena, a person within 5 seats of me has been eating a bag of unshelled peanuts. The fun of eating nuts this way is that it is publicly acceptable to make a huge mess. The downside is that I have to brush the peanut debris from my clothing before I head home to give my daughter a goodnight kiss. I am not looking to ban peanuts, but I would certainly prefer that only shelled peanuts were sold.
I understand that sporting events and peanuts go hand in hand. I used to eat a bag of unshelled peanuts myself at every NHL or NFL game I attended, complete with the aforementioned pile of shells at my feet. Now that I am aware of the danger that this might pose for those with allergies I could not imagine doing this again. Though there is a debate as to how dangerous this really is, a quick Internet turns up multiple cases of severe allergic reactions.
The Twins are helping on the awareness front but I challenge them to take a leadership role in making the game even safer for their younger peanut-allergic allergic fans. As we develop additional insight into severe food allergy, I hope that one day unshelled peanuts will become an artifact of sporting legend.
Those managing peanut allergies received concerning news in late May. It seems that 'Peanuts Are Hot'. The number of top 200 restaurants serving menu items containing peanuts increased 84% since 2000, and the number of menu items with peanuts increased 142%. In grocery stores peanut butter is growing at a rate of 7.6% and peanut snacks at a rate of 56%. Consumer favour for peanuts is very high with 80% of consumers saying that peanut butter tastes great and 75% citing it as a good source of protein.
With several cities now banning trans fat from restaurants, peanut products will likely become even more prevalent. One item of particular concern is the positioning of refined peanut oil as allergen free. As noted in a prior post on NoPeanutsPlease, "there have been contradictory reports on the allergenicity of highly refined peanut oil" and those with peanut allergy should perhaps err on the side of caution and avoid peanut oil until the research is clear.
Here are the peanut news headlines on NoPeanutsPlease.com today. It seems that everywhere I turn, whether online or in the Saturday Vancouver Sun I am reading about the Australian study on peanut allergy testing.
I understand that this is really big news and will lead to significant relief for many parents. But in addition to the concerns I noted earlier this week, I am worried that the non-allergic public will use these findings as the basis for claims that parents are overreacting and their child is probably not even allergic.
My research shows that this is not a particularly new finding and that instead we have a case of the media taking a story and running with it. I understand that this happens in reverse as well when a child dies from anaphylaxis but I continue to have concerns about how this story has been broadcast.
After several readers suggested Sunbutter as a peanut butter replacement, I was finally successful in locating a jar. Incidentally we found it at a health food store just a few blocks away. Well, it was worth the wait. My last product review was for Peabutter and as you may recall, I was not a big fan. I was happy to finally get a chance to review Sunbutter.
In reviewing food products I review taste, texture, price, ingredients. It is a little unfair to review peanut butter replacements as I am not reviewing them in isolation. They are being put up against by beloved peanut butter, with which I had to part ways several months ago.
Taste: Sunbutter serves up a strong aroma of roasted nuts as soon as you open the jar. It tastes like a sweeter version of peanut butter. The biggest difference between this and Peabutter is that the taste also finishes nicely. I found Peabutter to have left a bit of a strong pea aftertaste (yes, I know that it is made from peas!) Sunbutter has a rich, nutty taste that lingers on the palate beautifully. I do think it is a touch sweet for my taste, but it is something I could eat daily.
Texture: The texture was more similar to a richer peanut butter and it is creamy enough for those who prefer highly processed peanut butters.
Price: Sunbutter is expensive. In fact price is the only real drawback I could find. We paid CDN $8.49 for a jar which is quite high. In fairness, grocery items can be very pricey at our local health foods store. We'll price it elsewhere as well. (Update: We have found a cheaper supply!)
Ingredients: The ingredients are acceptable. Like most peanut butters there is added sweetness, via cane juice in this case. That being said, the sugar only total 3 grams per 32 gram serving . In addition, Sunbutter is higher in protein, appears to be lower in sugar and higher in dietary fibre as compared to Peabutter. Iron deficiency can be an issue for many kids due to picky eating and Sunbutter helps there as well, providing 8% of the daily value for iron.
Overall: Overall Sunbutter passes the test for those who have to remove peanut butter from their home due to a peanut allergy. I would recommend this as a peanut butter replacement for any taste and I will certainly buy it in the future myself. Now I just need to find a less expensive place to buy it!
This week was Food Allergy Awareness Week. In honour of this FAAN initiative, I have decided to add novel content to the the blogosphere. Earlier tonight I posted the announcement of my new "NoPeanuts Site Reviews" series.
The second addition to the site will be the Villager of the Month 'accolades'. You have seen the phrase "It Takes A Village" used on this site to refer to the fact that parents of allergic children cannot manage the allergy entirely on their own. Other people will at times relied upon in an emergency situation. Teachers, caregivers and friend alike could find themselves in this situation while the child is under their care.
Intended as a 'thank you' on behalf of the food allergy community, the 'Villager of the Month' will have done something interesting, special or courageous to help those with food allergies. I encourage my visitors to nominate people by posting comments or emailing me (address is in my profile).
In honour of FAANs initiative this week, I decided name my first Villager Of The Month (for May 2007) based on the contribution they made to Food Allergy Awareness Week.
One contributor was the Elliott family in Nevada who chose this week to launch their new line of products under the NoNuttin' brand.
I also thought it was pretty cool for a 13 year old in PA to write to her local editor and promote Food Allergy Awareness Week with a personal letter. In our own way we can all make a meaningful contribution.
Gina Clowes of AllergyMoms posted a list of great ideas of things you could do to make a difference this week.
Villager of the Month
The first recipient of the Villager of the Month accolade is Ria Sharon of CheckMyTag. I have seen Ria everywhere this week. I visit many sites in my 'rounds' and over the past two weeks I have noticed numerous cases of Ria posting comments promoting Food Allergy Awareness Week. She also posted a great collection of stories about food allergy on her blog, stories she collected from other bloggers and friends specifically for this occasion. Her efforts were creative and made a valuable contribution to food allergy awareness. Ria has a line of alert products for allergic kids. The business is about a year old and was started after her 13-month-old had an anaphylactic reaction.
Congratulations and thank you Ria!
I am launching a new series on NoPeanutsPlease.com. The series will be called 'NoPeanuts Site Reviews' and it will review other allergy sites. I have several categories with which I shall endeavour to 'rate' the sites. I am then going to give them an overall rating of either 'Peanuts' (ie: not good) or 'NoPeanuts' (ie: allergy free!)
Here's how you can help ...
I would like to generate a list of sites that you either really, really like or else those that you believe should have no place in the cloud.
Please post your suggestions as a comment to this post or else email me (address is in my profile).
This week I had food poisoning. It is interesting how many small parallels there are between food poisoning and food allergy.
On Sunday I came down with a severe fever. It was out of nowhere and for almost 2 days I had a fever of 103 and could barely open my eyes due to the headaches. I recognized the symptoms as food poisoning based on prior experience.
It was surprisingly easy to locate the likely source of the food poisoning. Based on a review of a Canadian Food Inspection Agency site I isolated the likely culprit: campylobacter. This is a bacteria related illness that typically comes from raw poultry. The symptoms were exactly aligned with what I experienced.
The only thing I ate that my wife did not eat all weekend was a BBQ burger at an outdoor block party. I do recall that the young man working the grill had ground chicken burgers on one grill and burgers on the other. My guess is that he had two grills with one set of tongs.
Though this is not even close in severity to a lifelong food allergy, one interesting parallel will be the close attention I pay in future to how the block party burgers are being flipped. There will be an element of fear, even if small, and that is something that the food allergic are forced to deal with at every meal. In addition, similar to an allergy the serious reaction is attributed to a microscopic irritant whose source cannot be identified with 100% accuracy.
I am feeling much better on Day 5 of my ordeal but I am not out of the woods yet. It has been interesting to see the allergy parallels this time around.
