Traveling to Europe with allergies?

[My4arrows]

We are hoping to go to Europe this summer as a family. Between us and our kids we have a couple with a gluten intolerance, two intolerant and one allergy to dairy, another to soy and an intolerance to rice. Any hope of being to eat without issue while in Europe? We will most likely be in France, Italy, Switzerland, Germany and perhaps a few other countries Inbetween as we travel. Any tips? I'm trying to prepare in advance.

[UCF612]

I would print up chef cards listing the allergies in both English and the language of the country.

[Monica_in_Switzerland]

I think you'll be fine if you choose restaurants carefully. Menus are always posted outside the restaurant, so you can look before going in. Some, but not all by any means, have allergy info marked.

 

Consider picnic lunches most days to make life easier. There are good GF DF options in most chain grocery stores. I can let you know what the Swiss brands are.

[MEmama]

No food allergies here, but we don't eat out much when we travel. We prefer to stay in apartments and cook for ourselves. You'll still need to know the local words of ingredients, but you won't be at the mercy of the restaurant.

 

I like the idea of chef cards for when you do have to eat out. You might consider printing (in each language, of course) why it's important. Also instructions to give to a hospital should you find yourself in that position.

[FriedClams]

I've been to a number of European cities fairly recently, and they've all been very allergy friendly. Almost every menu I'd seen hada breakdown of allergies listed on each item (GF, V, etc). It seemed very easy for someone with allergies to eat well and safely.

[Spryte]

Oh!  Have you seen this?  It just arrived in my inbox yesterday.  :)

 

http://allergicliving.com/2017/01/12/studying-abroad-with-food-allergies-dont-miss-this-incredible-experience/

 

FWIW, my DH spends a lot of time in Europe - we don't take our son who has multiple life threatening allergies.  So I don't have direct experience, because for us it's too risky.  We're actually more concerned about the flights to/from than managing things once on the ground.  Our son has had anaphylaxis due to a flight, so, yeh, our paranoia is justified.  :)

 

But DH has two colleagues with serious allergies - one with many, many allergies (DS calls her the Allergy Queen, she has so many), and another with a life-threatening peanut allergy.  Both of them live in Germany and manage to eat out safely both in Germany and on frequent business travel.  So it's doable.

[Penguin]

I think you will be OK. Based on my five years of living in Europe with a food allergy and dairy intolerance, I can say that EU food labels seem to note allergens. Of course, you have to know what to look for and not all packages have an English ingredients list.

 

Restaurants can be a bit of a minefield if you want to eat outside of your absolutely-safe list of foods, but they're a pain at home too, right?

 

 

[My4arrows]

This is all great info! Thanks! The last time we traveled to Europe it was without kids and allergies so I didn't need to think of this. Thankfully DH is able to speak German fluently so we wil be fine there and I'll take some of the suggestions in mind when planning our travels. Staying in a place we can make many of our own meals will definitely help, but I know since we will be out a lot we wil be at restaurants. Plus hey, it is vacation!

[My4arrows]

Oh! Have you seen this? It just arrived in my inbox yesterday. :)

 

http://allergicliving.com/2017/01/12/studying-abroad-with-food-allergies-dont-miss-this-incredible-experience/

 

FWIW, my DH spends a lot of time in Europe - we don't take our son who has multiple life threatening allergies. So I don't have direct experience, because for us it's too risky. We're actually more concerned about the flights to/from than managing things once on the ground. Our son has had anaphylaxis due to a flight, so, yeh, our paranoia is justified. :)

 

But DH has two colleagues with serious allergies - one with many, many allergies (DS calls her the Allergy Queen, she has so many), and another with a life-threatening peanut allergy. Both of them live in Germany and manage to eat out safely both in Germany and on frequent business travel. So it's doable.

Thank you for this! I briefly looked it over and it also has good suggestions! Thankfully our children, as far as we know, are not anaphylactic and don't have any airborne type of allergens. That would be very scary and I wouldn't be taking them either!