Culinary Travel - An Extreme Sport for Food Allergy and Intolerance Sufferers
By Enomis GmbH
Dated: June 28, 2010
The summer holidays are upon us and it’s time to explore the world – but what if you have food allergies or intolerances?
Travel can be stressful for anybody, but for people who are affected by adverse food reactions, be it as an allergy or intolerance sufferer or as a parent, it can be especially daunting. Every bite can feel like a game of Russian roulette due to not knowing how the meal was prepared and exactly what it contains.
Thankfully the issue of food allergies and intolerances is gaining ground around the world, and so it should, food allergies alone are reported to affect 1-5% of the total world population according to EuroPrevall. This means that restaurants and hotels around the world are more willing to accommodate people with special dietary needs. For example the U.S. Department of Transportation recently considered introducing a total peanut ban on flights representing the growing recognition the topic has gained. Food manufacturers around the world have also grasped the importance of catering to people with food allergies if they want to stay ahead of their competitors. After a recent study in Australia found that almost 85–90% of childcare centers have at least one child with a documented food allergy, some food manufacturers responded by taking care to produce foods free from allergens and cross contamination. They recognized that even if the total number of people who suffer from food allergies might seem low, the ripple effect that an allergy can cause as they can affect whole families or schools is quite significant. Some countries are quite far ahead of others, take celiac disease for example; Britain and Italy prescribe or pay a stipend for gluten-free food, whereas in America this does not occur.
Many other examples can be found to depict how the cause of people who suffer from food allergies and intolerances is progressing around the world, but special care still needs to be taken when travelling nevertheless. There are four main ways sufferers cope with travelling: 1) By refusing to travel all together 2) Not eating out while travelling and preparing everything in a hotel 3) Attempting long and complicated explanations with restaurant staff who may or may not understand what is being said 4) Being well prepared and travelling with translated chef cards.
Chef cards are also known as restaurant cards or dietary cards and come in many different forms. Some people make their own cards by translating terms themselves or enlisting the help of the online community; others use premade ones that are available to print free online. The rest purchase professionally made cards, which are more precise, reliable and durable. It is generally not recommended to rely on Google Translate for such delicate matters as food allergies, so if you can afford it, it is best to leave it up to the professionals. One popular paid for chef card is the DELICARDO Foodcard, which is the most flexible option on the market due to its configurability, multiple allergies and intolerances can be combined onto one card online, and availability in various languages. Whatever chef card option you choose, they will undoubtedly make your culinary travel experience more pleasurable and less of an extreme sport.
Visit http://www.delicardo.de/eng for more details.
###
Enomis GmbH is the producer of the lifestyle product Delicardo Foodcards - A product for people who are on the go but suffer from food allergies or intolerances or have special health related diets.