About Us

The Allergen Guide was borne out of a desire to log how well restaturants did when I mention my allergy to peanuts and nuts.

We'd go out to eat for good food and a good time, but often times I'd end worrying about if I would have to use my EpiPen and have a long and ambulance ride to a 4+ hour visit to the local hospital.

We would start by looking at the menu, hoping that there would be icons signifying allergens for the plates. If not, then hopefully a general ingredients list that showed the main ingredients (and thus maybe the nuts/peanuts??). Then I would notice something that throws everything off: One dish that has an icon indicating that it has peanuts (great!), but then on the next page, something that doesnt have that icon, but does list in in the ingredients (great for listing it; very upsetting that the icons are not accurate). That would make me question every icon on its accuracy. These inconcistencies lead us to worry about the meal and whether we are going to have to go on one of those odysseys to the hospital.

We would then, when ready, talk to the waiter to give our plates. We make sure to mention the allergies and if they could let us know if what I ordered has those or not. Sometimes you get a "I am not sure, but I will note it and let the chef know" (good). Sometimes a "Ummmmm, I don't think so?" (very bad). Sometimes a "yes that does/No it doesn't but I will still write it down and let the kitchen know" (great!).

It is even more reassuring when you go to a place that, when the food comes out, the food runner may say "Here is the nut allergy dish; you're good there", or even has a little sign that notes the allergy signifying that they knew to be extra safe with that one.

Making a website that helps people know which restaurants are giving their customers the best allergen experiences, I thought was something that was missing. There were so many of those times where the wait staff wouldn't seem to care or be taught what items were safe or not or to even just refer to the chef. Menu issues where even when there was effort into making allergens known, missing one or two places put that all in the trash because you just couldn't know which were accurate or not. I have found that this has made my experience eating great food even better and I hope it can help with many others' experiences as well!