I have noticed a huge increase the last few years of customers who ask for a gluten-free meals. This is what Wikipedia says: A gluten-free diet is a diet completely free of ingredients derived from gluten-containing cereals: wheat (including kamut and spelt), barley, rye, and triticale, as well as the use of gluten as a food additive in the form of a flavoring, stabilizing or thickening agent. It is recommended amongst other things in the treatment of coeliac disease, non-coeliac gluten intolerance, dermatitis herpetiformis, migraines, Lyme disease and wheat allergy. Additionally, the diet may exclude oats. Some people for whom the diet is recommended can tolerate oat products and some medical practitioners say they may be permitted,but there is some controversy about including them in a gluten-free diet because studies on the subject are incomplete. Even if oats are included, it is important to source these from a facility that is gluten-free, as most oats are contaminated during processing. Look for oats which are certified gluten-free if you are following a gluten-free diet.
Does that sound a little confusing to you? It does to me! I am not looking to make anyone sick. What I like to do whenever I am unsure about a food allergy, is to go walk out to the dining room and talk to the customer. I hope that this makes them understand how important I feel their situation is. I don’t want it to be translated through a server or another manager. I want them to speak directly to me, so no little detail is over looked. The first thing I always do is reassure them that I personally will do whatever it takes to make sure that they can relax and enjoy their dining experience. Too many chefs act like an expert (god forbid they admit to not knowing everything) when they are confronted with a customer about their allergy. I want them to free comfortable and I ask a lot of questions. The last thing I want them to feel is that they should bless themselves and hope that the level of motivation in the kitchen is at a weekly high! Lol.
First, I ask them what are you allergic to and what do you eat at home? This is the time to listen closely. This is where I am building their menu in my head. This is no place to act like a big shot and act like you know everything. If it was your child who had a serious allergy, would you feel 100% confident if their food allergy just got passed on back to the kitchen? I wouldn’t! I want to talk to the chef. There has been numerous times when a customer asked me about a nut allergy in a cookie for example. I would immediately go in the back and ask the pastry chef. Better yet I bring them out with me to speak with the guest. It is all about the little details, I could have just run in the back and asked but it is more professional to bring out the pastry chef so they can also reassure the guest. We don’t want to leave out any small details. I will never tell them what they can eat if I am not completely sure, it is best to avoid it. I hope that we can make them feel relaxed so they can enjoy their dining experience. I hope this helped.
Bill
