Travel, Travel!

This week will be my first trip to Belgium!  I am excited to travel to a place where language shouldn't be a barrier.  I plan to spend the majority of my time in Bruges, which I hear is spectacular! 

These are my two substantial Belgian cuisine desires:

-I will be able to eat a Belgian waffle
-I will be able to find nut free, pure Belgian chocolate to eat

I have no idea what I will find as far as eating with my allergies, but I hope to not miss out on everything this country is known for (since I am already unable to have the mussels, a Bruges specialty).

In preparation for my trip, I will organize plenty of extra medicines (including Epi-pens, Benedryl, and inhalers).  I will also make sure to have all health paperwork accounted for in my travel folder, as well as the emergency numbers.  I also learned earlier this year the importance here of making sure that my phone has plenty of money on it (most phones here are pre-pay), so in case of an emergency, I have enough money to call my allergist and family in the U.S.  I also make sure that I have appropriate chef cards in the country language (for Belgium it will be English and French).

Besides that, I should be ready to go!  Now I just need to figure out what clothes to pack... :)

Out for Birthday Dinner!

Last night it was one of my friend's birthdays.  I had never been to the restaurant before.  She told me that it was an Osteria, where the food would be regional Italian cuisine.  I was also told that there wouldn't be a menu, because it changed daily, depending on what fresh ingredients they bought to cook that day.  I told her that if I couldn't eat anything, I would just enjoy the company and eat later (my usual back-up plan in case I can't eat).  Here in Italy it is difficult to call ahead of time, and since the style of this restaurant would not have been conducive to this anyway, I decided it would be a dining adventure.

Before going out, I made sure to eat something small, just in case they couldn't accommodate my allergies.  The restaurant was authentic and tastfully decorated.  The server told us what the food choices were that evening for each of the three dinner courses.  I gave the server my Chef Card, and asked in Italian if she could find out what I would be able to eat that night.

When the server came back to the table, she was able to advice me on exactly which dishes would be safe with my food allergies.  Although there were fish dishes and salads with nuts, they were happy to accommodate me, and careful to figure out what I would be safe eating. 

Another successful dinner out in Italia!

My New Chef Card & Medic Alert Bracelet

A few months before I left for Italy, I brought my old chef card from when I went to Italy with my family, to show my Italian tutor. I wanted to make sure it was as accurate as possible, and was updated with anything that may have changed since I made it a few years ago.

When I showed it to her, and explained all of my allergies, there were lots of changes that she wanted to make. We went through everything, adding what was on the Italian allergy website, and adding all of her suggestions of foods she knew contained an allergen. We also rewarded the message, then added a back to it that listed foods that a restaurant could prepare for me, if nothing was on the menu. I felt very confident and relieved about my new chef card!

This is the front of the card with a message to the chef and all of my allergies.

This is the back of the card with the foods that I can eat.

I made copies of my chef card and laminated it. It is bigger than my English card that I use in the U.S., but it can still fit in my purse easily, which is what's important! I also have one in French. I may try to make some more in Spanish, as well as in some of the other languages of places I may travel.

If you need help making a card in a language you don't know, you can also order them from selectwisely.com. I ordered one in Turkish from them. It is not detailed like the one I made, but if you really need one and have no idea of the language, it can be very helpful! They also put pictures on the card, which I think is definitely useful! There are also a few other ones I have not tried yet, dietarycard.com, which is a UK-based company and allergytranslation.com, which seems to have a more detailed approach.

My Italian Medic Alert bracelet is also working out well. Luckily it hasn't been put into use though! It has all of my anaphylactic allergies and asthma on the inside with the regular Medic Alert symbol on top.