That’s the way I am with onions. I’ve lost count of the number of people who have tried to argue with me that there is no such thing as an onion allergy. Eating one, though, is like setting a bomb off in my digestive system.

Please don’t claim an allergy when it’s just a preference, no matter how strong your preference is. That is why servers have become so cavalier about them. Twenty years ago, when I was waiting tables, no one was cavalier about them, but faking them wasn’t a big thing then.

I’m comparatively lucky in that my bell pepper allergy only results in rapid and extended gastrointestinal evacuation rather than anaphylactic shock. That said, you have no idea how common it is for chefs to throw them in dishes without warning anyone. Why, no, my evening plans didn’t consist of anything beyond the…

Haha, right? I’m glad she wouldn’t douse something in tomato juice any longer, but she thinks I’m just being a dick on a power trip because I can’t have the burger bun? If you want my medical history, I’ll gladly give it, but trust that I am angrier than she is about me not being able to have gluten.

ex-bf talked for years about buying himself a bottle of Johnny Walker Blue. Years. When he finally did it, what did he do? Mixed it with Dr. Pepper. Ex for a reason.

I mean, did it SAY on the menu that there was peanut butter in the chili? I would never even consider that peanuts would be an ingredient in chili, so would not think to ask. I agree that people with serious/deadly allergies should make it known before ordering, but I also think that dishes that contain extremely…

I don’t have life-threatening allergies, but when I eat or touch a small number of things I break out in hives and start wheezing, my nose runs like crazy, my eyes stream for hours. The list sounds like I’m a whiny bitch: orange sweet potatoes, salmon and other pink fish, dates, agave, under ripe mango (latex in the…

Also, sometimes people with celiac say that they have a “gluten allergy” because they get tired of waiters looking at them like they grew another head for using a word they don’t know. It doesn’t mean I (or others) *don’t* have celiac, we’re just trying to self-preserve in the way people have generally best…

I saw this happen years ago when traveling. I stopped at either a Wendy’s or McDonald’s for lunch and the guy ahead of me was very clear he was allergic to tomatoes and needed his food made completely separately from tomatoes and not just pulled off his meal. He was kind of a dick about it but in hindsight he was just…

And decaf coffee! If you give me normal coffee I’ll get a horrible migraine and forget about whatever I planned on doing that day.

On the question of well-done steaks, I have to say I'm much, much more disturbed by rare hamburgers.

Colin, this is an excellent story, but I think you were remiss in not excoriating the living fuck out of the people who are the reason why so many servers assume that everyone is lying about their allergies.

My aunt refuses to eat steaks now. She’ll do burgers, but not steaks because she finds the taste of a well-done steak appalling.

We did at the last one I worked at, too. The cooks would bitch about it, but whenever we notified them we had a food allergy order they were serious as the grave about breaking the grill down and adding in a clean panel that could not have come into contact with any kind of shellfish As someone with allergies I hope…

along with allergies: sugar free requests. Like haha I’m gonna give this skinny bitch regular coke or whatever. No. Stop. Have you ever fucking heard of diabetes?

Someday I fear I will find out what it is I’m allergic to...There is something in Skittles, Snickers Bars and Liquid Smoke that makes my throat close up in exactly the same way, but damned if I can make the connection.

I used to work next door to a candy store that made both almond and peanut roca. They displayed them in big jars without labels. One day, I decided to give in to my sweet tooth, and asked for some of the almond kind, saying “Please be sure it is the almond, I have a peanut allergy.” They gave me their standard dirty…

Food allergies and food intolerances are two very different things. Like you said, people with lactose intolerance can eat some dairy products that have the lactose pre-digested by bacteria. But someone with a milk allergy will still react to dairy products because they’re not allergic to the sugars in milk, but the…

When I worked in food service, too many of my coworkers were incredibly and inexplicably angry at anyone who requested special caution due to allergies. Despite my explaining to them more times than I can count that “no, it might not kill them if the named ingredient brushes the food but you can’t be too careful…

The restaurant I worked at had an entire procedure for dealing with someone who had a good allergy. We had special menus that detailed how to order items to avoid allergens, thr kitchen paused to clean off a small area where their food would be prepared, it was served on special dishware and a manager always took it…