My son is heading to Europe - dealing with food allergies

[Wyliee]

Hey all,

My son will be leaving for a band (orchestra) tour of Europe in a few days.  He'll be in England, France, Italy, Germany, Switzerland and Austria over the next few weeks.  This is part of a larger WA state group.

He is allergic to eggs and anything made with eggs even if it is just an egg wash.  It doesn't matter if it is the whites or yolks only.  If he eats them, he'll be spending the rest of an unpleasant day near a restroom.

We've encouraged him to try the local food.  Some meals will be at the hotels they are staying at, but they are responsible for their own meals while sight seeing.  Over the years he's gotten pretty good at cooking and has a decent grip how many foods are prepared, but he's not going to know much about regional foods.

For those of you currently living in the listed countries or if you've spent much time there, are there common foods that are made with eggs he should watch out for?  How well versed are the wait staff in food preparation/ingredients in your countries?  US staff can bit hit or miss in their knowledge and how willing they are to find out for sure.

 

[JCizzle]

I've lived in or visited most of those countries and while I don't have any allergies, I know people who do and have visited and eaten there. My advice to your son would be to learn how to at least say "I'm allergic to eggs" in the local languages, although all those countries are English-friendly. Also, it seems like recently they have been keen to include allergy stuff on the menus, which is a plus. I was with a girl in Russia recently and she was able to tell the staff about her allergies and they were cool about it, so if they can do it in St. Petersburg, the westernized countries should be fine.

 

[riverbluff]

Of the countries you listed,I would pay the most attention in France and Italy, they seem to use more eggs, in France you will often see egg on pizza. . Germany, Austria and Switzerland have a lot of potato, and meats.

England should be easy because there is no real language barrier.

Hope he enjoys his trip.  Where will he be going in Germany?  You never know they may be performing near me.

Bill

 

[Wyliee]

Thanks for the info.  In Germany, he'll be in Rothenburg and will be playing at the Franziskanerkirche on the 23rd of July.

 

[toronado]

Typical German sides containing eggs are Spätzle (a specialty from Southern Germany, made by boiling small lumps of dough made from flour and eggs) or Semmelknödl (bread dumplings). I'd expect that on a lot of dishes.
Kartoffelknödel however (potatoe dumplings) are without eggs!
Freshly made (=homemade) pasta also contains eggs most of the time.


The German expression that he is allergic to eggs is:

"Ich bin allergisch gegen Eier und Eiprodukte (Eigelb und Eiweiß)."

Maybe just print that out, just in case no one speaks English.

But usually, the service here is quite good and up to date regarding food allergies and how to deal properly with it.