vinoroma

I have a deadly allergy, not your daughters, and live in rome and eating food outside is part of my job. From all my experience i can tell you: make your card in perfect italian. Make it list every item (not just "nuts" but what exactly those are, etc). If possible, have a second card (so as not to crowd the furst one) with details asking about certain possibilities.

Learn how things are made so you can be aware of pitfalls and ask the right questions. For example, my allergy is to mustard. But when i say that in italy, most people think only about the yellow condiment, which is rare in italy. They say no, there is no mustard in anything. But they are not thinking about the mayo, or the curry mix; i have to ask about these explicitly. And no one ever thinks further: a single restaurant was ever aware that mustard allergy means i can't eat vegetables from the brassica family.
And mistakes happen, so be prepared. In a restaurant where i am friends with every single employee and they all know my allergy, i was served a dish with a mustardy dressing bcs waiter didn't know the new dish had mustard in it and didn't communicate to kitchen it was for me. The chef saw through the kitchen window that the plate was served to me and practically jumped on me to snatch it away. I always look at my plate, think what might be wrong for me, and first just touch it to my lips if i am not sure and wait. And have my meds with me.

quokka

Any comments from native speakers on my translation attempt in post 1?

Listing the different types of nuts is surely good.


By the way, one thing you ought to remember in case anything happens, although we all hope you won't need it: The emergency number in all EU countries is 112. Grab the nearest phone, or ask someone around to do so, and call an emergency doctor - don't try to drive around and search for a hospital yourself.

mrsnikkik

Thank you all for your responses. She is allergic to 3 types of nuts, (cashews, pistachios, and macadamias). We decided it was easier to say all nuts as then we are sure to have less misunderstanding. She doesn't like any nuts as a result of her allergy anyway so it does not worry us for her to have none at all. In the picture that we will put with it we will use pictures of the specific nuts. The problem is if people think that it is only a couple of nuts that are a problem, they also assume the allergy is not as serious as peanut allergies (which gets lots of media attention) and that other products such as oils, pastes etc are ok and they often don't think to check those items for ingredients lists, (this has happened before).

Please rest assured that we don't blindly accept things at face value and are used to being quite careful and questioning with staff. We do also carry with us the medication needed if she does have a reaction. Thank you all for your concern and support, Nicole

vinoroma

I understand your saying "nuts" but the problem with the generalization is three fold: people don't always know what a nut is or isn't. So you might encounter someone who thinks peanuts are nuts and pistachios are not, and thus will tell you not to have the fried zucchini flower (bcs it is fried in peanut oil) but will bring you a dessert with pistachios (exagerated example to help see my point). And saying (or leading people to think) you are allergic to something when you are not creates greater dangers, for you and others after you ("she just ate the salad dressing with hazelnut oil and nothing happened, she is not allergic, just does not like it, so it is safe to serve her the pistachios on pasta" again, i am exagerating). Thirdly, one of the proposed words for nut, noci, is ambiguous and can be understood to mean walnuts only.
That is why i strongly suggest listing the individual nuts and also not taking anyone's word here and rather use one of the official allergy translation sites/cards. Saying this as a fellow allergic living in italy as well as someone in the food industry, fwiw.

Whathello

Just a remark :

Staff have to be trained : forget about that.
It goes about healt - or survival as it seems quite severe - of a child. Don't expect staff is well trained, don't assume anything : so if peanuts is important, add it to the translation.

Staff is NOT trained in restaurants. If they were with regards to these kind of aspects, my mother would still be alive.