My kid is deathly allergic to tree nuts- this would include nut oils- French speakers- what is a polite and easy-to-learn phrase that he can memorize to convey this to a waitperson? My French is pretty lousy- I'm coming up with stuff like "dessolee- pas de nuts s'il vous plait- je suis allergique." This seems lame even to moi.
Thanks- Sara P

I just read somewhere that the word 'nut' means specifically hazelnut, and all the other nuts have their own unique names...so don't know if there is a proper French word encompassing all nuts.
But at least my nearly non-helpful post will push yours to the top so a French-speaking person can give you a phrase to write down to show the waiter.

I believe that <i>noix</i> is both the generic term and the one referring to walnuts. Hazelnuts are <i>noisettes</i>.

&quot;nut&quot; isn't a French word. However, there are specific words for various kinds of nuts -- hazelnut is noisette; noix alone generally means walnut, cashew is noix de cajou, peanut is cacahuet, etc. But, although noix is used for walnut, it is also used for nut in general, I think. I don't know of any other term for all nuts.

I would say something like &quot;il est (or je suis) allergique aux tous types de noix&quot; or something like that, simply put. Or &quot;Je suis allergique aux noix et &agrave; leurs d&eacute;riv&eacute;s&quot;.

To what Christina said, I would add

<i>if this is a matter of life and death (e.g. anaphylactic shock), I would not trust my grasp of the language to it, nor that of strangers on the internet. I would pay a native French translator to formulate the announcement, and I would print it on a laminated card to present to the wait staff so that there is not the slightest ambiguity or misunderstanding.</i>

One generic term for &quot;nuts&quot; in French is &quot;les fruits secs&quot; -- noix, noisettes, pistaches, amandes, noix de cajou, pignons de pin (pine nuts). Peanuts (cacahu&egrave;tes) are included in the category.

To sbparadis :

Bonsoir,

I think that, as Robespierre has said, I'd carry everywhere a paper on which I'd have copied and pasted a message like the following one in CAPITAL LETTERS and would show it to the waiters before ordering my meal/any food. (And once the waiter has read the paper, one can simply say : &quot;je suis allergique aux noix&quot Even if you don't pronounce &quot;noix&quot; correctly, the waiter will have understood what you are allergic to thanks to the paper :

S'IL VOUS PLA&Icirc;T, PAS DE NOIX D'AUCUNE SORTE, NI D'HUILE DE NOIX, NI D'ALIMENTS OU PLATS EN CONTENANT. JE SUIS ALLERGIQUE AUX NOIX ET RISQUE DE FAIRE UN CHOC ANAPHYLACTIQUE SI JE MANGE DES NOIX...

Of course, your son must always carry the syringe with the product he needs to avoid the anaphylactic shock in case he accidentally eats somehting containing nuts, mustn't he ? Our nephew has always it &quot;on him&quot; (sur lui), it's very easy to use and he knows he just have to inject anywhere on his thigh, no matter how he proceeds... Cordialement. Marie

Sorry for the typo in &quot;something&quot;...

I posted this site earlier....and apparently it has been helpful to some others on various travel boards.

http://www.selectwisely.com/select%5Fwisely/

They provide exact translations on laminated cards.

Patricia

wow- thanks so much. this is JUST what I needed.

Ce site est super, Patricia ! Merci ! Marie

Sara P,
So glad you brought this up! We have the same problem (tree nut)plus a peanut allergy. Went to Austria last summer &amp; I had a German teacher write out on a card what to say. Patricia - thanks for the info about the preprinted cards!