Shellfish Allergy
 

My wife is extremely allergic to shellifish and we will be in Rome and Tuscany, Italy in June. Does anyone have suggestions on where to eat that may not have any shellfish on the menu? The biggest issue is cross contamination so simply staying away from ordering shellfish is not good enough. We are looking for places to eat that may not have any shellfish on their menu. Thanks for the help.

In Rome you could eat in a kosher restaurant in the Jewish Ghetto - many are highly recommended and they wouldn't have the potential for cross contamination

In Tuscany it was our experience that unless you were very near the coast the menus were meat based....90 kilometres from the coast we asked about fish for lunch and the waiter said "where would we get it"? (and meant it!)

Elizabeth_S's solution is brilliant. Shellfish is not kosher so there is no way that a kosher restaurant would have any chance of cross contamination. Just make sure that the restaurant is really a kosher one. It should be noted on the window. Just because it is in the Jewish Ghetto area is not enough - look for the sign.

Research some vegetarian restaurants. In Rome, there is a vegetarian restaurant on Via Margutta, which is situated between the Piazza del Popolo and the Spanish Steps. It is well known, so you should have no trouble finding it. I do not recall any fish being listed on the menu.

For a severe shellfish allergy, my other suggestion is to carry an EPI pen and Benedryl with you at all times.

And, lastly, many thanks to Elizabeth_S for her recommendation. It is indeed brilliant!

This seems to be the most recent thread on shellfish allergy that's tagged with "Italy". Well, it's a year old.

But I thought I'd add the text of a card I plan to carry in Sicily this September, for my wife Margie. I just checked the wording with my Italian teacher this morning. I tried to keep it relatively simple. It translates to:

"I am allergic to crustaceans (lobster, shrimp, crabs, etc.) and shellfish (mollusks: mussels, clams, squid, oysters, etc.)

I should also avoid food with extracts or broths of crustaceans or mollusks, or food prepared with utensils which have touched crustaceans or mollusks. - Thank you."

The text in Italian is:

Sono allergica ai crostacei (aragoste, gamberi, granchi, ecc.) ed ai frutti di mare (molluschi: cozze, vongole, calamari, ostriche, ecc.).

Devo anche evitare cibo con estratti o brodi di crostacei o molluschi, e cibo preparato con utensili che hanno toccato crostacei o molluschi. - Grazie

I've used cards like this in the past in French and Spanish. I wanted to post it here in case it's of help to anyone. Margie does carry an epi-pen. We've never been questioned when carrying it on board a plane. We once carried a second epi-pen in checked luggage, but later discarded it when we realized it had probably frozen in transit.

- Larry