We were out in town after school with our daughter the other day and decided to treat her to a meal at one of her favourite restaurants. She’s eleven years old and, if she had her way, her diet would consist entirely of junk food and ice cream. Anyway, she decided she wanted to eat at a well-known pizza chain (more for the availability of said ice cream and a variety of toppings!) Groaning internally we agreed…..
Now don’t get me wrong, I, like others, welcome the fact that these big
chains now provide gluten free pizzas so that I can feel ‘normal’ when eating
out, but I just don’t like eating that kind of factory made, processed food and
I particularly don’t like it for my children.
Unfortunately, my previous arguments of “mummy can’t eat there, so let’s
go to X restaurant instead, don’t stand up anymore!” I should have known better than to offer her
the decision making responsibility, but hey ho…… So, off we toddled.
Having eaten in this establishment a couple of times in the last few
months, I know that some of the toppings aren’t gluten free – or rather should
I say were “made in a factory blah blah blah.”
So, when our waiter came over, I asked him to check the toppings that
are gluten free. “All of them” he said
with confidence. “Can you please check,”
I said as I’m sure not all of them are….”
He duly went off to the Manager and came back brimming with even more
confidence and said “I’ve just checked with my Manager and definitely all of
the toppings are gluten free.” This is
when it gets awkward. I know that’s not
quite true, yet I don’t want to appear as if I’m being difficult, but I know
he’s wrong. At this point he tells me
he’s only just started, which is absolutely fine - we all have to start at some
point! So what do I do?……husband to the
rescue….! It’s so much easier to be more
assertive when it’s for someone else.
“Please can you check your ‘book’ as I know you have a full ingredients
list with allergens?”
So off goes the new guy again and I turn around to see him and the
manager discussing the matter at length.
Again he comes back and confirms that all toppings are gluten free. The Manager still has the ‘book’ in his hand,
so being very brave I get up and say “I’m really not being difficult, but it is
very important as I don’t want to be ill.”
And I check the ‘book’ with him.
Lo and behold there is a contamination risk associated with the ham
topping. I point that out to the Manager
and waiter and explain that the risk is too high and I would prefer not to have
something with ham on (shame as I was going to order a Hawaiian pizza!)
As it happens, I had a Cajun chicken. Sadly, I still had a dodgy tummy when I got home and two days later I was still feeling a little icky. I get very tired, short tempered and experience an overall feeling of lethargy when I’ve been exposed to gluten. Now therein lies the dilemma - deprive child from stuffing her face with pizza and ice cream for my sake; or just put up with it and make it my mission to try to train these establishments, so that they do not keep making the same basic mistakes……resolutely, I choose the latter.
New and temporary staff will always come and go, but the rules and
regulations that surround the delivery of allergen information - is here to
stay. Appropriate training materials and
systems are essential to keep your staff up to speed, keep the business
compliant and above all your customers happy.
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