KEEP YOUR PLATE

@cakerebecca has shared an 'allergy' experience with us that shocked her to her core, but she is concerned that lessons still haven't been learned.

"When I was a chef at a well-known health club, someone ordered a jacket potato with tuna but no mayonnaise. I was doing a stock-take at the time, so wasn't actively working or cooking.

I walked out into the bar area when the order was taken and saw it was from someone I knew who had an egg allergy. I returned to the kitchen as the food was being sent back to the kitchen because the tuna was mixed with mayonnaise (contains egg) with the request once again, please for NO MAYO!

I then saw the senior chef put on a glove and scoop the tuna mayo off the potato, and then plonk some plain tuna back on it, same potato, same glove!

I intervened and told the chef that I knew the person who had placed the order and if they ate this contaminated potato, they would end up in the hospital or worse. What followed was verbal abuse, but I stood my ground and even threatened to follow the food out of the kitchen and warn the person not to eat it. Eventually, the chef agreed to plate up a new jacket potato and plain tuna, which I watched closely as it was prepared.

I was severely reprimanded for my actions, even though I explained over and over again that I was only trying to protect someone I knew who had a food allergy. This was over ten years ago but in my experience, sadly many chefs still have not changed their negative attitude that people with food allergies are ‘just fussy’ and shouldn’t ever eat out.

It makes me super sad and I really hope the industry catches up one day."

Thank you @cakerebecca

This is a very real concern for anybody with food allergies who is sending a plate of food back to the kitchen because it contains their allergen(s).

We advise that if you have to return a plate of food for this reason, ALWAYS keep it with you until a new plate of food arrives and only let them take it back to the kitchen then.