1. The invitation was to a Chinese buffet. This is probably a post for another day but Chinese restaurants are notorious for putting peanuts in main dishes and other unsuspecting places. So buffet or no buffet, this makes Chinese food an absolute "no no" for Tyler.
2. Even a "peanut free" dish might not be by the time it makes it to your child's plate. OK, we don't want to think about what all happens as people walk by our potential food but the possibilities are endless. A serving utensil that is in a "safe" dish might have been used in an "unsafe" dish by the funny looking guy two people ahead of you. Also, the crazy haired teenager that put a million peanuts on his hot fudge sundae might lean over a "safe" food and drop a few peanuts in without even realizing it. I'm sure there are other scary possibilities but these two are enough for me.
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In the end, I don't feel that buffets of any sort are safe for a child with a peanut allergy. I have to admit, I love Chinese buffets but the thought of what could happen to my PA kid is enough to make me loose my appetite.
3 comments:
Just last week, I ate at a buffet that I had taken my son to countless times. This time however, I saw things from a new light (we just learned a couple of weeks ago about my Little One's PA allergy). A woman used the orange tongs to grab some strawberries. All I could think of was the cross contamination for a person with citrus allergies. I sat back down at my table and told my friend that we would NEVER bring my Little One to this or any other buffet again! It was so eye opening that I could hardly enjoy my meal. It wasn't until later that I had read that others suggest to avoid these places as well!
First I want to thank you for your comments on my blog and for adding me to your list of links. I never thought to do that, so if you don't mind when I add links to my site I will add yours also.
As for the buffets, I admit, they didn't use to scare me. I usually thought if they didn't use peanut oil or make the desserts on site we were ok. That was until we went to a breakfast buffet and I asked my usual questions. I came to find out that pancakes which I thought would be fine were not. The chef didn't tell me why they weren't but it was a very eye opening experience for me.
My husband loves Chinese but he only gets it if my son is in bed and he doesn't get anything that actually has peanuts in it.
This allergy is definitely scary but as time goes on I'm sure we all will learn little tricks to keep our kids safe.
Oh gosh, the dreaded buffet! I also avoid those--just too much cross-contam risk there. Those pesky tongs could cause a problem, definitely. Thanks for pointing that out.
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