A Note On Food Allergies

As a PA, it is often your job to not only pick up lunch (and make sure you have the correct, complete order before leaving the restaurant) but to place the order over the phone.  It's also your job to stock the kitchen (writer's room kitchens are like gigantic vending machines) and wash the dishes.

Let's talk about ordering lunch for people with food allergies.

People who don't suffer from food allergies often think of allergy symptoms as itchy eyes or sneezing.  Food allergies are different.   Think of the food as poison to those who are allergic to it.  Food allergies kill people. 

I'm allergic to celery.  And avocado.  And spinach.  And tuna and salmon and blueberries... The list goes on.  If my club sandwich arrives with a slice of avocado on it or my salad arrives with a leaf of spinach in it and I spot it, I can simply pick it off.  If I miss it and accidentally eat the avocado or spinach, my lips will swell up, and for the rest of the day, I'll look like I just had collagen injections.  But I'll live.

If my salad dressing has celery or celery seed or celery salt in it, I will die.  If my chicken is marinated in chicken broth that was cooked with celery stock, I will die.  Within a matter of minutes, my throat will swell shut, and I will die.

If you're placing a lunch order for someone with food allergies, explain the severity of the situation to restaurant.  Don't just say, "Is there any celery in this salad?  Say, "The person I'm ordering this for is allergic to celery, so can you please check the ingredients in the salad dressing?  She's allergic to celery, celery salt, and celery seasoning.  If any of those ingredients are in the dressing, I need to order something else for her."

The fact is, shows tend to order from the same 10 restaurants over and over, and people tend to order the same meal over and over so by week four, you know which dishes the person can and can't eat.  I swear, I know the ingredients in every dish from every restaurant that delivers to Sunset Gower Studios. 

If you place an order for someone with allergies and realize you forgot to mention the allergy to the restaurant, TELL THEM.  They won't hate you, they'll love you.  It happens. When I was an assistant on According to Jim, our production coordinator was out of the office when we placed the lunch order, so I ordered for him.  He always ordered a Chinese chicken salad.  From every restaurant that had one.  So that's what I ordered for him.

He returned for lunch, opened his salad and said, "Does this have almonds on it?"  I said,  "I don't think so.  Who puts almonds in a Chinese chicken salad?"

Answer: This restaurant.  And he was allergic.  Thank god he took a closer look before taking a bite.  It was the day before his wedding.  If he had eaten the salad, he would have been married in a hospital.

Oops.

Let's talk about stocking the kitchen.

If a person in your office is allergic to peanuts, don't stock the kitchen with bags of peanuts and jars of peanut butter.  Unless, of course, it doesn't bother them.  Some people are "more allergic" than others.   My son, for instance, is allergic to peanuts, but has no reaction when others eat them in his presence.  As long as he doesn't shove a spoonful of peanut butter into his mouth, he's fine.  Other people can die simply from inhaling peanut dust.

I worked with a writer's assistant who was allergic to nuts, and some of the people in the office just refused to respect her allergy.  There were days when she had to leave the writers room and take a Benadryl to stop her allergic reaction.  Have you every tried to take notes while on Benadryl?

Be considerate.

Now let's talk about the doing the dishes. 

Make sure you thoroughly wash the dishes.  If someone sticks a knife into a jar of peanut butter and you return it to the drawer without thoroughly washing it,  someone with a peanut allergy may use it to cut an apple, and they could die. 

Why don't people with allergies just bring their lunch?   

Often times I do.  When I don't, I often call the restaurant myself and speak with chef before the PA places the order.  Until I get to know the PAs well, I don't like to burden them with my allergy issues; they have enough to worry about without the pressure of trying not to kill me.  But occasionally, I'll be stuck in the writer's room and we'll be ordering from a place I've never eaten, and I'll ask the PA to call for me.  (Thank you to Sam for always taking care of me on In Plain Sight.)

But the more important question is, why is it so hard for people to be patient with those suffering from allergies?  We're not being a pain in the ass.  We're not being picky.  It's a matter of life and death.

Thank you again to all the PAs I've worked with for not killing me.