France with allergies to dairy and egg

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I've been traveling to France for years myself and handling my own (life threatening) nut allergy without issue, both in shops and in restaurants. I've generally had really good experiences and been well looked after by waiting staff.

DD (2) has allergies to milk and egg. Thankfully they do not seem to be life threatening but bad enough that I need to take any measures I can to avoid a reaction.

We had a lovely holiday in France last year but I took most provisions with us and when we did eat in restaurants for meals I took food for DD as she was still a baby really. She had a bit of my steak one day and reacted (butter I presume).

We are off to Northern France tomorrow. This year I would like DD to be more involved in the meals out (for one thing she's less likely to be asleep during meals this year!). Obviously when choosing her food I will go for options least likely to be laden with dairy and egg but I do know that French chefs like cooking with butter. My French is good enough that I can make myself understood re our various allergies (though I need to practise my pronunciation of 'oeuf'!)

Does anyone have any particular advice for ordering for DD in restaurants or any dishes that might have hidden egg that I might not have considered?

Also, I won't be able to take chilled products with us so easily this year as it'll be 24 hours between leaving home and arriving at our destination. Do the larger supermarkets stock dairy free spread and yoghurt?

Thanks in advance for any thoughts...

I found even smaller carrefour supermarkets had a free from section with oat, almond, coconut and soya milk but I could only find soya yoghurt.

I'd translate and save a note on your phone of the phrase 'my child is allergic to dairy and egg. Please can you make sure there is no milk, butter or cheese in her food'

DS has outgrown his egg allergy but not the dairy one, and we find pasta a good option for him.

Thanks. That's useful to know about smaller Carrefour shops having some dairy free products. There's a decent sized Super U where we're staying so that will be my first port of call but if we fail there we'll head to Carrefour.

Wait what. You’ve been to France for years, you speak French and ask this? Bit confused. Read the food information (labels…). All there. EU regulation etc… Supermarkets sell dairy free products. Even in a restaurant; it’s not that hard: ask. If you want your meat cooked in oil , ask (most will oblige- within reason off course; e.g: wouldn't ask for a dairy free variety of endive au jambon since that probably will be quite difficult). It’s really not that different.

I think it depends on where you go. Big cities are better than rural areas. Our big supermarket has a good range of free from items - often with the organic range (bio). There are also quite a few organic shops (like biocoop) which are good for that sort of thing.

I think restaurants are harder. You should be OK if you are ordering something that doesn't normally have dairy but as you say assume any meat has been cooked in butter. Rural France just doesn't do allergies in the same way as the UK. It is hard enough finding a restaurant with a vegetarian option without adding allergies to the mix.

Just like here the range of milk alternatives has multiplied hugely in the last few years. E. Leclerc and Intermarché had the biggest selection. I didn’t find oat milk anywhere though.
Soya yoghurt and desserts are easy to find almost anywhere and a good choice of flavours.
I was delighted to discover marble and chocolate cake which contained no milk. They did have amay contain milk warning though, so watch out for this. There was many different brands of them and they also came in handy individually packed mini-cakes. We stuck with the same dairy free biscuits as last year LU La Barquette, available everywhere.
France has the same allergen labelling laws as the UK (and across the EU). This means that the top 14 allergens must be highlighted in some way in the ingredients listing.

Thank you for the helpful info. It's really useful to know before I go that dairy free yoghurt etc. will be easy to get hold of.

Thanks for your incredulity Molteni. I'm very used to how the conversation might go in a restaurant re a nut allergy but dairy and egg are different because they are far more often used in dishes but may not be obvious. Although I always ask in restaurants it's useful to have a starting point of knowing what's likely to be an issue, especially because I myself am a pain in the backside as a diner. It's a lot for busy waiting staff to have to go through my allergies then DD's as well. I just want to make it as easy as possible.

It was from reading on forums that I learned that using a generic word to cover all types of nuts doesn't really work in France so it's useful to ask people in the know about the dairy/egg issue in case anything crops up that hasn't occurred to me.

my child is allergic to dairy and egg. Please can you make sure there is no milk, butter or cheese in her food'

Ma fille a une allérgie contre les produits laitiers et les œufs. C’est assez sévère donc pourriez vous bien vérifier qu’il n’y a même pas de beurre, ni du crème, dans la sauce ni dans la poêle du cuisson. Merci beaucoup