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Allergies and intolerances

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Where to go on holiday with nut/egg/mik allergy - maybe Turkey?

7 replies

cuppachar · 12/12/2008 14:19

DD (14 months) is allergic to peanuts, eggs and milk. We're trying to plan a holiday for April and considering Turkey - does anyone know if they use a lot of these ingredients?

Any other recommendations of places to go on holiday with an allergic child?

OP posts:
JuliaL · 12/12/2008 19:34

Quoted from www.turkishtravelplanner.com(author's own daughter had peanut allergy so he knows what he is talking about).

"Travelers allergic to peanuts do not usually have too difficult a time in Turkey because peanut is not a common ingredient in Turkish cuisine. Tree nuts (hazelnuts, walnuts, almonds, pistachios, pine nuts, etc.) are more common, but the dishes in which they appear are usually readily identifiable.

Peanuts (yer fistigi, YEHR fuhs-tuh-uh) are not actually nuts, they're legumes, pulses.

Peanuts are eaten in Turkey, but almost always as a snack; and there are so many other good natural snacks in Turkey such as hazelnuts, walnuts, pumpkin and sunflower seeds, dried fruits, chick peas, etc. that peanuts are not often preferred. So they're uncommon, and usually not found in Turkish cooking at all. (My daughter went to Turkey during her peanut-allergy-threat period, and I was rarely concerned in restaurants.)

Cooking oil is most often sunflower or olive oil, both of which Turkey produces in abundance. This doesn't mean there can't be peanut oil, but it would not be as common as peanut oil is in, say, the USA.

Chicken eggs (yumurta, YOO-moor-TAH) are not uncommon in Turkish cuisine, but they are not in everything. There are many dishes that do not contain eggs. If you are allergic to eggs, you should still be able to enjoy many types of Turkish food.

Most of the time you can see the eggs, as at breakfast (fried eggs, omelettes, hard-boiled eggs), and in such dishes as menemen (baked eggs with tomatoes).

However, eggs hidden in some dishes where you might not expect them. They are usually used as a binder when making köfte (lamb meatballs) of all varieties, whether grilled or in stews, so you should avoid any sort of Turkish meatballs.

Egg yolks are often used in soups such as wedding soup (dügün çorbasi).

Some Turkish desserts (sweets) use eggs, but not all.

Here are some phrases:

Yumurta var mi? (YOO-moor-tah VAHR muh), Are there [does it contain] eggs?

Yumurta alerjim var. (YOO-moor-TAH ah-lehr-ZHEEM vahr), I am allergic to eggs.

Yumurta yeyemem. (YOO-moor-TAH yee-YEH-mehm), I cannot eat eggs.

Turkey is not a "dairy country" like Holland or Denmark. Milk (süt) and milk products (süt ürünleri, such as peynir, cheese) play an important part in the Turkish diet, but they are not used in most foods.

Traditional Turkish bread is a sourdough loaf, and so far as I know does not contain milk or milk products.

I think the best thing to do would be to travel to an area where English is the predominant second language. (Some resorts attract mainly Brits, some mainly germans, some mainly Russians etc.) I belong to quite a few turkish forums, so if you have an idea of where you want to go, I can sound the area out with people who live there. From my experience, restaurants are often very happy to cook to order and used to 'mad British requirements'

Hope this helps

babybarrister · 15/12/2008 18:28

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

CoteDAzur · 09/01/2009 20:56

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

elsmummy · 24/01/2009 21:21

MY daughter is severely allergic to eggs and
we have been to Spain and Portugal with no
problem.
There is a company on the web called Kidsaware, you can but these little plastic cards, in different languages which you can show restaurant staff ( assuming you dont speak the lingo like us) informing them of the allergy and the seriousness of it, we found these a god send on holiday.

tatt · 24/01/2009 21:33

you could consider Malta - because English is widely spoken there.

With one peanut allergic child we've been to various places. We have sometimes had to leave restaurants where they didn't understand, even with a translation. In Cyprus we found a great restaurant and a small shop where the owner would remove anything I looked at that was unsafe before I finished checking the label . America was fine too. I wouldn't recommend Bulgaria as cheese is used a lot in cooking. You can avoid it but it limits your choice of food.

bee123 · 03/02/2009 01:16

Hi There,

We found out gradually that our son (3yrs) was allergic to peanuts, nuts, peas, beans, lentils, dogs and grass.

He has travelled to Mexico (All Inclusive - I wouldn't advise - everything cooked in peanut oil -nightmare), Bulgaria - (S/Catering, lovely people but not geared up for allergies) Majorca (S/Catering, it is a hit or miss -depends on restaurant you go to), Turkey (Antalya region,Oct'08 bit quieter but fantastic people, good for kids and great with allergies, first holiday abroad with no piriton given - sucess!)

I don't know if you would go for the option of Butlins - I visited Skegness on a budget holiday (had never been so did not have any expectations) not only did they have an action packed activity programme for the kids but all restaurants on site were geared up for allergies. To my amazement they had childcare facilities on-site with qualified nursery nurses who were epi-pen trained (maximum stay for child was two hours).

Hope this is of help.

xx

cuppachar · 05/02/2009 15:48

Thanks for all the replies. I only just happened to check back on this thread today - assumed it died back in December!

In the end we settled on Cyprus, so it's good to hear that you had good experiences there Tatt. We'll have self-catering facilities but hope to eat out as much as we can. Don't suppose the restaurant was anywhere in Vassilikos was it?

CoteDAzur / Bee123 - sounds from what you say as if Turkey is good for peanut allergy but less so for milk/egg. DD is likely to grow out of her milk/egg allergies so might save Turkey for the future....!

Thanks again everyone.

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