Would you have eaten the pudding?

[NoSourDough]

I have celiac disease and just a few crumbs of gluten will cause at lease 3 weeks of damage and illness for me, so eating out means I have to be very careful.

I’m on holiday in a UK destination, gone to a hotel restaurant, made it clear I have celiac disease, asked for the gluten free menu.

Main course, all is well.

Pudding time, I ask for a gluten free Sticky Toffee Pudding. DH asks for a normal one but with vegan ice cream (he is lactose intolerant).

A different waitress brings both puddings out, both in the same coloured bowls and is temporarily perplexed with regard to which one has the vegan ice cream.

i make it clear that one should be gluten free. She disappears and comes back and gives me the one that she says is gluten free.

We start eating, DH tastes his and says his ice creams tastes normal and not vegan.

i have a mouthful of pudding and spit it out - fearing that I’ve actually got the gluten pudding.

I decide not to eat mine as I cannot take the risk.

When waitress returns, I explain my dilemma, that I cannot take the risk and I want the pudding taken off the bill.

I couldn’t believe her reaction. She spoke to her manager, and said “it was 100% gluten free” with such an attitude and as I went to answer, she walked off.

They did take off the pudding on the bill but it was the fact they didn’t take it seriously and that it felt I was making a fuss about nothing. Why they didn’t put the food in separate coloured bowls or flag it is beyond me.

i did want to speak to the manager but it was mayhem outside in reception and I just wanted to leave. I will be leaving a review online.

YANBU and I’m surprised they’d be so cavalier about it given the various high-profile cases of people dying after accidentally being served food they are allergic to.

I don’t think people realise that gluten can make people very ill.

I don’t know. She didn’t guess, she went back and double checked and then handed you the gluten free one that you ordered. There’s no evidence yours wasn’t GF or your DH’s ice cream wasn’t vegan. And they took it off the bill even though they served you what you ordered and you got scared to risk it (despite knowing it would look v similar and there was a mix up risk when you ordered it!). What more could they have done?

True we did order the same pudding and questioned our choice after but I’ve been in establishments where they stick a little flag in the food that has the allergy avoidance. The risk is just too great for me, I would need time off work for at least a week after that amount of gluten.

No. I wouldn't have eaten it if the person serving had seemed "temporarily perplexed" about which was which.

It was too important to risk and the fact they left that chance of error would have completely lost my confidence.

Yanbu but ive never been anywhere that has a gluten and non gluten version of sticky toffee pudding

Me neither! I was so desperate for it….was gutted that I couldn’t eat it.

Does the "but" mean you are calling OP a liar? That's what the but does in that sentence. Otherwise it's a complete non sequitur.

If the bowls were the same colour and the puddings looked similar, how could they possibly have confirmed that it was the 'right' one? The waitress could have picked them up, swapped them around, put the wrong one down....it's impossible.

If it was a dietary preference and no harm done, I'd agree. But if it's a true health condition, you just can't take the risk.

Not sure about this one. You’ve based your decision on the fact that your husband thinks his ice cream was dairy? Did he eat it? Did he react to it if he did? I feel a bit sorry for restaurants having to provide 2 different flags to mark which pudding contains which allergen.

I don't blame you at all. I'd probably have also avoided it and I only have a gluten intolerance not celiac!

I don't know why anyone is disagreeing with you on this one. It's a huge act of trust to eat out with allergies and the restaurant had already shown themselves to be untrustworthy.

Would love to know how you feel about people with nut allergies then.

despite knowing it would look v similar and there was a mix up risk when you ordered it!)

nah cobblers
its on the staff to make sure the food is right. In my experience gluten free food tends to be brought out separately & often has a little flag or stick in it so you can easily tell it’s different

It was your decision not to eat the GF pudding you ordered, you should still have paid for it. Your DH could have had a bit so as not to waste it.

Yes exactly that!

Too risky to eat it. Obviously really bad practice in the kitchen - i wouldn't eat anything from there as I couldn't trust their staff to bother about allergens.

But, you know, it's a really easy thing to do. Because the chef will have had to make sure there was no cross-contamination with the gluten brownie. Signing the puddings some way, either by different coloured dishes that were explained to the waitress, or with a flag, is really very, very basic catering.

If HSA heard about this, that establishment would be in big trouble.

It was their responsibility to get it right though…not mine to eat it. Why should I pay for something that they messed up?

https://www.ikrafts.co.uk/product/250-x-printed-wooden-food-marker-skewers?print_design=6411&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=22442137641&gbraid=0AAAAADrN0JJ8khNOvj2ita36v19cEwXvh&gclid=CjwKCAjwkvbEBhApEiwAKUz6-1frLRDbMpar5Oj3DLlm7pFxMHf5v3NT5af0OwVIlrYjENRHyql3ZxoCHakQAvD_BwE]]

They're literally 1 penny each. I think that can be absorbed by the menu price.

YANBU. We went out for a work dinner the other week and in my team we have two serious allergies so I’m always a bit on edge taking them out to a place that wasn’t their choice. They were both taken very seriously and everything they ordered came with an ‘allergy aware’ flag in it reassuring us that their meals had been paid attention to.

Also, if they are providing for guests with coeliacs, they should have different food prep areas anyway, to avoid cross-contamination.

I wouldn't have eaten it either.

No way would i risk being I'll for a week for politeness.

Serving food that can get mixed up in the same crockery with no way to distinguish seems like a very casual attitude to their food.

Coeliac disease is NOT an allergy. It's an autoimmune disease. I am one and no I wouldn't have eaten it.

I choose to avoid gluten. Im intolerant not coeliac. I would not have eaten it either

Totally get why you didn’t risk it, but that’s not a reason for a bad review without evidence they cocked up the allergen order. They could’ve flagged the one they thought was GF and it would be the same situation!