Seafood allergies??

[Unleash Your Joy!]

Unleash Your Joy! I have a friend wants to walk the Camino, but she has a severe seafood allergy. She's not worried about avoiding the seafood, more the cross contamination when cooking on the grills, etc. Anyone have a similar experience, insights or suggestions?

 

[MTtoCamino]

When you arrive at the place you will stay for the night if they serve a pilgrim meal let them know right away. Or if you go to any restaurant.

She will need to make it clear in Spanish.

It is a scary concern if her allergies are bad enough to shut down her breathing or create hives.
Since many meals are shared she may find it safer to simply cook where available or get food from markets.
The folks at the alburgues simply don't have the ability to take into consideration everyone's allergies.
Buen Camino

 

[scruffy1]

Life in Spain and Portugal is evolving. Just a few years ago vegetarians were received with compassionate sympathy-poor souls, vegans could cause a waiter to faint away to the floor. Vegatable soup and lentils still contains meat and in the Springtime snails may have crawled into soups and salads. Seafood is a not that much of a problem, bacalao will not sneak into other dishes, sin atun is a m-u-s-t thing to remember for salads no tuna for you!, beware of tapas, grilled fish is hard to find from Logroño to Galicia. Shrimp, shellfish, and squid never slip in the back door. Self-catering is a good solution but do give the kitchen equipment a good scrub before using, you neer know how much wine the previous used consumed before the washup!

 

[Unleash Your Joy!]

Thanks for confirming what I suspected.

 

[SYates]

Ok, some of the native speakers might correct me, but do make her a laminated card to hand over wherever food is served that reads:

Tengo una alergia muy grave a mariscos + (add any other things allergic to) que me puede poner en peligro de vida. Estoy muy preocupada con el problema de contaminación cruzada. Por favor ayuda me usted a elegir algo que puedo comer sin problemas y que nunca ha estado en contacto con mariscos.

Buen Camino, SY

 

[amancio]

SSY, while your text is good, but they might not understand the whole concept of cross contamination in smaller old bars in the middle of nowhere. I would use a card like.

Tengo alergia MUY grave a los mariscos. No puedo comer mariscos, ni nada que haya estado cerca de mariscos en la cocina (sartenes, ollas, planchas, etc). GRACIAS

it is shorter, I find, I hope it works!

 

[SYates]

Perfect! SY

 

[amancio]

BTW, the above means roughly:

I have a VERY SEVERE allergy to seafood. I cannot eat seafood, nor anything else that might been near seafood in the kitchen (pots, pans, grills, etc...)

 

[mylifeonvacation]

A Celiac friend of mind had this type of laminated card explaining her allergy for a 2 week trip all around Spain and Portugal 9 years ago and had great luck with it. No contamination by wheat at all during the trip. Since then people have only become more and more aware of food allergies. From my travels in small towns along the English and Portuguese route (and other parts of Galicia), people working in bars/cafes/restaurants seem to be quite aware (I saw many signs referencing Celiac, specifically, posted on walls or in menus) so using the excellent wording suggestions above, I hope your friend gets along quite well. Buen Camino!

 

[MTtoCamino]

SSY, while your text is good, but they might not understand the whole concept of cross contamination in smaller old bars in the middle of nowhere. I would use a card like.

Tengo alergia MUY grave a los mariscos. No puedo comer mariscos, ni nada que haya estado cerca de mariscos en la cocina (sartenes, ollas, planchas, etc). GRACIAS

it is shorter, I find, I hope it works!

Wouldn't it be nice if there was a way to put this type of very valuable info into a thread I suppose searching topics works just as well.. I seem to be answering my own thought

 

[amancio]

Wouldn't it be nice if there was a way to put this type of very valuable info into a thread I suppose searching topics works just as well.. I seem to be answering my own thought

No problem on my side, if you need any linguistic assitance, I make a living on translating, will gladly be of any assistance to fellow pilgrims!