Meals out can be fraught with worry when you have a serious food allergy or coeliac disease, but all that is set to change thanks to a new website.
Reviews of venues which avoid the top 14 allergens in their menus and demonstrate an exceptional approach to protecting their customers are just one aspect of the Allergy Companions website, the brainchild of mother of two, Liljia Polo-Richards. The female entrepreneur has a close connection with Birmingham, as she and her husband both spent 4 years studying at the University of Birmingham and has worked in the city ever since. On the face of it, the idea and concept behind the website is simple – the website, however, is set to become an innovative technology tool to help monitor performance of restaurants from an allergy and training perspective.
“My genuine hope is that Allergy Companions can bring the allergy community and food businesses together, so we can all improve the lives of those living with food allergies, intolerances and coeliac disease”, she said.
Using her blog post on the website, Mrs. Polo-Richards also aims to further awareness and create a more inclusive environment for adults and children like her four-year-old son, Francesco, who was diagnosed with a serious nut allergy when he was only 13 months old.
“Francesco is a sweet and caring child, with a heart of gold and many loving people in his life. I do not want him to grow up in a world where he feels different and excluded, simply because he has a food allergy,” she said following a children’s venue party where everyone tucked into cake and treats while her son was given sandwiches and fruit.
“There are options available to people with allergies, so why not change the narrative, and make food safe for everyone, not simply for one person? Nobody wants to sit at the allergy table, so let’s make that dining table a little bit bigger and a little bit more inclusive”, said Mrs. Polo-Richards.
Since launch, Allergy Companions has received some incredible feedback from the allergy community, with one parent saying “thank you for introducing me to the website – we hadn’t been out for a family meal before last weekend as we were too nervous about people getting frustrated with us checking everything on the menu for allergens…after seeing some of the reviews on the website we gave it a shot they were brilliant and we all had a great time! Without knowing they had an allergy menu I don’t think we would have gone out so thanks”.
The idea for the website was born when the family was served a chicken dish covered in hazelnuts at a well-recommended gastropub in North Norfolk. Although Liljia had expressly said to the restaurant at booking point, before their meal and on the day of the booking that no food should be served with nuts, the restaurant still made a huge mistake, which thankfully was spotted immediately. Not only the experience was distressing for us, as parents, it also highlighted the potential danger that Francesco could be facing growing up. We wanted to use this negative experience to start a positive adventure that would help so many people.
Francesco isn’t alone with data showing that over 2,000,000 people in the UK are affected by a food allergy and over 650,000 suffer from coeliac disease.
The Allergy Companions website provides a single platform for people to leave reviews about allergy friendly restaurants in cities, towns and villages across the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland offering a range of cuisines that cater to different dietary requirements.
“We wish something like this had been around when Francesco was diagnosed because we wouldn’t have felt quite so isolated. It now allows us to suggest good places to meet friends that cater for everyone,” said Mrs Polo-Richards.
