severe peanut allergy and travelling to Israel?

tinker-belle

Fri, Jun 22 2012, 2:10 pm

Hi. My 3 year old has anaphylaxis to peanuts (went into anaphylactic shock once upon ingestion & had 3 mild airborne reactions as well).

However, we hope to travel to Israel in about a year for my other son's bar mitzvah, but are unsure if we can do it safely.

Are there any simple restaurants (I.e.- pizza stores) and bakeries that are completely nut free? If I get a place with a kitchen to make his meals, can I trust Israel labels?

For our last son, we traveled all over Israel- eating where-ever, family, masada hostel, between the arches (for his bar mitzvah breakfast), Deck's on the kineret. Does anybody have any advice about traveling in Israel with severe allergies?

TIA!

amother

Fri, Jun 22 2012, 2:14 pm

my sister travelled this past year and has a son with peanut allergies I can ask her.. I think they had family there so they didn't have to eat out much except when they went on trips.. So it was different but I will Bli Neder ask.

amother

Fri, Jun 22 2012, 4:52 pm

The problem we found when we traveled recently is that for the most part, restaurants are very nervous about the whole issue (I think someone had a reaction in a restaurant in the past year or so and that scared them all). Many places told us it wasn't worth the risk for my daughter to eat there. Then, if a restaurant said it was OK, we were nervous that maybe they did not understand. She had a tough time with it all and we stuck to a few English speaking places that seemed to "get it" - Holy Bagel, pizza places (she had the soup there also for variety), Deli/Schnitzel/Burger places (be careful they don't cut your sandwich with a knife that was near the pesto). We did not find any bakeries that we could trust for anything other than plain bread, we had brought cookies with us so she wouldn't feel "deprived".

Good luck and please report back what you find.

shnitzel

Fri, Jun 22 2012, 5:49 pm

DH has a nut allergy.

The key to asking about nuts, which are everywhere and allergies are not well understood, is that you have to say "if he eats nuts he dies" otherwise you get blank looks. Any time we are not taken seriously over an allergy that is the approach to go with. Pizza places are generally ok but I wouldn't get any baked goods anywhere which is a rule we stick to all the tie anyways.

tinker-belle

Wed, Jul 11 2012, 7:38 pm

Thanks for your replies. Any info is helpful. We don't mind getting a place with a kitchen- I just wasn't sure how labeling works in Israel and if I could trust it.
My middle son really wants to be able to go to Decks the way we did for his other brother's bar mitzvah, but I'm soooooooooo nervous for my 3 year old.
We also did his bar mitzvah breakfast at 'between the arches' after he leined at the kotel- I have no idea what to do/if a brunch of some sort would even be possible this time around.

I don't mind making my own sandwiches- but even here in NJ- we only use one specific type of bread, plus we are spoiled with our amazing nut free bakery (how would we get challah there). We really hope we can safely find a way to travel there as not to let down my son--- but obviously the little one's safety comes first.

All insight is appreciated. Thanks!

tinker-belle

Wed, Jul 11 2012, 7:40 pm

amother wrote:

Thank you! That would be great!

OutATowner

Wed, Jul 11 2012, 8:05 pm

I don't mean to make you crazy, but it's not just restaurants and bakeries- the #1 sack there is Babma, 49% peanuts. It's all over the playgrounds, the buses, pretty much anywhere a kid would be. It's very rare for an Israeli to have a peanut allergy. I'm sure you have the necessary equipment in case something cv"s happens, but you will always have to be on guard.

shalhevet

Thu, Jul 12 2012, 7:48 am

PM Marion.

Also, if anything, I think they are over-cautious on the labelling. They are very strict and you might find there is not much you can buy because so much is labelled as containing peanuts.

If you are ordering a catered meal for the BM I'm sure you could speak to them first and they would make sure the food there was peanut-free.

The main issue is that there is less awareness here, because BH peanut allergies are very rare here (and mainly among children of Anglos when they do exist). But of course they do exist. About challa, I would call the large bakeries (Angel, Bermans) and ask them straight out.

Mommy3.5

Sun, Jul 15 2012, 10:27 am

Shalhevet, Isreali labeling standards are bad, very bad. To the point that I have banned all Israeli imports from my house . 9/10 my kids react to them, the labels are just wrong. Ps, I am a mother to a kid with severe allergies to Peanuts, nuts, sesame, dairy and egg. Isreali food scares me.

Unless your hebrew is VERY good, you should not be relying on it in the case of Label reading. Find someone who can guide you to safe products. Do not do it yourself.

Ruchel

Sun, Jul 15 2012, 10:48 am

I have a problem with MSG (migraines).
Unfortunately, just because it is not listed on an Israeli product, doesn't mean it is not there. BTDT too many times. But if it's written "no MSG", I trust.
In restaurants, I do NOT trust "oh we don't have MSG". They don't even always KNOW what it is, and tell you what you want to hear or think you're finicky. So for something dangerous like a severe allergy, I would maybe even bring my own food.

Shal is right that allergies (% of population, whether it's risky or just annoying, etc) vary by countries, for some reason.

Tamiri

Sun, Jul 15 2012, 10:58 am

Personally, if I had a child with such allergies, I would not trust any restaurant nor would I trust labels. Peanut allergies, as Shalhevet wrote, aren't prevalent here in Israel and there is much less awareness than in the U.S. Plus, as another poster wrote, Bamba is EVERYWHERE. Is your DD allergic to peanut dust in the air? Touching something that was touched with "Bamba hands"? I would be very, very wary.
And with regards to Deks: don't they put peanuts as a garnish on some Chinese dishes?

Marion

Sun, Jul 15 2012, 12:22 pm

Israeli labels are NOT reliable, unfortunately. They are either overzealous ("may contain traces of" or "manufactured in a facility which also processes") or not specific enough. Misrad haBriut (Ministry of Health) requires allergen labelling, but I've seen products (mostly cereal) with no nut ingredients listed that clearly state that they contain peanuts (or almonds, or walnuts, or ...).

The GOOD news, is that not everything is off limits! For chocolate spread, there's a brand called "haShachar"...the tub with the YELLOW cover is produced in a completely nut free facility. Stock up and use it for treats. Most tea biscuits ("petit beurre") have a nut warning on them, but I've never had issues with any of the brands. I'm advised by others that Osem is the most reliable...and least likely to be a problem.

Stay away from bakeries...cross contamination is a huge issue. If you'll have access to baking facilities, you can purchase frozen bourekas in the freezer section of most grocery stores and bake them yourself; none of the frozen bourekas have known issues. (We're talking potato, cheese, pizza, sweet potato, mushroom, spinach bourekas; they don't manufacture sweet/dessert/cinnamon bun type bourekas.)

Feel free to PM me and I'll tell you more; I can't put it all here!

tinker-belle

Mon, Jul 16 2012, 7:52 pm

Thanks for all the input. I definitely will pm you Marion, thank you!

No ds, isn't allergic to sesame b'ah, and is only allergic to peanuts; but our dr. told us to avoid tree nuts too because of the risk of cross contamination.

He did have minor airborne reactions to 'dusty' food (peanuts in shells)- he started coughing, but it stopped as soon as I left the room with him.
If we were to go, we would get a place with a kitchen to make our own food (if I can trust the labels).

Trying to figure all this out before we have to make our decision (in about half a year). Thank you so much!

amother

Mon, Jul 16 2012, 8:03 pm

You really can't trust anyone with something this scary. When dh was in Yeshiva, he ate a salad whose bowl had not been rinsed as well as it should have and he was in a coma in Israel.

Then, years later, when we were living there, we went and got a salad and even though we specified no nuts, there was a HUGE nut right on the plate.