Food Trends in 2012

Each year I scan the list from the Restaurant Association of the anticipated food trends for the following year. This year, I am pleased to see that nutritional food for kids is expected to be a high priority in restaurants. Not only that, but gluten-free and food allergy conscious food ranked in the top 20 trends.

Making it easier to eat in restaurants with food allergies! Now that's on my Christmas list. Here are a few other resources for eating out with food allergies:

AllergyEats
Allerdine
Fast Food Ingredients 
Chef Card Templates

Food Allergies and Universal Studios Florida

We've known that Walt Disney World is great when it comes to dealing with food allergies. I wasn't sure about the other Orlando area parks.

Recently our family went to Universal Studios Orlando with dairy, egg, peanut, tree nut and shellfish allergies. I contacted Universal by e-mail before we went and I got both a voice mail and e-mail response. Each messages assured me that the chefs and managers at the Universal parks, City Walk and Universal hotels were well-equipped to handle food allergy concerns. I was told that eating at a full-service restaurant where we can talk to the chef directly might be our best choice.

So, how did we make out, you ask? Very successfully, I'm happy to report.

• We had lunch at Bubba Gump Shrinp Co. on Universal's City Walk We spoke to our server and then the manager about food allergies. They brought out packages for us to read labels and talked to us about preparation. They communicated with the chef throughout. My son had a burger, jell-o and orange wedges. He had to pass on the fries as they are fried with shellfish items.
• We had dinner at the Buger King Whopper Bar on CityWalk at Universal Studios. We knew Whoppers were safe, so I just confirmed their cooking practices and ingredients and informed the staff of the food allergies.
• We had a wonderful lunch poolside at our Universal hotel, Loew's Royal Pacific. The chef and manager talked to us, along with our server. The chef said he could make anything from scratch for our food allergic son and would use a separate kitchen to ensure there was no cross-contamination. He chose chicken tenders and french fries. Both were freshly made and served in a huge quantity. We all picked off my son's plate. It was fun for his menu choice to be the favorite.

Universal made this an easy vacation for us. I only brought snacks for our two days there and our family was really able to practice talking to the right people and making sure that everyone understood what we needed. This was a good lesson for my food allergic tween who will need to manage his allergies at restaurants on his own in the coming years.

Great job Universal Studios Orlando!

Enjoy Life Cookies for the Holidays

Believe me, I know it's tough to bake your traditional holiday cookies while needing safe choices for family members with food allergies. Fortunately, Enjoy Life just made holiday baking easier. We recently sampled their new crunchy cookies, which are free of the top 8 allergens. The great news? No one else would ever guess that these cookies do not contain wheat, eggs, dairy, soy, or nuts.

The best part? They are really yummy! My family was partial to the chocolate chip, although I really liked the double chocolate. The sugar cookies and honey grahams would be great for the holidays- a little frosting and some sprinkles on top.

Years ago when our family had to avoid wheat, baking was the biggest challenge. I made some pretty awful wheat-free cookies, cakes and brownies. I was able to find substitutes for dairy, eggs and soy, and I could just avoid peanuts and tree nuts. Substituting wheat flour was a whole new area of baking. While items and options have vastly improved during recent years, there is still a science to baking without wheat. We also have many more options when it comes to allergy-friendly packaged foods. Enjoy Life has filled this niche very successfully.

If you're looking for a delicious cookie to serve at home or to take to a holiday party, these cookies will just blend in with other holiday treats. They are also a great option for classroom parties where there may be multiple allergies among a group of children.

Trust me, no one will realize that these cookies are special- unless you tell them. You can find all four flavors of Enjoy Life's new crunchy cookies at many grocery and natural food stores. Go to their site for some money-saving coupons.