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Comment by cosmodisk | Hacker News Reader

Our daughter is allergic to a few things,nuts being one of them. When we ask for food information at restaurants, often staff have no clue. We had cases where they couldn't confirm for sure even after checking with the kitchen( we walked away).

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I'm sorry, but why would you expect someone to know all of the food ingredients on the menu - even if they work there - if they don't personally prepare all of the foods? Heck, in the US, most of the places aren't even paying their staff a decent wage.

Servers go by the menu as well. It isn't like there is a list most places.

If the owners cared about your allergies, they'd make sure their staff could find out easily. Blame the folks that own the place, not the servers.

I didn't read GP as blaming servers so much as demonstrating what is effectively systemic ignorance in the restaurant industry. The inability to 100% confirm ingredients is highlighted as not only being due to servers not knowing the exact contents of all meals (which is understandable), but also the fact that those who prepare and cook the meals as also being uncertain.

The problem is a large portion of the food in restaurants is not prepared in the restaurant. If you order a burger meal, yes the meat is cooked on the grill at the restaurant, but the buns, and any sauce were likely made somewhere else. They might purchase the meat pre-seasoned from the food distributor. And the french fries likely even have a seasoning pre-applied to them before they are delivered to the restaurant.

But that makes it easier for the restaurant!

You have the ingredients on a package to check. The head chef can do it while constructing the recipe. And you can explicitly order gluten free substitutes that stay in the freezer until needed.

Does that make it acceptable? Its like if a dev blames a library for a bug in their product that they are charging money for.

There are some places that are much better about this than others. I remember in Europe several of the restaurants had _books_ containing all the potential ingredients and cross-allergens for each dish. I distinctly remember Wagamama's in London pulling one out and double-checking it due to my spouse's eggplant allergy. Sadly it removed most of the menu that we were excited to eat, but it was damn impressive.

In many countries, the restaurants are expected to know allergens by law. Each food on the menu is supposed to have list of allergens available. Usually they are available right there in the menu, you do not even have to ask.

> Heck, in the US, most of the places aren't even paying their staff a decent wage.

Getting > 20% of the total revenue in a restaurant seems like a pretty good deal though. I doubt most servers would prefer getting the 2-3x Federal minimum wage and no tips.

And in some states like CA, WA, NYC it’s a (relatively) very well paid job.

I don't expect people to know every single item on the menu and all the ingredients they are made of. What I do expect is if a meal is made in a restaurant, the restaurant ( as a whole) to know whether it contains milk, soya,nuts, bananas, whatever. We have fairly strict regulations when it comes to this, but how they are actually applied is a completely different thing.

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