For most people, the hardest part about going out for dinner is deciding what you’re in the mood for. Italian? Chinese? Greek? Once you’ve figured that out, your family hops in the car, drives to the restaurant, and has an enjoyable, satisfying evening. There are millions, though, that face a little more difficulty when it comes to dining out.
Food allergies can be deadly, if the proper precaution is not taken. Dining out should be fun, not frightening. Paul Antico knows the scary side of eating at restaurants. Three of his five children have food allergies, which is what inspired him to found AllergyEats, a national guide to allergy-friendly restaurants.
Back in 2006, Antico wanted to take his two food-allergic sons out to dinner, since his wife was out of town with their daughter. “I decided to go to a restaurant where I knew the kids could have a safe meal. It was an hour and a half wait. We didn’t want to wait that long, so we went to another restaurant we’d been to, and they had an hour wait. We kept driving around, and it was my lack of confidence in my ability to go to any restaurant and make it work that was a problem. We ended up driving around for about two hours with the kids screaming in the back, and I just kept saying to myself, ‘I wish there was a darn guide.’”
In 2008, Antico took matters into his own hands and began working on the guide that was so desperately needed.
“Roughly 15 million people have food allergies, which is 4 to 5 percent of the population,” he says. “With younger children, it’s more like 6 to 8 percent. With intolerances, about 10 percent of the population would go to a restaurant with a special request. We’re talking more than 30 million people that may have a horrendous reaction to certain food products. AllergyEats really came out of a need from the community. No one was fulfilling that need, so we tried to put something together that would help the community and I think we did.”
Recently, AllergyEats worked with the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America, St. Louis Chapter (AAFASTL) to build a customized AllergyEats website, just for St. Louis.
“The St. Louis Chapter is the best food-allergy chapter and really well-run,” Antico says. “The people that work out there are spectacular and put in a ton of effort. They really put together a great program, a great organization, and I thought this made sense because our biggest challenge everyday is to reach these 15 to 30 million people with allergies. St. Louis is a great restaurant market, and I’m really proud of the site we put together for them.”
