Food Allergies and What (Not) to Do About Them

So many people deal with food allergies as well as dietary restrictions. Nuts, shellfish and gluten are a few common allergies. And diabetic, kosher and vegetarian are common dietary restrictions.

When planning your wedding menu you do not have to think of every possible allergy or restriction. Plan your menu to fit your needs/wants and your fiance’s. Of course if your family is kosher you may choose to have a kosher wedding instead of kosher meals for a specific amount of guests.

Every caterer will offer some vegetarian dish for a small percentage of guests who are vegetarian. You do not have to take a headcount ahead of time of who is and who isn’t. Your guests know their eating habits and will ask their waiter what the vegetarian option is. You will usually have a few options to choose from – a pasta or grilled vegetable plate.

If you know that some of your guests are kosher, you can ask your caterer to provide kosher meals for them.  If half of your guests are kosher you may want to hire a kosher caterer for the entire wedding instead of X amount of kosher and Y amount of non-kosher meals.

As for specific food allergies, like nuts and shellfish, guests with allergies will ask the waiter if these items are in the recipe and will either pull them out or ask for an alternative.

I know you want to please each and every guest, but it is virtually impossible to know every single guests' specific food needs. They’re adults and they know what will and won’t hurt them.