It strikes me as deeply unfair that restaurants aren't required to provide allergen lists the way packaged foods are. Sure, theoretically I can just ask the restaurant staff because they're right there, but in practice they usually don't know.
I have had people be like "oh you can't have gluten? okay, you can't have this because there's milk in it." Bitch, milk is not gluten. If you don't know what gluten is I'm not gonna be mad, you can just admit it. 'I don't know' is an acceptable answer. Much more acceptable than blatant misinformation. What am I even supposed to do in this situation? If I say: "actually that's not what gluten is" then I sound liek a rude know-it-all. If I get up and walk out (whcih I should because clearly you are going to poison me via sheer ignorance) I look like a jerk. What am I meant to do with this? Begging people to just admit when they don't know things. I'll even explain it to you if you want.
I've also had people say: "oh there's no gluten on the menu except in the bread." They were very, very wrong. I cannot trust random people to know what they're talking about.
I know this will probably never happen in my lifetime but WHY can't we just have well-organized and defined allergen warnings on restaurant menus? I know it could be a significant amount of time and money for small businesses, but even if only chain restaurants were required to do it, it'd make my life so much easier. Some of them do have allergen menus, but many do not. Do you know how awkward it is to walk into a restaurant, ask if they have an allergen menu (because it's a big chain and they SHOULD) and then have to walk right back out because they said no? It's so embarrassing. Why am I embarrassed? They should be embarrassed that even with all their resources, they didn't make their business accessible!
