Nut Allergies and traveling Paris

"Has anyone with severe tree nut/peanut/lupin/sunflower oil allergies successfully traveled and ate around Paris?"
Of course people have. One of them is my brother who speaks no French and who has a tree nut allergy and traveled with me to Paris a few years ago. He had no problems getting things to eat. He had a card that explained his allergy in French that he handed to every waiter or cashier. He is not allergic to peanuts, sunflowers, or lupin so I do not know if that would have made it more difficult. Have you looked at https://www.spokin.com/paris-food-allergy-friendly-travel-guide? I think we went to one bakery that suggested that we get pastries elsewhere during a one-week trip but that was it.

Well not nut, but avoiding gluten was quite manageable. I would even say that it was often easier to navigate than in my health-conscious home city.

Menus were frequently labeled, servers helpful when asked for assistance, and several bakeries and hotel breakfasts had marked gluten free options. This was all over France by the way. In Paris we even found a great g free pizza place near the Eiffel tower.

I recommend researching the most common way to say nut allergy in French, and determining if there are any standard symbols or words for packaged goods just to be extra safe, but I suspect you will have no problem.

Sunflower oil allergy might be very challenging. It's possibly the most common type of cooking oil here, either on its own or blended with canola and others.
There is good awareness of what an allergy is and what it entails, but I am not sure that many places would be able to accommodate that one.

Nut allergies seem more common and are well understood; they worry me less.

Thank you all for your help

Since almost 10 years, information on allergens contained in dishes and foodstuffs has been mandatory in restaurants in France.

If it's not clearly stated on the menu, ask the waiter.

For pre-packaged meals or food products, the information must be mentioned on the packaging.

Here is the official list of allergens that must be reported:

• Cereals containing gluten and products based on these cereals (oats, wheat, spelt, barley, kamut).
• Shellfish and shellfish-based products.
• Eggs and egg products.
• Fish and fish products
• Peanuts and peanut products.
• Soy and soy products.
• Milk and milk-based products.
• Nuts.
• Celery and celery products.
• Mustard and mustard products.
• Sesame seeds and sesame seed products.
• Sulfur dioxide and sulphites.
• Lupine and lupine products.

I am allergic (not severely) to tree nuts, peanuts, and chickpeas. I've had wonderful dinners at the Grand Colbert and at Brasserie du Louvre without issues. Desserts are trickier and I wouldn't eat crepes because of the risk of cross contamination with Nutella. Good luck!

On numerous trips to France I’ve had great success with the printed card method mentioned above. I have several food allergies and sensitivities including a severe allergy to tree nuts, especially hazelnuts, a very popular ingredient in French cuisine. I’ve learned to be diligent in knowing the French words for all of my allergies, reading labels and communicating with servers. I’ve found servers and kitchen staff take my concerns very seriously. After showing the card on one occasion, to be on the safe side, the waiter brought a bottle of oil out of the kitchen to show me the label - it was not nut oil, however it was sunflower oil. So I’m thinking that sunflower oil may be a challenge.

One other area of concern is cross-contamination so, I never eat at a creperie where Nutella is one of the options - so basically - all creperies. : (

Because Nutella is so common in France and looks the same as regular chocolate (yes, I ate some by accident once, immediately spit it out and took some Benadryl) to be safest, I just don’t eat chocolate or anything with chocolate in it. Gelato places where they use the same scoop for all flavors are also a no-go.

I don’t have any particular recommendations for restaurants. Since we tend to spend multiple days in one place, once we find a restaurant that “works,” we may return there several times during our stay and become temporary regulars. I also have my epi-pen and several doses of chewable benadryl with me at all times.

Have a safe trip!