| I've just arrived back from a month backpacking the East coast of Australia and although I had the most incredible time, navigating my allergies throughout definitely added an extra level of complexity to the trip! This post is going to outline the highs and lows of my experience with allergies, with some tips and advice to help anyone wanting to travel with food allergies. | | Vegan ice cream parlour, The Green Edge Brisbane (see review further down!) | | | To begin, I have severe allergies to dairy, eggs, peanuts and sesame seeds. | | A classic backpacker lunch on the go! | | | Longhaul Flights + Domestic Flights Around Australia: | | I spent weeks researching which airlines I'd be safest flying with, particularly regarding my peanut allergy (which has sent me to hospital in the past from an airborne reaction). To my surprise, the majority of airlines had poor policies on allergies, with many refusing to make announcements and some even serving peanut-containing meals. As a general rule, I discovered that it is UK-based airlines which have the most reassuring peanut policies – I have always been able to request an announcement be made on any flight operated by a UK airline, and the likes of British Airways state to not serve any peanuts in their meals. Although BA was a strong contender for my flight to Aus, I ended up choosing to fly with United Airlines due to a cheaper price, and a layover in the USA instead of somewhere in Asia, in case I were to have issues with my transfer and be stuck in the country for some time. | | United Airlines will never serve peanuts on flights (although an almond snack was offered on one of my flights for anyone with a tree nut allergy). They also had a clear allergen policy, with flight attendants letting the passengers sitting nearby know about your allergy and checking if anyone was planning to eat peanuts during the flight. I was lucky to be on pretty empty flights each time, and the cabin crew let me know that it would be possible to move me if there were any passengers who wanted to eat peanuts near me. The crew on every one of my four flights were very understanding, although I did have a slight issue on my flight from LA to Sydney. The cabin crew forgot to let the passengers nearby know about my allergy (and I'd stupidly fallen asleep as soon as I sat down), and midway into the flight I saw that a passenger sitting near me had been eating a bag of snickers chocolates. I made sure to mention it to them, and to my relief he was so understanding and even insisted on throwing them all away (being an A&E doctor himself and understanding the severity of my allergy). This leads me to my first bit of advice, never be afraid to speak up and advocate for yourself! 99% of people will be willing to do anything they can to ensure your safety. | | In general, my flights with United were great and although I had to bring my own food, I arrived safely thanks to the great service provided by the cabin crew. | | Now, onto my domestic flights I took with JetStar (the most common Australian airline for domestic flights). My experience was definitely less positive on these flights. The airline did not serve any peanut-containing snacks, but stated that the cabin crew were not Epipen trained and would not do a tannoy announcement – instead, suggesting I should let the people sitting near me know myself. | | Australian supermarkets were very similar to those in the UK, with clear legislation on allergen labelling and many familiar brands. Here are a few differences I noticed, as well as some recommendations of safe products I found during my travels. | - Pasta – Many own-brands of pasta had a may contain egg warning on the packaging. All major supermarkets (Woolworths, Coles and Drakes) did stock the brand Barilla, which was safe for me (no egg, dairy or nut warnings) so this is definitely the main brand to look out for.
- Meats – it's definitely worth remaining vigilant when buying deli meats, or even uncooked meat in Australia. Many brands of ham & salami contained milk, as well as some uncooked bacon pieces which certainly caught me out at first.
- Sauces – I came across some great stir-in pasta sauces, some of which I've never been able to eat in England (photos attached below), but once again it is always worth double checking the ingredients for any hidden allergens.
- Spices – I bought a jar of chilli flakes from Coles, which to my surprise had a may contain sesame warning!
- Cereals – unfortunately Kellogs cereal, such as cornflakes (which are safe in the UK), had a may contain peanut warning which is definitely something to be aware of.
- Wine – although this will be true for wine across the world, I noticed many Australian wine brands contained milk or egg as a clarifying agent, and often this was noted in fine print and difficult to spot.
- Crisps – the equivalent of Walkers in Australia is a brand called Smiths. Every flavour except ready salted contained milk, the same could be said for many major crisp brands. The two safe brands that stood out to me were Pringles and Vege. Pringles in Australia (plain, salt and vinegar and barbeque) were completely safe for my allergies, with no may contain warnings unlike here in the UK. The brand Vege was present in all supermarkets, with a wide range of flavours (even cheese flavour?!) and were all top 12 allergen free.
- Bread – this was one of my biggest challenges in supermarkets. I did not come across any type of bread that didn't contain milk or sesame seeds, except for wraps and English muffins, so these are items to look out for. I would also recommend packing some pittas or bagels in your suitcase to help you get through the first few days of your trip.
| Grill'd was a restaurant much recommended to me for an allergy-safe meal. The staff were usually quite helpful, but often didn't make me feel 100% reassured at eating here – I initially struggled to get information about the type of oil they use etc. Grill'd does have a comprehensive allergen menu online, and after a very long chat with the staff I decided to give it a go. I went to Grill'd about 4 times during my trip, and I never had a bad experience. I always got chicken tenders and fries/ sweet potato fries (see photo below). | | I visited the restaurant Pisa Slice in Sydney to get a takeaway pizza to eat whilst watching the sunset over the Opera House! The staff at Pisa Slice were very knowledgable and even if they were surprised at someone ordering a pizza with no toppings – they did not make a fuss and ensured they could safely make this for me! | | Yo-Chi is a huge trend in Australia, it's a self-serve frozen yoghurt bar with many different flavours and a wide range of self-serve toppings. Yo-Chi has a vegan acai and a vegan chocolate flavour, both dispensed from a separate machine to the dairy-containing flavours. I did avoid all the toppings due to the self-serve aspect, I couldn't be certain that there was no cross-contamination. Nevertheless, it was such a treat to be able to have a safe soft serve and I'd definitely recommend paying Yo-Chi a visit! | | I took a day trip to Green Island in the Great Barrier Reef, I somehow managed to forget any food with me. Luckily, the Green Island Resort staff were incredible with my allergies. The chef in the restaurant came out to speak to me directly, and offered to cook some chips in a new fryer to avoid any cross contamination! He even made me a double portion of chips as he knew it was the only food I could eat. | | Australia really has the best coffee around! | | | In Brisbane, I came across The Green Edge; a vegan supermarket, deli, restaurant and ice cream parlour all in one. The staff were lovely and very knowledgeable on cross contamination with any dishes containing nuts. They helped advise me on what was safe for me to eat and we eventually agreed upon fried cauliflower bites, chips and Turkish bread (I had to have the GF option, which was slightly underwhelming sadly). Overall, the food was delicious and it was such a treat to be able to have a safe meal out. I finished the meal off with a scoop of their vegan biscoff ice cream (all of their ice creams are 100% vegan and they had no peanut-containing ice creams which really put me at ease). The supermarket attached was filled with many great vegan brands and meat-alternatives, if I'd had more space in my backpack I certainly would've bought half the shop! | | A big part of backpacking is staying in hostels. Although not always luxury, I did have a positive experience with staying in hostels in general. From an allergy perspective, hostels were certainly manageable; each has a large kitchen and lots of different equipment to use. The majority of backpackers were cooking meals each night to save money, so I really didn't feel like I was missing out by not having meals out during my trip. The one thing worth mentioning is the food hygiene. All equipment has to be washed up after using, but it seems some people were not very thorough with washing equipment up! For example, the photo below shows a pan in the cupboard at one of the hostels I stayed in – covered in egg after someone made an omelette. My biggest piece of advice would be to thoroughly wash up everything again before using it even if it looks clean as you never know what people have used it to make, or how well they've washed it up. | | 4 ingredient pancakes (recipe in a previous blog post!) | | | While travelling, its pretty difficult to bring items such as seasoning and sauces from one hostel to the next – meals often had to be pretty basic and flavourless to save money on rebuying items such as seasoning at every stop. I would recommend having space for a few essentials in your bag such as some salt, one seasoning (I had a cajun seasoning for meat/ fried vegetables), a small sauce or two and a spread such as marmite or honey for breakfast and lunch. It's worth scoping out supermarkets as soon as you arrive in the country to work out what will be your 'go to' items to buy. For me, that was English muffins, Barilla pasta, sweet chilli sauce and stir in pasta sauces. My meals were repetitive at times, but it was a real relief to be able to have a rotation of safe and nutritious meals (pasta, chicken wraps, stir frys, burgers and salads were my most common meals – requiring only a few cheap ingredients to make.) | | Although travelling with allergies certainly has its challenges, it is 100% possible as long as you plan carefully. I had the most incredible time and would encourage anyone with allergies to step outside of their comfort zone and say yes to the trip! If you have any questions about backpacking/ Australia with food allergies, don't hesitate to get in touch 🙂 | | | | |
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