Tuesday, March 13, 2012
“Eating Out with Food Allergies”
Speakers: Allergist Michael Pistiner, MD and Paul Antico, AllergyEats.Com
7:00 p.m. at Newton-Wellesley Hospital. Free.
For info, call the Asthma & Allergy Foundation of America – New England Chapter at (781)444-7778.
Make Eating Out Less of a Challenge for Families with Food Allergies
Practical tips for eating out safely with food allergies will be the topic of the Metro-Boston Allergy and Asthma Educational Support Group meeting on Tuesday, March 13 at 7:00 p.m. at Newton-Wellesley Hospital. The program is free and open to the public. There will time for questions and discussion. Pre-registration is not required.
Allergist Michael Pistiner, MD and Paul Antico, CEO of AllergyEats.Com will discuss how to read a menu and ask the questions that need to be asked about ingredients, how to know when to leave or not eat something if it doesn’t seem completely safe, and more. “It is important to teach children to have the confidence to tell the waitstaff, manager or chef about their allergies, ask the right questions and make safe decisions when they eat away from home,” said Sharon Schumack, Director of Education for the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America, New England Chapter, which is sponsoring the meeting.
Dr. Pistiner, a resident of Newton, is a Pediatric Allergist at Harvard Vanguard Medical Associates, and author of Everyday Cool with Food Allergies, a book for parents and children to teach and communicate about living with food allergies. He is an instructor in Pediatrics at Children’s Hospital, Boston and runs a coping group there for children with food allergies.
Antico confronted the challenge of eating in restaurants with his own children, who have food allergies. He founded AllergyEats.com, a website designed to help people with food allergies find restaurants where they can comfortably dine.
Pistiner and Antico serve on a statewide committee overseeing the 2009 law that required Massachusetts restaurants to become more “food allergy friendly.” They are members of the Board of Directors of AAFA New England.
AAFA New England organizes educational support group programs throughout the region, publishes a newsletter, and runs a telephone resource and referral line for people coping with allergies and asthma. For more information, or a free copy of “Eating Out with Food Allergies” or checklists for managing food allergies in school and child care, call (781)444-7778 or see www.asthmaandallergies.org.