Speaking German
How to tell a restaurant about a food allergy, in German
If you are in the chair right now
Ich bin allergisch gegen Nüsse. Könnten Sie bitte in der Küche nachfragen?
I'm allergic to nuts. Could you please check with the kitchen?
If that gets brushed off
Das ist eine echte Allergie. Ich kann nichts essen, wo Nüsse drin sind.
It's a real allergy. I can't eat anything with nuts in it.
The preposition is gegen — allergisch gegen Nüsse — and learners reach for auf or zu first. Say Allergie, not Unverträglichkeit, if it is one: German kitchens treat the first as a legal matter and the second as a preference. Swap the food freely: Erdnüsse, Meeresfrüchte, Gluten, Laktose, Eier.
Every phrasebook has the word for allergy. What they skip is the machinery Germany already built for you: a legally required allergen list behind every menu, usually hiding as little letters in the footnotes, and a kitchen culture that takes the word Allergie as a process, not a remark.
If you need more than one line
softest
Können Sie mir sagen, was in diesem Gericht ist?
Can you tell me what's in this dish? The gentle opener.
neutral
Ich bin allergisch gegen Erdnüsse.
I'm allergic to peanuts. Gegen plus accusative — the pattern to keep.
neutral
Könnten Sie bitte in der Küche nachfragen?
Could you please ask in the kitchen? Nachfragen — to go and check — is the question that actually protects you.
firmest
Wenn es drin ist, nehme ich lieber etwas anderes.
If it's in there, I'd rather have something else. Gives them an easy way to say yes.
Two things worth knowing
The word for allergy is the easy part.
The menu already confesses — read the footnotes
EU rules make German restaurants declare fourteen allergens in writing, and the standard trick is footnote letters next to each dish, decoded somewhere at the back — die Allergenkennzeichnung. «Haben Sie eine Allergenliste?» produces the actual document. It is the strongest move available, and no phrasebook has ever mentioned it.
Allergie is a process, Unverträglichkeit is a remark
Say Allergie and a German kitchen shifts into a protocol: separate pans, a manager, sometimes a flat refusal to risk it — which is exactly what you want. Say Unverträglichkeit and you have expressed a preference. Both are honest words; choose the one that matches your medical reality, and add «eine echte Allergie» if it is serious.
What Anna actually said
What you have to get done
- Say what you can't eat
- Ask what's in a dish
- Ask them to check with the kitchen
Anna
Good evening — would you like to order, or do you need another moment?
You
Good evening, I'd like to order, but I have a severe nut allergy and absolutely must not eat any.
Anna
Thank you for that important information. Which dish would you like to order?
You
I'd like the dish of the day — could you please check whether it contains nuts or traces of them?
Anna
I'll ask in the kitchen right away and won't bring the dish until it's confirmed safe.
The whole conversation, unedited
A real run in the app, nothing scripted on the waiter's side. The transcript above is taken from this recording, and the objectives tick off on screen as they are met.
Turn sound on to hear it.
Now say it yourself
Reading that is not the same as producing it with someone waiting, which is the entire difficulty. You can have this exact conversation in the app: Anna is a third of the way through, and you have three things to get done.
It is free, it takes about a minute to start, and the first attempt is allowed to be terrible.
Practise this conversation
