Speaking Italian
How to tell a restaurant about a food allergy, in Italian
If you are in the chair right now
Sono allergico ai frutti di mare. Può controllare in cucina?
I'm allergic to shellfish. Could you check with the kitchen?
If that gets brushed off
È un'allergia seria. Non posso mangiare niente che li contenga.
It's a serious allergy. I can't eat anything containing them.
Allergico if you are a man, allergica if you are a woman — the adjective agrees with you. Use Lei with a waiter you don't know: «può», not «puoi». And say allergia, not intolleranza, if it is one — in Italy the second word has been worn soft by fashion.
Italy talks about food intolerances the way other countries talk about the weather, and that is exactly your problem: say the wrong word and your medical condition joins a national conversation about bloating. The right word, and the right follow-up question, put you in a different category entirely.
If you need more than one line
softest
Cosa c'è in questo piatto?
What's in this dish? «C'è / ci sono … dentro» is the everyday shape for what something contains.
neutral
Sono allergica alle arachidi.
I'm allergic to peanuts. Swap in: alle noci, al glutine, al lattosio, alle uova.
neutral
Può chiedere in cucina, per favore?
Could you ask in the kitchen, please? The question that actually protects you.
firmest
Se c'è, prendo qualcos'altro.
If it's in there, I'll have something else. Gives them an easy way to say yes.
Two things worth knowing
The word for allergy is the easy part.
Intolleranza has been worn soft
Italy is saturated with intolleranze — half the country claims one, menus wink at them, and kitchens have learned to hear the word as a lifestyle note. An allergia is different: it is a medical claim with a protocol behind it. If yours can put you in a hospital, say allergia, add seria, and let the agreeing adjective — allergico, allergica — do its small grammatical work.
Ask for the check, and know the list exists
«Può controllare in cucina?» asks for an act, not a memory, and a busy waiter answers the two questions very differently. Italian restaurants are also covered by the EU's fourteen-allergen rule — la lista degli allergeni is legally somewhere on or behind the menu, and «avete la lista degli allergeni?» produces it. Between the kitchen and the list, you are covered twice.
What Giulia actually said
What you have to get done
- Say what foods you can't eat
- Ask what's in a dish
- Have them confirm with the kitchen
Giulia
Good evening — have you decided, or would you like another moment?
You
Yes, thanks — but I need one clarification, because I'm severely allergic to peanuts; could you check with the kitchen that the dish is completely free of them?
Giulia
Thank you for telling me: which dish would you like checked?
You
I'd like to check the seafood risotto: could you ask the kitchen whether it contains peanuts or any traces, please?
Giulia
Of course, I'll ask the kitchen right away and won't serve the risotto until I have a definite answer.
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: Giulia 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
