Talking Allergies

Still on a hunt for a bakery in Vancouver or the lower mainland that may have a bakery to facilitate those of us with nut allergies!
NONE!
Unbelievable.
In a city this size, there is nothing. Zip, Zilch! Nada!
I have contacted small establishments to the larger well known ones!
Either they dont get what I am trying to request, where there may be a language barrier, or the concept of cross contamination is little to not recognised!
The larger bakeries ofcourse cannot gurantee that cross contamination may, or may not occur!
I even contacted the Culinary Institute....same answer!
It will be almost a year since I was dignosed with this peanut/tree nut allergy!
When mom visited from Toronto in May she brought me a gorgeous cake from Katies Cakes which ofcourse she carried with her on-board!
Mom is coming to Vancouver for the delivery of my first baby in Oct and now I dont think she can carry a cake on the plane with all these new restrictions in place!
All I want for my birthday is a frosted cake!
And NOT one that is home made!
I make great cakes, but I am so tired of my own cooking/baking!
I miss those days when I could go out and buy and eat whatever I wanted@!
Sorry, i know I am venting!
I even e-mailed the Canadian Air safety/aviation authority yesterday to see if carrying a b-day cake on the plance would be permitted!
They probably had one helluva laugh at my expense, even though in my email I explained that I had a nut allergy and was unable to purchase any cakes in thie city!
No word back from them yet@
AGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!~!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I keep telling my DH that there is a market out here that is waiting to be tapped into!
Afterall, if no such bakery/deli/ gellato shop exists here, I should be the first one to go for it!

I am going to post this and walk away from the computer now!!!!!

You'll never belive this, but in my last post I mentioned having written to Canadian Air Traffic, and Security Services re mom bringing me a B-Day cake from Toronto....
Well, I received a call this morning at 0849 confirming that they were following on my email.
And, theoretically since a cake is considered to be a "solid",a dn since other solids such as peanut butter sandwiches( bad example on her part, since I am PA) are permitted on the plane, therefore she does not expect there to be any issues.
I have asked her to send me an email as well, so mom can carry the hard copy with her incase if she does encounter any problems.
So far, no email from this lady and unfortunately she took me by surpirse and I did not catch her name! But, I am hoping she will follow through with it!
Lets see!
S

I just found out about a peanut/nut free bakery in the Durham region (Ajax actually)
http://www.frostines.com/index.html

I haven't been to it or called, but I also saw on their website that they offer "create a cupcake" party. Cute - assuming the only allergens being avoided are nuts/peanuts.

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4ye old DD allergic to sesame, peanut, raw egg , and mulitple environmental & seasonal allergies

2 yr old DS -no known allergies!

I checked out Frostine's website and noticed that they have cakes/cupcakes with coconut. Because we all know how hard it can be to find commercially processed coconut without a "may contain peanuts / nuts" warning, I sent them off an email just under a week ago asking if they check with their suppliers of raw ingredients about the possibility of cross-contam. with peanuts / nuts (with the coconut given as an example) and I haven't yet received a response from them. I'll post if I hear anything...

Keep us posted ethansmom. Did anyone else notice the photo of the candied apples in the press info section? Are those nuts?

The newspaper article also mentions a German Chocolate cupcake "which comes covered with coconut-pecan caramel frosting." The menu does not have the word "pecan" after "coconut" so maybe they changed this??

I wish the website had more allergy info on it. To me, it's not enough to say you are "Durham Region's First 100% Peanut /Nut Free Baking Facility" unless you back it up with some sort of explanation that shows the consumer that you are allergy aware and know exactly what a statement like that means.

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15-year-old son: peanuts, nuts, raw egg whites, asthmatic
Self: allergic rhinitis, fragrance/chemical sensitivities, oral allergy syndrome

I wondered about those caramel apples too. I totally missed the "coconut-pecan" frosting bit in the article but her cupcake menu has it listed as a "coconut-caramel" frosting so perhaps she's since changed it. I'm really happy that people are considering the peanut/nut allergic, and that businesses like this are opening up -- I'm just concerned that non-allergic business owners and their clientele (who have the greatest of intentions) don't fully understand what's involved in making a food safe for the food allergic (including cross-contam. issues) and, as a result, end up potentially putting someone at risk. I agree that there should be some regulatory procedure that a business must follow before they can call themselves "peanut- and nut-free" (and have a regulatory body to monitor them). Could this fall under the umbrella of what the CFIA is responsible for? If not, maybe they should be responsible for this?

Nut Free bakery in Montreal
Cho'cola on Monkland.
I haven't been there yet, but saw a reference to it, looked up on the internet and found this thread:
http://www.chowhound.com/topics/385710

It says Nut Free, but I wonder if that includes peanut-free too.

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11yo boy - peanuts nuts chickpeas
8yo daughter - peanuts, nuts, mustard, eggs, sunflowers (new! ), oral allergy syndrome
husband - pollen of all kinds
me - seafood,, oral allergy syndrome

See the end of Pam Lee's story in Hall of Fame / Room for Improvement forum:

http://www.allergicliving.com/forum/vie ... php?t=2206

K.

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Karen, proud Mom of
- DS1 (12 yrs): allergic to cashews, pistachios, Brazil nuts, potatoes, some legumes, some fish, pumpkin seeds; OAS
- DS2 (1o yrs): ana. to dairy, eggs, peanuts; asthma

I took this quote from the link to the Canadian Food Inspection System in Pam's e-mail. I haven't received a reply from Frostine's yet, but the wording in the above quote "preferably" doesn't give me the impression they are doing anything wrong within the current regulations. I 'll have to contact the CFIS directly to have it explained to me.

I have yet to make the trip there (Frostines), but when I saw the flyer I was wondering if it was the same shop that I saw in the press near Christmas that talked about goodies with nuts. If I have time tomorrow I"ll try to call them. Not to defend them but I wonder if they haven't returned your email yet because they don't check it often if they're a small family run business?

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4ye old DD allergic to sesame, peanut, raw egg , and mulitple environmental & seasonal allergies

2 yr old DS -no known allergies!

Hello,

We did try ChoCola and found it to be excellent, but a little pricey. It is in a very trendy area of Montreal. There's a sign on the door telling people that they are a nut free and peanut free facility and people are not allowed to bring any outside food in. My son enjoyed an amazing chocolate cupcake ($3) and ate it knowing that it was fine. They are totally nut and peanut free. Enjoy!

Some friends who live close to Cho cola brought over some wonderful peanut/treenut free cupcakes, brownies and even a small chocolate banana bread the other night!!
We were just thrilled to see my peanut/treenut allergic DD enjoy a treat that was not made by me.
I was told they also make sandwiches and serve safe soft serve ice cream.
I think we will drop by one day for lunch
Finally a safe bakery in Montreal.
Thanks Cleo for bringing this to our attention

This one is in Georgetown, ON. It does mainly school lunch programs and fundraising, so it's closed over the summer. You can pick up directly from the bakery though, Sept-June. They are totally nut free and have also started a gluten free line too.
http://www.terracottacookies.ca/

How do I know about them, do I trust them? Well, my mom owns it , so I know how careful she and her staff are. My DS is allergic to nuts, so we are one of the lucky ones that has easy access to cookies and snacks! My mom and DH are gluten free, so that's why she has started the new line, since it's so hard to find good baked goods (she has gluten free chocolate chip cookies, a white cake and brownies).

Hope this helps someone!

I went to Frostine's last week. They are nut free. When they first open, yes they had nuts. But their sun has a dairy allergy (not anaphylaxis) so they thought about it and decided to go nut free.They've been that way for awhile now. I asked if they checked to make sure their ingredients are safe and was ensured that they are ok. They also have the pamphlets regarding nut allergies (from Cdn Gov't) and one on Anaphyalxis on their counter.

I can't remember specifics right now but I was comfortable enough to buy from them. Being a such a small company if anyone wants to ask them something I'd suggest they call vs emailing. I have a feeling they don't get on the computer much trying to run the business and raising a small family. It's a small shop and is run by the husband and wife only.

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4ye old DD allergic to sesame, peanut, raw egg , and mulitple environmental & seasonal allergies

2 yr old DS -no known allergies!

Hi tiffanyk, My daughter's school receives LOTS of cookies from your mom's bakery Terracotta cookies! Just wanted to share that with you. Please thank your mom! Would you be able to ask your mom if they would consider going egg-free as well? There's a real market for egg-free products. Our family uses Kingsmill Egg Replacer for all of our baking. It's not hard to find at all... I buy it at my local Superstore for about $6.50 per box. One box is equivalent to 100 eggs, so it's actually cheaper than eggs. Also, using Kingsmill Egg Replacer is a good option for those watching their cholestral.

Thanks TiffanyK!

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14 yr old daughter: no health issues
11 yr old son: allergic to peanuts, tree nuts, eggs, fish, sesame, sunflower, mustard, poppy seeds, green peas, some fruits, instructed to avoid all other legumes (except soy & green beans), pollen, cats, horses