Since starting this diet I’ve generally avoided eating out where possible. It’s too stressful! The server’s disparaging looks as you reel off what you can’t eat, the limited or non-existent safe menu items, the inevitable IBS attack as you panic in the car on the way to the restaurant… but sometimes you have to force yourself to get out and do something.
I hadn’t been out with my boyfriend for dinner for about three months. In fact I hadn’t been out anywhere at all with him in about three months. Being anywhere unfamiliar means worrying about where to find food you can eat. Or in my case, people giving you weird looks because you’re the only kid who brought a packed lunch to the party.
We chose Zizzi because we had a voucher given to us by a friend at Christmas, and because they are one of the few restaurants to include onion and garlic on their online allergen information.
I had a really good week leading up to it for IBS symptoms. I recorded seven good days in a row on my Monash app, but when I woke up on Saturday, my stomach was churning. All day, I knew it was there, and I tried so hard not to think about it because it only makes it worse. I had eaten nothing to set it off so I couldn’t understand why I was in so much pain.
We thought about cancelling dinner, but I knew I’d be no better sat at home on the sofa so out we went.
When we got to Zizzi and gave our name, they quickly scanned the notes on our booking which I’d had the foresight to include in case I got there and they couldn’t feed me anything. The server picked up an allergen and dietary requirements menu and led us to our table.
I’d already looked at the information online and ascertained that a margarita pizza was the only safe option for me, but I looked inside the booklet all the same. To my surprise, the booklet didn’t have columns for onion and garlic at all. I clearly had a very outdated menu in front of me and this is one of my only complaints for the whole evening. Why make the information available online and not in the restaurant?
With my stomach groaning away at this new wave of panic, the server came back to take our order. I let my boyfriend go first as his was so simple, and then told her I was onion and garlic intolerant, and that I had preselected a margarita pizza with additional toppings of plain chicken, pine nuts, fire roasted peppers, and red chillies. I asked why the booklet wasn’t up to date but she couldn’t really answer. She took the order down and said she would double check everything with the kitchen.
My next complaint is that she did not come back to tell me my order was definitely ok, which I probably could have done with. My food arrived and again it wasn’t mentioned. I could have asked but I am a very awkward and unconfident person and I just couldn’t face it.
The first bite I took into the pizza, and I knew everything was fine. My stomach pains seemed to just dissolve away as I tucked in to a meal I hadn’t had to slave over a stove for.
Food without onion and garlic tends to taste a little on the bland side, and this was certainly true of the tomato sauce on my pizza. It tasted so different to the pizzas I used to order and I think I did a good job with my choice of toppings as it helped up the flavour. I also threw a load of pepper and chilli oil over the top to give it that little bit extra. The chilli oil has ingredients on the bottle by the way, just so you can be completely sure it’s safe.
All in all, it was a really positive experience, followed by a lovely chocolatey pudding. I’m lucky enough to be able to tolerate both lactose and gluten, but the great thing about Zizzi is they can cater for either of these allergens/intolerances. If I’d wanted to, I could have ordered the same pizza on a gluten free base with lactose free cheese, making the whole thing 100% fodmap friendly.
It wasn’t perfect, and Zizzi (and every other restaurant) still have a long way to go in getting up to speed with allergens and intolerances, but I had a great evening, good food, and most importantly, I wasn’t ill the next day!
If you take anything away from this, then let it be this: Always plan ahead and contact the restaurant beforehand, and check their online allergen info where possible. There’s nothing worse than getting to a restaurant and being turned away because they physically cannot feed you.
Thanks for reading!
Living Low FODMAP 