I have the experience of travelling over many years in Europe with a member of my family who has a nut allergy and has suffered severe reactions from eating food fried in peanut oil, or dishes containing traces where you would not expect nuts to be present. I now know that this can also include recipes without nuts but contaminated by the cooking method.
I spent a month in Delhi and two weeks in Tamil Nadu last year without my nut allergic relative, but made a point of understanding how difficult it would be for them to eat while travelling there.
Two points I would like to make from lookong up whar people have posted on this subject on websites so far:
- How little info is on the web
- How much unpleasant commentary there is from people who do not understand how serious the condition can be
In Tamil Nadu (or Southern restaurants in North India such as the excellent Saranava Bavan who are now all over the world) - Dhosa or Idlis are unlikely to have any nuts as they are dal and rice steamed (though dhosas are filled with veg, so check what that is, also dhosa is fried - idli is best bet for no nut contamination). They usually come with Samba which is a moist curry often with dal. In The big Saranava Vavan chain you have a good chance of an honest and professional answer as to what oil is used etc. I think that is the place where they would show you how food is cooked in a good way, but they do have chutneys that are full of nuts. You may find it easier to assess here than in other places because of a company ethos. In small restaurants where truck driversetc stop for breakfast the idli, sambha. chutney prevails - and is delicious. You will have to go to the kitchen to check the oil for sambha, and maybe avoid the chutney - usually coconut chili and lovely but may be hard to find out if no other nuts.
I'll say something about Delhi later if anyone is interested.
