Restaurant Visit:
Applebee’s fries in soybean oil. That eliminates wings, shrimp, fries, fish, chicken tenders, and tortilla chips. The pasta is “cooled” in soybean oil. Manager mentioned that proteins in soybean oil that cause reaction are burned off at 300-350 degrees. I think I remember that he said they run their fryer and grill at 400-450°.
Notes:
Website & restaurant allergen info assume that soybean oil is non-allergenic.
What we order:
steaks, they have a 4 ounce kids steak – he ate better than we did!
garlic mashed potatoes (in theory) manager made them for us potatoes, butter, milk
plain broccoli (steamed) with real butter
Online Materials Used:
allergen list: https://www.applebees.com/downloads/Applebees_Allergen_Info.pdf
ingredient list: https://www.applebees.com/downloads/Applebees_Nutritional_Info.pdf
website: https://www.applebees.com
I ate onion rings 3 days ago from Applebee’s and my tummy looks like a watermelon. I’ve been had rough nights. I’m an adult so I know what’s up. AvoidAvoidAvoid! Someone forgot to tell my body not to react!
I just read the Applebees’s disclaimer about “burning of the protein when heated high enough”. I would like to inform you that this is not true. I know that the USDA and FDA wants us to think that soy oil and soy lecithin are allergen free items and I can tell that I react even to soy oil in shampoo items, fried foods, soy oil placed on grills (like Chipotle or Qdoba), soy lecithin in all kinds of foods. I cannot even eat items in a restaurant that has cross contamination because there is no way a restaurant can tell you that there is no cross-contamination if they are spraying that oil on grills, pans, ovens etc. I am a clinical and food service registered dietitian and only a few months into finding my soy allergy and 15 doctors later including Mayo Clinic, and I am the one that finally called for an allergy test. My allergy was causing acute like symptoms on chronic pancreatitis. My pain level was at 10 for 1.5 years plus many other symptoms. I know that there is no way I would ever trust an outside facility to my foods just because I work in the industry and diligently train our staff at the hospital and they still do NOT understand what it means to change gloves and wash hands before going from one project to the next, but I also know that all ovens have had soy cooked in them therefore a chronic exposure to soy. Good Luck.
In and Out uses Cottonseed oil, so no soy. My daughter doesn’t react, and she can have fries (her favorite!) 🙂
Great Blog! It’s nice to have a starting off point to begin asking questions. My littlest one is allergic to soy, peanuts, potatoes, wheat, barley, oats, rye and eggs. (Hopefully, he’ll outgrow some of it.) I thought I hit a winner at Applebee’s with the grilled chicken on the kids’ menu, but they use PAM non-stick spray made from ‘vegetable oil’.