In Reply to: peanut and nut allergies posted by Jodi m on Wednesday, 25. July 2007 at 19:17 Bali Time:
concerns! Our 6 year old has an anaphylactic peanut allergy which was diagnosed when she was 3. In the last 4 years we've been to Bali on numerous occasions, for a total of about 4 months. I, too, had real reservations & concerns about going to Bali, but now, although we take extra precautions, I really don't worry. A lot depends on how sensitive your son is to nuts. Does he suffer anaphylaxis and if so, can it be set off by the smell of peanuts/nuts or would he have to touch or ingest them? Sate sauces are widely served in restaurants, of course and I was initially concerned about cross contamination of peanut sauces etc via dishes/spoons/cloths in the kitchen. However, if your son's allergies are affected by smelling the nuts then it could be much harder to avoid. We carry 2 epi-pens, antihistamine and redipred along with details of the nearest medical facilities to where we're staying or travelling at any given time - much the same as we do at home. I've been informed by our specialist that peanut oils (which, in fact, are rarely used now in Bali as they're more expensive than other oils) are generally not a big risk as they are highly refined and are therefore very unlikely to contain traces of peanut protein. Of course, we avoid them anyway. As Holladaze has suggested, do a search of the forum for 'peanut allergy' and you'll see there's loads of information and many people on the forum travel to Bali regularly with severe peanut allergies. We eat at all sorts of establishments over there, from the most expensive restaurants to local warungs & everything in between & have never had any sort of problems at all. We too carry a sentence in Indonesian that explains the situation but have almost never had to use it as English is so widely understood by wait staff in Bali. Hope this helps to set your mind at rest a little! Cheers, Sue.