Food allergies are on the rise, but cooking safely for everyone doesn’t have to be complicated. Helen Foster looks at how to cater responsibly – and confidently – for everyone at the table.

What is a food allergy?

The number of people in the UK with food allergies has more than doubled in the past 20 years, yet many of us are still confused about what allergies actually are, and how to cater for them safely.

‘A food allergy is an inappropriate immune response,’ explains Professor Adam Fox, head of the National Allergy Strategy Group. ‘In it, something triggers your body to create allergic antibodies, called immunoglobulin E (IgE), in response to a protein in a food. Next time you consume that food, the immune system then triggers the release of, amongst other things, a substance called histamine.’

Histamine causes common allergy symptoms, such as itching, hives and swelling, but can also lead to serious reactions, including a tightening of the airways or a drop in blood pressure – ‘hallmarks of anaphylaxis, the most serious and potentially life-threatening allergic reaction that requires urgent attention,’ says Adam. Fortunately, catastrophic reactions are rare, but allergic reactions can be unpredictable.  

The key with cooking for someone with allergies is therefore to always err on the side of caution. The following tips can help prevent slip-ups that accidentally expose someone to their trigger food.

Know your guests' food allergies  

Find out exactly what your guests can and can’t eat. While true allergies are immune-driven and can be life-threatening, many people also have food intolerances or sensitivities. These aren’t as dangerous as allergies, but can be uncomfortable or even debilitating, so should be respected. Coeliac disease is different: it isn’t an allergy or intolerance, but it is serious – even tiny amounts of gluten can trigger the body to damage the lining of the intestine and cause symptoms that can make those with the disease very ill.

Cook allergy-free for everyone 

This is the safest response if, say, a friend or grandchild with an allergy is coming round for dinner. You might think it’s okay to cook salmon for the main group and replace it with a pork chop for the person with the fish allergy, but ‘sometimes even proteins in the air can be an issue for allergies,’ says Adam. ‘Children with fish allergy, for instance, can get tingly type reactions, or even develop wheezing if it’s cooked near them.’

Avoid cross contamination  

‘If it’s not possible to cook the same for everyone, watch out for cross contamination,’ warns Becky Excell, author of eight gluten-free cookbooks including Feel Good Gluten Free (Quadrille, £22). This occurs when a trace of the trigger food ends up in the meal of the allergy sufferer. It can occur when preparing, cooking and serving meals using the same utensils, so use separate ones or wash things well. Other common slip-ups include using the same toaster for gluten-free and gluten-containing breads, reusing cooking oil or cooking in a shared space like an air fryer.

Stick to the recipe

Free-from recipes make it easy to create tasty dishes without triggers, but if a recipe calls for something unfamiliar, don’t just leave it out or swap it for something else. Not only might this reintroduce a trigger ingredient, but ‘gluten-free baking, particularly, is a science,’ explains Becky. ‘Even if a recipe calls for a small amount of something it has a purpose and leaving it out can result in the entire gluten-free bake going wrong. Psyllium husk is a really good example of this – if you leave it out, the results won’t be good at all.’

Read beyond the allergen label

In the UK, food must be labelled with 14 allergens – celery, cereals containing gluten, crustaceans, eggs, fish, lupin, milk, molluscs, mustard, peanuts, sesame seeds, soybeans, sulphur dioxide and sulphites, and tree nuts – but that list no longer reflects all real-world allergies, as our eating habits have changed. 
‘I only have a handful of patients in my clinic with a mustard allergy,’ says Adam. ‘Far more are allergic to legumes like chickpeas, lentils and peas.’ Make sure you read ingredients lists carefully if the allergen you are cooking for isn’t one on the allergen panel.

Master alt-milks…

These are great when catering for those with a dairy allergy, but some are better for certain uses than others. ‘For cereals and cold drinks, try unsweetened almond or oat milk. For desserts like rice pudding, coconut milk works best as it adds richness that thinner nut milk can’t. And in hot chocolate, a tablespoon of tahini (for those without a sesame allergy) is a game-changer,’ says nutritionist Rakhi Lad from Nutritionist Resource. For creamy or cheesy sauces, she suggests blending silken tofu with a tablespoon of nutritional yeast, as ‘it gives that savoury umami hit people often miss when dairy is off the table.’

…and your baking substitutes 

If you’re baking egg-free, especially cakes, it helps to understand what the egg does in the recipe before swapping it out. ‘For binding and structure, mix 1 tablespoon of ground flaxseed with 2-3 tablespoons of water. To add moisture, try a banana or dairy-free yogurt. For a lighter texture, aquafaba – the liquid from a tin of chickpeas – is brilliant as it can be whipped and used much like egg whites,’ says Rakhi. And that’s one swap where we always wonder how someone found that out!