Eating French food with allergies
Classical French technique is built on butter, cream, egg and stock, which makes it the most demanding common cuisine for milk and egg allergies — but its sauces are precise recipes, so a trained kitchen can usually answer exactly what is in one.
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French guides by allergen
Each guide covers typical dishes, what to ask, and where the allergen hides.
- French food with a milk allergy — In a French kitchen butter is not an ingredient but a method: sauces are finished with it, meat is basted in it, vegetables are glazed in it — so a dairy-free order has to be agreed before the dish is cooked, not adjusted at the plate.
- French food with coeliac disease — French sauces are traditionally thickened with a flour roux, and the bread basket is part of the service — so gluten-free French eating depends on finding dishes built on reduction and emulsion rather than on roux.
- French food with an egg allergy — Egg is the emulsifier of classical French cooking: hollandaise, béarnaise, mayonnaise, mousse and most desserts depend on it, and it glazes the pastry — so the safe ground is grilled and roasted dishes with a reduction sauce.
- French food with a fish allergy — The fish risk in French cooking is the stock and the seasoning: fumet under a sauce, anchovy in a dressing or a lamb dish, and Worcestershire sauce in a marinade — all invisible on the plate and rarely on the menu.
- French food with a tree nut allergy — French savoury cooking uses few nuts, so the nut question is largely a pastry question — almond is the base of frangipane, macarons and much of the patisserie, and the pastry section shares equipment with everything sweet.
Advisory, not medical advice
MealSafe is a planning aid, not medical advice. AI-generated assessments can be incomplete or wrong, and ingredients and kitchen routines change without notice. Always confirm with the kitchen, the producer or the label before you eat, and follow the advice of your own clinician.