Eating Mexican food with allergies

Mexican guides by allergen

Each guide covers typical dishes, what to ask, and where the allergen hides.

• Mexican food with coeliac disease — Traditional Mexican food is built on maize rather than wheat, so the gluten question is usually answered by two choices: corn tortillas instead of flour ones, and a kitchen that does not fry everything in one shared basket.
• Mexican food with a milk allergy — Dairy is mostly a restaurant-era addition to Mexican food rather than a structural one, which is good news: cheese, crema and queso appear as toppings and can usually be left off if the request reaches the kitchen before plating.
• Mexican food with an egg allergy — Egg is limited in Mexican savoury cooking, which makes this one of the easier cuisines for an egg allergy — the places to check are brunch dishes, some tamale and chile relleno batters, and the mayonnaise-based sauces on modern menus.
• Mexican food with a sesame allergy — Sesame is not a background seasoning in Mexican cooking the way it is in Levantine or East Asian food, but it is a defining ingredient in mole and pipián — so the answer is usually simple once the sauce is identified.
• Mexican food with a peanut allergy — Peanut appears in Mexican cooking mainly through mole, encacahuatado and some salsas, where it is ground into the sauce rather than visible — so the question is what thickens the sauce, and the rest of the menu is usually straightforward.

Related guides

• All cuisine guides
• All allergen and diet guides