Have you ever had the experience of feeling like no matter how clear you are with your words, you aren’t being understood? 

My husband and I went to eat at a Thai restaurant while out of town. While we’ve found that it is easy to ask for no garlic or no bell peppers, it’s a bit more difficult to ask for both gluten-free AND soy free food. 

On more than one occasion, people who are not in the restaurant industry have suggested that I make a laminated card with all my food allergies, intolerances, and then get that translated into multiple languages. 

I believe too much gets lost in translation when you hand a card over to someone with that many ingredients listed. In my case, if I wrote down gluten and soy, what do you think the chances are that I would still get tamari (gluten-free soy sauce) added to my food? 

Is the solution found in avoiding all Thai restaurants? Or is it in the actual interaction, without a laminated card, going through a specific dish, and removing everything that you can’t have by specific ingredient? I prefer the latter. What about you?