Food Allergies in Toronto: Mustard, Sesame and Peanuts

Food allergies in Toronto are shaped by a city where dozens of cuisines share a few blocks, so the useful habit is to ask about the ingredient rather than the dish name. Mustard, sesame, peanuts, tree nuts, milk and eggs all sit on Canada's priority allergen list, and a plated dish carries no package to read. Your doctor or allergist decides what is right for you.

Read a few of the city's best-known foods as an allergy question, then keep your own notes for the next time you are hungry and unsure.

What does Canada's list mean for food allergies in Toronto?

Health Canada's page on common food allergens lists the priority allergens as eggs, milk, mustard, peanuts, crustaceans and molluscs, fish, sesame seeds, soy, sulphites, tree nuts, and wheat and triticale. Use it as the list of what to ask about when you eat out.

Mosey's Canadian allergen list follows it, with twelve choices because the app shows crustaceans and molluscs separately, and with the word "Wheat". Canada's list also differs from the American one, which is worth knowing if you travel with a menu from across the border or read a recipe written for another country. The national allergy guide goes through how to ask.

Where do nuts and seeds show up in a multicultural city?

Kensington Market mixes Latin American, Vietnamese, Japanese, Turkish, Mexican and Caribbean food, and the Chinatowns, Little Italy and the Danforth are centres of Chinese, Italian, Greek and Turkish cooking. Across kitchens like these, a few ingredients cross the lines.

• Peanuts as a topping, a sauce or a thickener in noodle dishes, skewers and some stews.
• Sesame seeds on breads, and in tahini-based dips, spreads and dressings.
• The oil pressed from those seeds, used as a finishing oil in soups, noodles and marinades.

These are general patterns in cooking, so each needs a question. A good one is "what is the sauce made from?", asked before the order is placed and repeated if the dish changes hands on the way to the table.

Why does mustard matter on a peameal sandwich?

Peameal bacon is a cured pork loin rolled in cornmeal, and the classic sandwich is cooked peameal bacon on a Kaiser roll, often dressed with the bright yellow spread. That condiment is a priority allergen in Canada, and it is the sort of ingredient that gets added with no mention on a menu.

Ask whether the sandwich comes with it on the meat, in the bun or as a spread, and ask for the sandwich plain if you need to. The same question works on a deli sandwich, a hot dog or a sausage on a bun, where it is the default dressing. Our peameal bacon guide covers the sandwich itself.

Are butter tarts a tree nut question?

The filling is butter, brown sugar, maple syrup and egg in a pastry shell, with raisins, walnuts or pecans sometimes added, and cooks argue about the add-ins. So a tart can be milk, egg, wheat and, depending on the baker, tree nuts.

A bakery case is the easiest place to get a vague answer, because trays are filled and refilled through the day. Ask which pastries have nuts and whether they sit on the same tray as plain ones. Our butter tart guide explains the styles.

How do you ask in a neighbourhood with many cuisines?

Short and specific works better than long and general. In a busy kitchen, a clear sentence is easier to pass from the counter to the cook.

• Say the allergen once, then name the dish: "I have an allergy, does this have a nut sauce?"
• Ask about the oil and the pan if the dish is fried or stir-fried.
• Ask whether a bun or a flatbread has seeds on it, since seeds fall onto the next loaf in the basket.

Keep the question friendly, and keep the answer in a note, since a kitchen's recipe can change from one visit to the next. If the cook cannot tell you, choosing another dish is a perfectly good answer, and a good kitchen will not be offended by the question.

How can Mosey help you remember the answers in Toronto?

Rate the dish, not only the place, and note what the kitchen said about the sauce, the bun or the oil. Tags are one diner's note on one visit, never a promise. Follow friends who share your allergy, and their rated and saved dishes appear next to yours. A list with a name like Asked and answered keeps it all in one spot, and you can send the invite link to a friend who has not used the app yet.

The app can also hide dishes whose place has listed an allergen you choose. Dishes with nothing filled in stay visible and say they are not listed, and the filter works on dishes, never on places. The choice stays on your phone. The ratings page and the lists page explain the basics.

What else covers Toronto?

More to read: Kensington Market, the Montreal allergy guide, eating out in a group with nut allergies and the Canadian food guides.

Mosey is free to list on, has no hidden fees and offers affordable tools, which supports the neighbourhood kitchens that give the city its character. A place can declare its allergens for each dish in its own dashboard.

On your next day out in Toronto, get the Mosey app, rate the dish you ate and save the answer you were given.