Nice article about AllergyEats from the Daily Grommet

(The following is a reprint of an article from the Daily Grommet that appeared on 8/2/10.  It can be found at the following web address: http://blog.dailygrommet.com/featured/need-an-allergy-friendly-restaurant-visit-allergy-eats/)

Need an allergy friendly restaurant?  Visit AllergyEats

by Tori

As families enjoy more free time this summer, they’re likely to be eating out, either in their hometowns or while traveling during summer vacation. Allergy Eats, a new, fast-growing, interactive website, is a valuable resource, helping people with food allergies find allergy-friendly restaurants, whether they’re dining close to home or hitting the road for summer adventures.

I recently chatted with Paul Antico, founder of AllergyEats.com who started this online community because:

“When I take my family out to eat, sometimes we have trouble finding restaurants that will accommodate my children’s food allergies,” [and] “I knew we weren’t the only family facing these challenges, and I vowed to make it easier for people with food allergies to find safe restaurants.”

Paul, what surprised you most as you began developing www.allergyeats.com?

Since I began developing AllergyEats two years ago, the biggest surprise has been the unity of the food allergy community. There is a large online and offline food allergy community made up primarily of passionate individuals like myself who have been affected (directly or indirectly) by food allergies. People who have decided to commit their time in order to help make living with food allergies easier. The support within this community is terrific. Where I once thought I would be creating AllergyEats “in a bubble,” I have now found that I have a network of wonderful people I can call on for advice, support, criticism, and anything else. The feeling is that we are all in this together and to the extent that one person’s efforts succeed, we all win.

What has been the most rewarding part of helping the allergy community?

The most rewarding part of creating AllergyEats is very simple. It is the emails that people send thanking me for doing this and letting me know that AllergyEats is making a difference in their lives. Each time I receive one of these emails, I picture a smiling child enjoying an “exciting dining experience” (because that is what it is to them) and I can’t help but smile too. That is the greatest reward for me.

AllergyEats offers free membership and access to a national database of well over 600,000 restaurants. The site combines the best of Internet technology with peer-to-peer feedback to help people know in advance how well (or poorly) a restaurant responds to people with food allergies.

Thank you Paul for sharing AllergyEats with us. We know that you are positively impacting the lives of many families. Keep up the important work!

For more information visit http://www.AllergyEats.com