We were out on the town using the New Orleans streetcars so we ended up way outside of the French Quarter when it was time to eat. While in a beautiful neighborhood full of unique little coffee shops and restaurants, we were in the position where we didn’t have a listing of “safe” restaurants from which we could choose. We walk into a coffee shop - you know the ones - where hipster looking young people are very slowly sipping the house coffee but are mainly there because they don’t want to pay for Internet in their own apartments because they don’t want to have to explain to their loud-music-playing-cereal-stealing-semi-retired-while-still-in-their-20s roommates that they won’t be sharing the wi-fi password. Yeah, I’m stereotyping.

The shop, which shall remain nameless, was genuinely concerned about the allergy but didn’t feel comfortable because of the shared surfaces and the fact that the bread comes from a fancy-schmancy artisan bakery and they don’t know enough about their practices. Darn it. I’m sure that we’re all familiar with that answer. We were able to get a bowl of fruit and the potato salad and a mocha which apparently just came out of a box and they add whip cream to it.

I know perfectly well that the universe does not revolve around us. Peanut and nut allergies are becoming more common and I’m sure that coffee shops and restaurants will catch on to the fact that providing a safe environment is a business opportunity.

Image from Flickr user Dwayne Madden. Creative Common License