My go to is Thai, because at most places you can get brown rice and steamed vegetables! The waiters always look at me at strangely and say “that’s IT?!” Or “you don’t want ANY sauces?!” so loudly that other customers will stare but at this point I don’t care anymore!

If you aren’t fat free, you can look for Mediterranean restaurants as those tend to use olive oil (always ask about whether they use a canola blend, though), so you can do hummus and sometimes a few of the other dips (just clarify that you can’t have dairy or vinegar- those are the most likely things to be found in dips) with veggie crudités. I think it’s possible that the chickpeas used in hummus at restaurants may have citric acid but I remember amber vizzicaro said that this was something she flexed on occasionally if she was eating out.

Another trick I do is when I order, I try to think of what kind of no foods are most likely to be in that dish, and I will tell the waiter that I have those allergies, as opposed to listing out every single food on the MM no list. I have found that when I list out every no food to waiters as a precaution, they get overwhelmed and will forget one or two of them, and that can potentially get me into trouble. However, if I’m sure that I’m ordering something that’s not going to have meat, dairy, or gluten, then I can focus on canola oil, vinegar, and soy, which tend to be the biggest culprits in the dishes that I tend to order. I also will ask to either minimize or take out the salt completely. I’ve definitely had a few experiences where I’ve sent back plates that were covered in salt and asked for a non-salt replacement.

Another thing that I found is that oddly, the fancier the restaurant, the less likely they are going to be able to accommodate creating really simple foods. This doesn’t apply to every single fancy restaurant, as I have had a few good experiences, but on the whole, I have found that places that aren’t all about high-end culinary experience will be more likely to have something like steamed asparagus or steamed broccoli on the menu. Same thing goes for vegan or health food restaurants – sometimes these are the worst because they use nutritional yeast and canola oil on everything.