I started the Google Local guide initiative to help others learn about restaurants, coffees and places in Barcelona and Europe from an allergen labelling perspective. As I am a food engineer - and I also suffer from food allergies - I have learned a lot about the allergies and intolerances occuring in our body.
Me on the left working in a food laboratory during my university years
So what I am doing in the last 3 years and why I am doing it?
- Caring
When you are new to a city or visiting it as a tourist, and you are looking to get some recommendations, the first thing that comes to your mind is to check what experiences others had.
When having allergies, you can’t just simply pop out for a nice dinner, as you can accidentally eat something that would trigger serious symptoms.
I realised that allergen related information was often missed from the reviews, so I started evaluating the places based on the allergen information included in their menu, or whether they can accommodate your needs.
My favourite breakfast spot in Barcelona, I have tried everything on the menu that I could 
In my opinion we need to be informed about what is getting served to us and what we can find exactly on our plates. When you are cooking at home, you do care about the ingredients you use and select them carefully - this applies to eating out as well.
- Raise Awareness
In some cases, when I asked for gluten free options,one could tell that the waitress was not sure how to reply to the inquiry. In this cases you have two options:
- Not order anything assuming that they are not prepared to accomodate your needs
- Remind them about why the ingredients cause severe issues for some of us and ask for alternative solutions
Dine out in Budapest, they offered to replace the mashed potatoes containing milk with salad, they have done a great job
- Helping businesses to improve
When I look for places I use the ‘gluten-free, lactose-free` keywords in the search bar. I believe there are way much more restaurants that can accommodate our needs so I think businesses are losing opportunities by not talking about allergens. So, when it comes to decide where to go, we will exclude the places not properly prepared for us. I am also aware that for example coeliac disease and peanut allergy should be treated more seriously and they need to use a sterile cuisine to avoid any cross contamination - so in these cases they need to stick to places that can accomodate these circumstances - I have only seen a couple of cases highlighting on the menu that the kitchen is suitable for this use.
A good example in Barcelona, where the online (also available on Google Maps) menu contains detailed information about the main allergens
- Being grateful
Couple of my friends mentioned that they came across my evaluations on Google Maps and as they are aware of my problems, they know where to organise our dine outs and gatherings.
Also, I got positive feedback from businesses a couple of times. It’s always a good feeling to be appreciated and to know they are curious about our opinion.
When in Italy, I was worried to visit the kingdom of pasta, but was able to find good gluten-free deals
Hope my initiative will motivate others to keep providing feedback and helping businesses and our fellows to make wise and better choices when it comes to eating out. 
Barbara