San Diego Zoo & San Diego Wild Animal Park
publicrelations@sandiegozoo.org.
3/08

The following two notes were emailed from the Public Relations for the San Diego Zoo in 3/08:

"Thank you for your interest in the San Diego Zoo and the San Diego Zoo’s Wild Animal Park. We recognize the seriousness of food allergies and although we would like to accommodate all guest requirements, we recognize that our kitchens are not equipped to prepare food separately for guests who are sensitive to certain ingredients.  Each restaurant can provide an ingredient list for the items available for purchase - unfortunately we cannot assure you that other ingredients may not be in the preparation environment."

When questioned about bringing in your own food they responded: "Absolutely. You're welcome to bring in your own food & beverage. We ask that you don't bring glass or alcohol."

You may direct inquiries about our parks to publicrelations@sandiegozoo.org.

Comment about the Wild Animal Park

"Recently I went on a sleepover at the San Diego Wild Animal Park in Southern California. It's a great place to visit and the sleepover is a wonderful experience for anyone, but especially for kids (age 8 and up accompanied by an adult). I was able to download the menu from their web site and after two e-mail attempts, was able to talk to the excutive chef - Casey. I just wanted to know which of the menu items I could safely eat and asked about only those that I thought might be GF. She could not have been more friendly and willing to answer my questions. She even called back since when she checked on one item, she wasn't sure if one of the ingredients would be a problem. The serving staff was also alerted to my needs and went out of their way to show me what was GF and showed good awareness of cross contamination issues.

I should add that I consider being GF my problem, not theirs. I explain I can bring supplemental food, ie my own cookies for the campfire activities, but don't want to not try new foods that might indeed be GF. I also don't even ask, in this instance, that they provide GF pancakes for me, but rather just eat those things that are already GF, in this case the eggs and sausage. I also carry nutrition bars with me so I always have something I can fall back on. In ten plus years I've only had one bad experience with this approach."

Pat to Listserve 7/07