How to avoid seed oils at restaurants

Nowadays in most cities, it's near impossible to find a seed oil free meal. We lay out some tips that will help you find your best options, as well as how to best work with restaurants to ensure your meal is seed oil free.

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1. Choose the right cuisine

The cuisine you choose is going to greatly impact the oil choices that chefs will make.

Sushi and Japanese food are almost always safe if you avoid tempura and spicy mayo, and many Mediterranean(including Spanish, Italian, Greek, French, Israeli) restaurants that stick to their cuisine's traditions will primarily use butter and olive oil.

Additionally, many steak houses are seed oil free, and some are excited enough about beef to cook their potatoes and fries in tallow.

2. Call or email ahead and ask for options

It's often hard to communicate your concerns about cooking oils in a busy restaurant when the server is in a hurry. Consider taking the time to send the restaurant an email or call ahead, and let them know about your dietary restrictions.

In our experience, restaurants have almost always tried to be extremely accommodating, offering to cook entrees in our choice of oils, and email is generally best if you have some lead time.

3. Skip certain sauces and dressings

Certain sauces and dressings almost universally contain seed oils. For example, unless it is explicitly specified that the mayonnaise is house made with olive oil, you should assume it contains canola or soybean oil.

The same goes for most vinaigrettes, even at nicer Italian restaurants. Consider ordering dressings and sauces on the side, and sticking to hot sauce which generally does not contain oils. Some scouts go as far as bringing their own toppings to the restaurant, use your discretion!

4. Download Seed Oil Scout

Seed Oil Scout is full of detailed user reports from restaurants all over the country and is moderated for accuracy. Give it a download and find some 5 star, seed oil free establishments near you! Download here