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Have a Kid with Food Allergies? This Cell Phone Feature Is a Must When Traveling

Caring for a kid with a food allergy is tough. Caring for a kid with a life-threatening food allergy is even tougher. While unwanted accidents are easily avoidable at home and with the peanut-free table at school, traveling abroad is a totally different ballgame.

kids and parents eating ice cream in italy
Imgorthand/Getty Images

Language barriers when dealing with a food allergy can be damn near impossible to navigate. 

"Was this egg roll fried in sesame oil?" 

"Is there any dairy in the soup?"

"Does the Swiss chocolate have any nuts in it?

Without a fluent understanding of the native language, you'll never be entirely sure what your child is ingesting and whether or not they'll react to it (get those EpiPens ready). Additionally, not being able to read an ingredients list will also induce a number of "no, you cannot get gelato" temper tantrums, which will put a damper on the vacation and make the Italians stare. (Trust me, I was that kid.)

But what if you could snap a picture and have an ingredients list immediately translated? Google's newest smartphone, the Pixel 3a, can do just that. Built directly into the phone's camera, the Google Translate feature allows you to translate text in more than 100 languages. All you have to do is point your camera at the suspicious pastry wrapper your daughter insists she can eat and watch as the lens automatically detects the language and overlays it with your chosen translation (it's seriously that easy).

Courtesy of Google

This fancy new feature is guaranteed to be a lifesaver on your next transcontinental trip (literally).



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Executive Managing Editor

Catrina oversees content production across all PureWow verticals. When she's not managing editorial schedules, digital issues or newsletter production, you can find her...