Grex Kitchen Conference Item 194

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Cooking for allergies

Jun 9 13:52 UTC 2002

Over the years, whenever I was faced with a new "crisis" my body has decided to
reject yet another food.  At first it was just artificial sweeteners.  No
problem.  Then I developed diabetes, and had to start avoiding refined
carbohydrates of all kinds and most foods with a high glycemic index.  A pain,
but after 7 years, I've managed.  Now, my body is rejecting casein.  No milk or
dairy of any kind.  Even goat and sheeps milk cheeses are hard on me.  Ick.  I
*love* cheese!!!  

Then, a few days ago, I got a note from a friend who knows I love to cook and
that I face food restrictions.  She has just be diagnosed with allergies to bay
leaf, broccoli, cantaloupe, celery, dairy, cocoa, corn, egg white, egg yolk,
grapefruit, oranges, peas, green peppers, sweet potatoes/yams, cane sugar,
sunflower seed, tomato, walnut, wheat, yeast, high-sugar fruits, and mushrooms.

She's not entirely unhappy -- removing the allergens will resolve a lot of her
low grade poor health -- but this *is* a challenge.

  Fortunately, she's an adventurous eater and has been substituting lesser
  known grains for wheat and corn as she can find ways to do so ... but there
  are some things (bread for instance) that are just really, really hard to
  manage on her new diet.  Her favorites are Indian, Chinese, and Mexican ...
  how does one eat mexican with no tomato, no corn, and no cheese?!?!?!

So, I figured I'd ask here about recipes I cna share with her that contain none
of her allergens.  Grexers are some of the most imaginative cooks I know, so
... 

Can you help?

15 responses total.

gracel

response 1 of 15:

Jun 9 17:29 UTC 2002

Are other grains safe for her, or just unknown?  Because barley bread is
traditional in some areas of the world, it just doesn't rise as much as
wheat bread.

slynne

response 2 of 15:

Jun 9 21:16 UTC 2002

There are a lot of bakeries that sell spelt bread. I have a friend who 
is allergic to wheat and when I have her over to dinner, I buy spelt 
noodles and put some kind of tomato based sauce on it. It isnt fancy 
but it is pretty yummy especially if you put extra veggies in the sauce 
(my favorite is zuccini)

slynne

response 3 of 15:

Jun 9 21:17 UTC 2002

But since, she cant have dairy or tomato, I wonder if some kind of 
garlic/oil based sauce could be used instead. 

I dont envy your friend.

mta

response 4 of 15:

Jun 9 21:38 UTC 2002

I don't envy her either ... gads, no tomato!

Spelt and barley bread sound like wonderful solutions.  Of course, they may be
difficult since yeast is out, too, but maybe something that uses some other
"rising" agent ...

response 5 of 15:

Jun 10 00:30 UTC 2002

One of my sisters is on what may be the ultimate nightmare allergy diet.
Her really-messed-up immune system is sensitive to *ALL* foods.  (There
is literally NO food that she can freely eat.)  She buys all organic, as
close as possible to the producer, due to loads of chemical sensitivities.
(Direct from farmer better than local veggie stand better than local 
natural food store better than big-chain natural food store.)  She has to
plan & track all her meals based on the biological families of the plants,
noteworthy allergens, etc. in 'em to maximize the lengths of all the time 
gaps in which her immune system does not see any given thing (but not get
too much of any thing quickly, either).

davel

response 6 of 15:

Jun 10 01:57 UTC 2002

(a "rotary diversified diet plan", in other words)

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