But I want it!

One of the very nicest things about life is the way we must regularly stop whatever it is we are doing and devote our attention to eating.
~Luciano Pavarotti and William Wright, "Pavarotti, My Own Story"

Unless you're intolerant to wheat. And lactose. Oh, and bakers yeast, coffee, citrus, tomato, mushroom, onion, garlic, shallots, leeks, spring onions, tea, potato, broccoli, corn, MSG, eggplant, bell peppers, cayenne, paprika, pineapple, apples, plums, kiwifruit, strawberries and, oddly, dust mites, grass and flower pollen (not something I ingest by choice).

For those of you who have a food intolerance, you are well aware that life isn't worth being lived on the on the wild side where corn, lactose and wheat abound. Alas, food is not fuel for me, nay, it is to be savored and cherished; so when I recently took an allergy test and the results came back I was utterly shattered. Post-result panic attacks ensued, followed by bouts of bingeing on pizza, tomato and mozzarella (and garlic knots) - my last hurrah.

The first month of trial and error (far more error and cheating than trialing) was rough (and a tad depressing and mildy claustrophobic), as I made a foray into a world sans my trigger foods, but, after much internet research and ingredient reading, I have now found a comfortable state where I don't feel like I'm missing out of my old favorites, rather, I'm broadening my horizons and experimenting with those seldom thought about staples like garbanzo flour, coconut milk and maple syrup.

My conversations are now peppered with phrases like 'the Allium family' and Solanaceae, as in the nightshade family of whom eggplant, tomatoes and potatoes are a part of; all things I now know better than to eat. I have to say, crispy, salty french fries I can do without, even mashed potatoes in all their creamy goodness, but tomatoes - that was a heart wrenching departure. One of my favorite meals was an heirloom tomato, that fist-sized, misshapen fruit, sometimes tiger-striped grass green, sometimes lemon yellow - thickly sliced to reveal it's meaty, ruby flesh, sprinkled with Portuguese sea salt, draped with a milky slice of fresh mozzarella and ornamented with grassy olive oil and a Pollock-like smattering of balsamic. Heaven on a plate. Sniff, sniff...

I am lucky enough to be able to tolerate gluten, so although I can't have wheat, I can have spelt, kamut and the other grains with gluten. Lactose is out, which rules out milk, yogurt (rather a shame as those of you who have experienced Old Chatham's sheep's milk yogurt in all of it's creamy, tangy goodness can attest to). Butter is okay though, not great (there are still trace amounts of lactose), but ghee (clarified butter, typically used in Indian cusine) is 100% lactose free as are most cheddar cheeses (as a general rule of thumb they all should be, but there is always room for variation). This discovery made my day, as I live for cheddar. No, I do - really. I'm down to a block a week - a good, aged one that almost crumbles as you cut it and prickles your tongue as you eat it.

This blog is dedicated to finding recipes, yummy recipes (that stay yummy after removing said intolerances) and tweaking them so we, The Intolerant, don't feel neglected. Hopefully I will be able to provide the light at the end of your tunnel, so you don't have to endure the tribulations I did when I set out. Did I mention that I'm vegetarian too? I started eating seafood a few years ago (having once been verging on veganism), but only sustainably caught, wild seafood. It just adds to the madness! So here's to always enjoying, always looking forward to that next (sans wheat, lactose, potato, tomato....) meal.