Asian Food No Longer Sacred

I have grown extremely comfortable with my dairy-free diet over the years. Eating out and coming up with recipes at home had become a breeze. That is until my most recent doctor's visit. It seems that my hypersensitive immune system has identified other food items as foreign invaders.

Tomatoes, eggplant, wheat, and corn are on the outs. As well, he stated that I was having a heightened response to more refined foods, such as sugar (ouch) and white rice. I wasn’t worried though. I had mastered cutting one major food from my diet, and migrated to an all-natural food regimen. This was no challenge…so I thought...

The real killer for me has been wheat, but not for the reason most people might think. I have always been big on rice and alternate noodles. I experiment with wheat-free baking, and have cut way back on the bread products in my diet. The real problem for me is the sauces. I love, no I mean I LOVE Asian food. It hadn’t occurred to me how many of the Asian sauces use wheat either due to the soy sauce base or simply as a supplemental ingredient. The gluten-free menu at my favorite fast-casual establishment has a paltry 5 menu items that are touted as gluten-free, (versus the entire menu which is dairy-free), one which must be ordered without vegetables (huh?), one which has tomatoes in the sauce, and the remaining 3 are salads. Don’t get me wrong, I like salads, but they aren’t usually something I go out to eat for.

Of course, many people before me have adjusted to food allergies, and I am certain that I can as well. Luckily, these allergies are relatively mild (compared to the milk allergy), and I will likely be able to rotate the foods into my diet on occasion. It is also possible that the small amounts of wheat found in Asian food may not pose a problem for me in the future, so long as I just say no to the bread basket.

Dairy-free will always be the focus on this website, but don’t be surprised if you see a few more wheat-free, corn-free, tomato-free, sugar-free recipes from my postings!