Life Changing Allergies

For some people, being stung by a bee can mean a trip to the hospital, while for others it’s a reaction to Penicillin or Sulfa meds. But for an increasing number of people, learning to live with a food allergy is a life changing experience.

I remember as a kid having a friend who was allergic to peanut butter. The smell of a peanut butter sandwich made her want to leave the room! Of course, going into anaphylaxis would surely stick prominently in the mind of any child, so I don’t blame her for feeling so violently repulsed by an ingredient thought to be safe in our house. At the time, I didn’t know that I too would be faced with such a challenge (though minus the anaphylaxis, thankfully).

It started as a reaction to latex (which does run in our family) at the orthodontic clinic. Inside my mouth, the mucus membrane lining would slough off in swollen patches, stinging like it was being burned with acid, leaving raw craters for weeks that wouldn’t heal. But even when we managed to finally get away from all latex bands, gloves, and other implements of the orthodontic world thanks to the use of nitrile, the symptoms persisted. Even after my braces were off, I would still be plagued with bouts of horrendous cankersores that made it difficult to eat, swallow, or even speak.

Something other than latex was attacking my system and destroying my quality of life. We tried every remedy we could think up, and Mom scoured the internet for answers. In the end, it took us six years and hearing about my Grandpa in Florida’s similar trials to figure out that I had an allergy to canola oil.

I know, sounds odd. How many people do you know have an allergy to the top-touted “healthy oil”? Unfortunately, some digging on our part has found that this label is quite the charade for the dark underbelly of this ingredient. Made from rape seed, this oil from a member of the broccoli family has been used for centuries to lubricate equipment. Toxins in the seeds, however, kept the oil from being viable as a food. But more recently it was found that rape grows exceedingly well on Canadian soil, so it was re-branded as Canada-Oil, or canola.

But there were still these pesky toxins to deal with. The lubrication market was flooded, so what were they going to do with all this product? Geneticists got their hands on the crop and proceeded to breed and modify the plants in order to be rid of the toxins, and they succeeded—almost—which reduced the level of these toxins to “USDA safe levels.” Well, it would appear that my body disagrees with this notion of “safe levels” of toxins, to the point where none can be tolerated at all! Further research also linked the consumption of canola with thyroid and adrenal tumors in rats—yum.

So we proceeded to eliminate canola from our family’s diet—cleansing the kitchen and pantry—but still assailants came in. It might be a pan of brownies brought over by friends or family, or the exhaustion at the end of the day driving us to go out for a pizza. A new exposure would trigger two weeks of symptoms and misery. Soon, there was no restaurant I could eat out at because every fryer includes canola in its mix of oils (canola being so cheap right now). The oil in the fryer emulsifies, drifting through the air and landing on drinking glasses, silverware, serving utensils, and plates.

In the face of being forced not to eat out or use any processed foods (because most all of them use canola, especially the health-oriented ones), our family got even better at making foods from scratch. We had to. Can’t use a brownie mix anymore because the allergen is right in the mix? We’ll learn how to make our own fudgy-in-the-middle, crispy-on-the-top brownies. Can’t use any canned soup starters or mixes for flavor additions because there it is on the ingredient list? We’ll make our own soups and broths, using our own chickens and veggies from the garden.

And, interestingly enough, peanut butter is also one of the worst offenders. If you don’t get the kind that separates and simply lists “peanuts and salt” as the ONLY ingredients, then sure shooting there’s canola in it. I challenge you to look at the ingredients in the grocery store peanut butters this week and see how many canola-free choices you find.

In the end, Mom says that my allergy has made everyone in the family healthier because “cheating is not an option”—a sentiment I’ve heard many-a-times from other folks with food allergies.

“Don’t you ever get tempted to have a potato chip or fish fry?” is a question I’ll hear now and again—heavens no! The repercussions of exposure, however tiny that exposure might be, are horrible enough to drive out any desire to risk it.

The interesting benefit to people outside of our family from this life changing food allergy is that our honed culinary skills at making everything from scratch have also been literally brought to the table at Farmstead Creamery & Café, where we make all the food we serve. From homemade soups to quiche, wood-fired-pizzas to quesadillas, there’s all kinds of healthy, canola-free yum to experience.

It also makes us appreciative of the experiences of others with food allergies—from dairy to gluten, egg to onions, and we work hard to be as accommodating as possible. This effort has been greatly appreciated by many who, like myself, are often met with “go away then and don’t bother us, we don’t want to putz around with a food allergies” mentality that is so typical for a dining-out experience.

Researching and understanding food allergies has also inspired us to switch over almost all of our baking to ancient grains like spelt and einkorn—which have fewer glutens and less allergy problems. It also makes our sheep-dairy offerings appealing for folks with allergies to cow lactose, with cheeses and gelato they can enjoy. And the story goes on as we continue to learn and improve.

Having a life changing food allergy has been an interesting and meaningful twist in our family’s story of how we got to now. In the end, it turned out to be quite a delicious one! See you down on the farm sometime.