Living Without

On Thursday, I enjoyed lunch the event but not lunch the meal. After repeated conversations with the waiter and checks with the cook, my salad came not only with gluten but a creamy dill dressing. It ended up going back while I waited for a substitute salad which I ordered quickly to keep up with the other woman. It contained ingredients that I don't like and no protein which I really needed.

On Friday, we went to pick up Kyle from camp and stopped for dinner. Typically at any restaurant there are two or three things on a menu that I can order (if I'm lucky) and they involve plain chicken, beef, or fish. At this one, I could have salmon with no sauce, vegetables with no drizzle, no rice or rice pasta, and no potatoes because they were deep fried with the calamari and then rolled in butter (read dairy and possible gluten and shellfish exposure). I ended up with a double batch of vegetables which were mostly peppers.

Howard's meal started with a salad. I couldn't have one because they didn't have a suitable dressing and weren't willing to mix an oil and vinegar one up nor transfer a balsamic one from a different dish. Howard also had warm bread with garlic butter which I know is yummy because I had it in my "previous" life before this burst of allergies. Other than people can't order shellfish around me because I'll react, I don't believe my family or friends should do without something just because I can't eat it. However, watching him made me want to burst into tears.

Typically these "plain" meals are for more expensive. A few weeks ago when I went on the road trip, I paid $37.00 for a salmon dinner. Hello - there's something wrong. I could have bought two complete salmons for that price. Not only is the food often boring, it's expensively boring.




On Saturday, I picked up the latest issue of Living Without: The Magazine For People With Allergies And Food Sensitivities. Under the letters to the editor section, one woman writes about how insulting the magazine's title is and why she won't buy it because of that and another suggests a different title because this one speaks of deprivation. The editor comments that they've debated the title several times, even polled their readers, and that the majority agree that they are living well while living without. Really?

It would be much better if food allergies happened to someone who hated to eat out and loved to cook. That's not me. As far as I'm concerned, the title is dead on. I am living without. Did I mention that I now can't eat fermented things - like soy sauce and wine? Or that soy has a distinctive taste so all those substitute butters, cream cheeses, and sour creams that are made from soy do not taste like what they are supposed to taste like - they taste like soy. It's like putting ketchup on everything. Suffice to say that the list of what I'm avoiding just keeps getting longer. Pretty soon, I'll just tell people the few things that I can eat. I will be SO HAPPY if this goes away when menopause is over.

Sunday was a rough day. That evening, Howard wanted to take me out for dinner thinking it would cheer me up. At one time, yes. Right now, NOT. The last thing I wanted to deal with was ignoring 97% of the menu and settling for plain and boring after intensive discussions with a waiter who thought I was just being picky and difficult to deal with - especially expensively plain and boring. And even then, I might end up sending my meal back while Howard ate. We stayed home.

As I was picking away at my chili, tears started rolling down my cheek. What I really wanted was Fettuccine Primavera at Pete's Pasta along with a glass of white wine and their amazing house salad. There's not a single thing in that restaurant that I can now eat. It used to be my favourite place to go.

I was feeling sorry for myself and then I was mad at myself. THOUSANDS of people around the world are going to bed hungry every night. Canned chili would be an amazing luxury. I need to focus on the abundance, rather than lack, in my life and I want to but it doesn't always work. Occasionally, I'm just miserable and whiny. For Christmas this year, I'd like a cook!

Talk soon - Myrna

Grateful: resources, even if they're cook books that don't actually cook!