Food Allergies
There are days when I feel like having food allergies is no big deal, and other days when I am really mad at the world for being so unfair. I have to keep a list going, because I can't always remember all of the things I'm not supposed to eat. I mean, I remember while I'm reading a menu or at the grocery store or whatever, but if I just have to list them for someone out of the blue, I can't usually do it.
My current list of food allergies:
Severe
eggs (includes lecithin and some “calcium” additives)
sesame
basil
pineapple (includes bromelain)
bananas
mango agave (includes tequila)
blueberries
huckleberries
Moderate
cow’s milk products (includes caramel color, butter, whey, casein, and “protein enriched” foods)
gluten (in addition to wheat, this includes soy sauce, regular tamari sauce, oats, couscous, bulgur, durum, semolina, spelt, triticale, starch, modified food starch, maltodextrin, malt flavoring, and glucose)
cane sugar (not sure yet if this includes rum)
baker's and brewer's yeast (includes beer, mead, most wines, some single malt scotches, nutritional yeast, yeast extract, and “natural flavors”)
cod fish
dates
ginger
coffee
red kidney beans (other beans are fine)
Okay, so now you see what I'm talking about, maybe. Toss on top of that pile the fact that I don't eat meat of any kind, and you can start to understand what I'm up against. For all of you curious folks who invariably ask, "So, what CAN you eat?", I reply that I live on Mexican food and vodka.