Dairy Allergy Confessions

 Having a dairy allergy doesn't make life easier, especially when you live in Louisiana.

When I was going through my "adulting" phase (which I still am kind of going through), I literally would go hours without eating. I simply would not know what to eat or what to cook, or even how to make it taste good. Nearly every dish that I was raised on has some sort of dairy in it.

Because I am part Italian American, I grew up eating the cheesiest, most buttery and most delicious dishes one can think of. My Grandma would make tasty lentil soup with a brown roux, macaroni pasta, carrots, sausage, spinach, and lentils. The soup was light, but at the same time, very filling. One could not stop at just one bowl, but one needed two or, in my case, even three. It is brothy enough to feel like a soup, but hardy enough to taste like a stew. On the very top that sprinkle of mozzarella cheese just brings the comforting meal to completion.

Her rigatoni is amazing! My Nona, well we call her Mema, cooks a huge pot of rigatoni with tomato paste, Italian sausage, and ground meat. She uses herbs like garlic, onion, and bell pepper in her rigatoni. On the very top us Italian Americans love to just sprinkle...you guessed it...more cheese.

There are so many meals on both sides of my family that just WOULD NOT taste right without butter or cheese. You can imagine my dismay when I rudely discovered that I had developed a dairy allergy. Ironically, it had been in college on a very lonely night. I had gotten a whole small cheese pizza for myself. I ate that thing, practically engulfed that thing, and I spent the whole night suffering because of it. And not in a lactose intolerant way: like I am in the bathroom with insane diarrhea all night way.

No, my way was hives, night sweats. and fever. I had never experienced a reaction to this extent before. Sure, I had the occasional reddening of the chest and flush face. I had had never had a reaction this bad before, and I had no idea that this reaction came from dairy.

You could imagine my dismay as a 21-year-old college student developing this allergy. I had no idea what I was doing. So many of my childhood foods involved some sort of dairy, butter, or cheese. Louisiana is still slow to the idea of mainstream vegan restaurants or even fast-food places that are more dairy conscious. Our society is so milk and dairy centric, one who has a dairy allergy almost feels like an outsider in this beef/dairy-centric culture.

I spent years in denial, miserable and suffering even when I ate something so simple as a pancake, or should I say "paincake". In the moment, it would taste delectable, fluffy, and yummy, but later when the reaction started, I'd regret my decision immensely.

I am sharing this blog with you because I would like to share my food experiences. I would like this to be a safe, inclusive space for anyone with food allergies to come and share their experiences. Because the truth is you can only really understand someone with food allergies if you have food allergies yourself. People who do not have food allergies can come here to learn. It is tremendously isolating, awkward, and just plain inconvenient and annoying at times to have food allergies. Therefore, if people are supportive and understanding, rather than ignorant and unknowledgeable, it makes us feel more accepted. On this blog I would like to post my experiences and my ideas. I'd like to talk about food A LOT. After all, it is one of my favorite subjects.

I'm a 9th grade English teacher based out of Louisiana. Therefore, I really do believe education is important and that communication is key. And one thing we know how to do in Louisiana is COOK! Hopefully this blog can provide some interesting discussion and a safe means for people to open up and share ideas. My goal is to post at least one blog weekly.

Follow me @jassy.ez28 on Instagram please.

Thanks for reading!

-Jassy :)