Multiple allergies can make Sunday brunch seem impossible. It can take some time to get your head around going out for a last minute meal with mates. After some research and recognisance I’ve finally got myself an emergency sunday dining plan 🙂
There is a fantastic cafe come deli dangerously close to my home and for a while I avoided it like the plague (too many delicious food memories in there). Eventually I made my way back through the threshold to buy a delicious goats cheese I can’t live without. After a quick ‘catch up’ conversation with the cafe owner, she asked me why I had not been in and I told her of my allergy situation. She suggested that I bring rice milk and my own bread and partake in a delicious and carefully selected meal.
Almost every Sunday my mum and I head out for a late breakfast or early brunch. I roll up with my tetra pack of rice milk and a zip lock bag with my own gluten free + yeast free + soy free bread and place my order for bacon (cooked in oil not butter) + manchego cheese (a hard parmesan-like Spanish goats milk cheese) + grilled tomato + zahtar in olive oil with a large creamy rice milk flat white on the side. It’s one of the few places I can go to where there is an easy understanding of my eating requirements and I’m able to eat out with my friends and family.
It’s a small serve of dietary normality.
In the end it comes to to building a relationship that relies on trust and can only be formed with discussion.
There is also another great side affect to allowing someone else to cook your breakfast… getting great ideas. I didn’t know that manchego cheese had melty properties. At Black Olive Gourmet Food they toast my bread and finely grate manchego cheese, melting it into my toast. It is a revelation for someone whose love of melty cheese was well known until the milk allergy took that love away. I was also introduced to Zahtar, a salty blend of herbs, spices, seeds and sometimes nuts is often served at breakfast in the Middle East and North Africa. The spice mix is served in fragrant olive oil and adds another flavour dimensions to just about any meal.
So start a conversation with understanding people and you might just find yourself a great way to eat out again.
