Chicken Soup for the Soul Allergic to Everything

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I am about to recommend a canned soup to you, and you are probably wondering what I'm doing within 20 feet of a food blog (much less writing on it). This isn't a restaurant review, and canned soup is hardly food-blogging material. But let me tell you where I was five minutes ago.

Five minutes ago, I was standing in front of my refrigerator, staring warily at a stack of 2 oz. sample "cheese" substitutes, and wondering if I should re-evaluate my life. There are six samples. I picked them up on Tuesday. On Wednesday, I could barely drag myself out of bed in the morning. My body, and in particular my stomach, spent Wednesday on strike. And all I want, now that I can sort of eat again, is chicken noodle soup.

Working with food and writing about food in the face of food allergies can be a daunting task some days. My general policy is to play it off with as much optimism as possible, to encourage others with allergies to live normal lives, and to help people without allergies understand the issues with a little more clarity. But folks, in a moment of sincere honesty, may I just say: Living with food allergies sucks. No other way to say it. It really sucks. A lot. There are days when the last thing I want is to eat, look at, or smell food--let alone write or talk about it. Depending on which cross-contaminant gets into dinner and how much of it, the next day may find me waking up nauseated, aching, and exhausted. There can be bizarre mood swings, unshakeable depression, and a complete inability to eat anything that persists for days.

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In our culture, tradition says that, when sick, chicken noodle soup will cure you. Most of us have grown up on this philosophy in some capacity or another, from homemade soups to canned soups, and are conditioned, when sick, to want soup. When sick, sad, cold, or tired . . . or even just when feeling nostalgic. But unless you have the time and energy to make soup from scratch, you've probably noticed that food allergies make purchasing soup really tricky. Chicken noodle soup is out, obviously, because of the noodles. Chicken-and-rice soup is frequently soy-fortified. I'm pretty certain that the soup aisle of any grocery store is enough to make most people with dietary restrictions want to scream.

I was planning to write about non-dairy cheese this week. But the only things I've managed to learn so far about vegan cheese substitutes are 1) they're disgusting, 2) a surprising number of the non-soy types use sesame as a base instead, and 3) I actually react far less violently to normal cow cheese. Ironic.

Meanwhile, dragging my battered soul through Whole Foods in search of something my stomach would believe was edible, I discovered a row of soups from the Gluten Free Cafe. I stopped and looked at the cans. Chicken Noodle Soup. I turned it over and checked the ingredients: no soy, no dairy, no egg. Sold.

You would probably perceive it as pathetic if I confessed that I nearly cried in the soup aisle at the grocery store. So I won't. But if you don't have food allergies, here's a thought: Don't take your ability to walk into the store and pick up a can of soup for granted. Canned soup is not the nicest thing in the world, but the freedom to eat convenient food is actually a tremendous gift, one which you probably don't notice and probably don't think about: the whole point of convenience, when you get down to it. But take a minute to notice, and take a minute to think about it. Glance in your cupboards at home or stroll through the grocery store, and be amazed by how easy it is to eat.

If you do have food allergies, Whole Foods, PCC, and the Madison Market as well as a few other such stores are currently carrying products from the Gluten Free Cafe. You can find them in the canned-soup aisle and in the frozen-food sections, and (for things like canned soup and frozen food) they're really quite good. Check them out, and consider stocking the pantry before we head into this year's flu season.

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