Ever since I can remember I have had food intolerances.  When I was in college I had to avoid garlic and onion like they were the plague.  This aversion continued well into my mid 20s, when I experimenting with eliminating gluten, dairy, sugar, yeast, tomatoes, peppers, soy and some other foods which luckily I don’t recall.  All of my friends knew there were certain foods I could not eat and would always be very supportive and even curious about it.  Fortunately, over the years my food intolerances have been narrowed down to gluten, dairy, tomatoes, potatoes and peppers. One night several years ago I was out to dinner with friends I had not seen in awhile, and upon ordering they commented that I had forgotten to ask for no garlic in my food.  Now that’s a great friend with an AMAZING memory!

I have been gluten and dairy free consistently for over 8 years now.  My journey to discovering enjoyable yet healthy foods has been a long and interetsting one to say the least.  Back in the early 2000’s Whole Foods was not on every corner and food allergies and intolerances were not as mainstream.  Today, most local grocery stores carry some sort of specialty foods to the rapidly expanding gluten and dairy free community.  While I do not preach my dietary lifestyle to others I certainly encourage and welcome them to taste many of the products I am enjoying.  Friends are always tasting my “special crackers” and enjoying the cakes or cookies I present.  For some reason there is a belief among some people that food allergy friendly foods are weird, gross or tasteless.  In fact this belief is so strong there are some who won’t even try them.

I encountered this uncomfortable situation this past weekend.  I was visiting family and brought my favorite gluten free crackers (Mary’s Gone crackers), which my husband happens to prefer, and my family member asked him he would like “normal crackers”.  What exactly are “normal crackers”?  Last I checked these were normal and quite delicious crackers.  I decided to bring dessert as well.  One dessert was rugelach (not gluten-free) and a dairy free, gluten free chocolate cake.  The cake was a big hit, however, one memeber of my family would not even taste the cake (and the cake was for his celebration)!  Finally after being told it was rude, he appeased me and had a tiny piece.

I must ask this question:  If the cake was a standard chocolate cake would he have eaten a piece without being asked to?  The answer is an emphatic YES.  Why must people be so closed minded?  Is it really so horrible to taste a piece of gluten free, dairy free cake, instead of hurting someone’s feelings?

So please, the next time someone asks you to try their food or brings something special they enjoy be open minded and try it (unless you have an allergy or intolerance to it).