How to Avoid Food Allergies in Your Thanksgiving Meal
Thanksgiving is the time of year when cooks prepare magnificent feasts. Special dishes are often served that you just don't get the rest of the year. These yummy recipes are great, but you need to be careful if you have food allergies. The best way to enjoy a holiday meal is to identify allergies, make food substitutions, and communicate your needs to the cook.
Identify Foods
Make a list of foods that you cannot eat. This will refresh your memory, and you can give the list to the cook if you will be sharing a meal at a friend or relative's home.
Side Dishes
When you are doing the cooking, you can create side dishes that do not contain the ingredients that you can't eat. That is one of the simplest solutions, or you can make ingredient substitutions and still enjoy a nice meal.
Most people with food allergies can eat fresh slices of vegetables like carrots, celery, or cucumbers. If you are allergic to milk products, however, you need to check the ingredients in the homemade dips that often accompany these veggies or avoid them all together.
The Main Course
The best turkeys are those that are tender and juicy. However, if you have an allergy to wheat, you need to be careful when choosing the turkey. Turkeys that are exceptionally juicy are often injected with wheat that many people cannot tolerate. Check the label on the packaging to determine if it contains wheat. Another alternative is to buy gluten-free birds. Also keep in mind that gravy purchased from the store contains wheat. Making your own gravy is safer and probably tastier.
Just Ask
Many different cooks often prepare Holiday meals, so it may be hard to convey what you cannot eat ahead of time. If some dishes look questionable, just politely ask what the ingredients are. The cooks will certainly rather answer a few questions that have you suffer through an allergy attack.
Individuals with food allergies must take great care to be selective about what they eat during the holidays. Just because you have to be careful doesn't mean you can't have any fun. As long as you make sure to check the ingredients of each dish you try, you're sure to be able to taste your way through the season!
