The Foreign Service Journal, November 2009

N O V E M B E R 2 0 0 9 / F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L 15 Y ou’ve just gotten the news: One of your family members has a serious food allergy or intoler- ance. If it’s just a matter of avoiding certain foods (say, peanuts), that is chal- lenging enough. But what do you do when entire segments of the diet — soy, gluten, wheat, milk or eggs, for ex- ample — have to be cut out com- pletely? How can you possibly make the changes required, especially while living overseas? When our middle child was 5 we learned, largely by trial and error, that he and his little brother are unable to tolerate wheat and milk. Goodbye to bread, cookies, cakes, crackers, noo- dles, yogurt, ice cream, milk, cheese and pizza! I was sure my children would starve before I could learn what to feed them. If you find yourself in a similar situ- ation, and overseas on the far side of the world to boot, don’t panic. Read on to find some practical nuts-and-bolts information on how to start restructur- ing your life. Establish a Secure Supply Line If you are the cook in a family like ours, and find that your entire diet needs to be rebuilt from the ground up, you will quickly learn that you need a lot of ingredients you might never have heard of before. The first andmost im- portant thing to do is to establish a rou- tine for obtaining those supplies. Fortunately, if you have an Internet connection and access to the unclassi- fied diplomatic pouch, then almost anything you could find in the United States will be available to you. Ama- zon.com’ s grocery section has a phe- nomenal selection of items to suit almost any specialized diet, including gluten-free, wheat-free, milk-free and soy-free products. It will ship to diplo- matic pouch addresses; and with an “Amazon Prime” membership (which will likely pay for itself in short order), shipping is free. A little additional research will likely turn up online specialty or health food stores that cater to your specific requirements. If possible, set up sub- scriptions to items you need in bulk or order frequently, so that you’ll always have those supplies on hand. Online international forums such as those on Yahoo! can help you locate others with similar restrictions and find local specialty stores. You’ll also want to find out what specialty ingredients are available locally. Depending on where you live, grocery stores, phar- macies or health food stores may even carry much of what you need. Ask around the embassy and expa- triate community, as well. For exam- ple, a chance meeting at a friend’s house led me to a gluten-free baker in San Jose, Costa Rica. And a trip to the drugstore in Zagreb revealed a source of cookies and crackers suitable for my family. Finally, don’t forget to talk to your local doctor at post; he or she can give you excellent advice on how and where to obtain the many ingredients. I learned from my doctor in Zagreb that gluten-free flour is actually available through the larger pharmacies in Croa- tia, and can even be prescribed for chil- dren with celiac disease, who require a gluten-free diet. Cook Fearlessly The Internet is your friend in searching for ways to feed your family. Whatever your dietary needs, you can find blogs and discussion groups that will address them, as well as cookbooks and countless free recipes. Besides moral support, you’ll find suggestions you might never have thought of oth- erwise. I was having difficulty finding substitutions for milk in many of my recipes until, by way of an Internet forum and a used book sale, I stum- bled onto a cookbook that recom- Coping With Dietary Restrictions Overseas B Y K ELLY A RMSTRONG FS K NOW -H OW Research, patience and creativity will enable FS families to make even major dietary changes.