Adapting holiday cheer
Thursday, December 11, 2008 | 01:56 PM ET
By Amber Hildebrandt, CBCNews.ca
'Tis the season for Christmas potlucks and parties. During this holiday, I have found myself more culinarily challenged than usual — having to whip up something for a few parties attended by people with dietary restrictions.
Gluten-free diets, lactose-intolerance and nut allergies are just a few of the limitations, on top of general lifestyle choices such as veganism and cultural dietary requirements.
I'm not used to tweaking my recipes. I indulge a lot and eat almost anything. But trying to find something edible for all was almost a welcome test of my gastronomical mettle. In the end, for my work potluck, I settled on a potato salad with green beans, marinated artichoke hearts and olives, covered in a lemon-Dijon vinaigrette.
But while I'd gone to the effort of keeping out all the most sensitive food items — meat, dairy and gluten — I wasn't near my dish, able to inform those passing by of the ingredients. It was only until near the end of the party that I remembered to tell a few of my colleagues with allergies.
A great idea I noticed was some conscientious co-workers placed lists of ingredients beside their dishes.
I still have a few more potlucks to go and was wondering what other people do to try to adapt to food sensitivities at get-togethers. Do you have any go-to recipes for potlucks that avoid most of the problematic foods? If so, please share.
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Amber Hildebrandt writes for CBCNews.ca in Toronto. Growing up on a farm in Manitoba, she acquired an insatiable appetite, but it was during a stint in Japan that she developed her discerning tastebuds and "foodie" ways.
Andrea Chiu is an associate producer at CBC Radio Digital. Though she loves to eat, cook and discuss food,
don't ask her to bake. It never turns out well. She tweets as @TOfoodie on Twitter and organizes food and wine events in Toronto called FoodieMeet.
Tara Kimura is the consumer life reporter for CBCNews.ca, covering a wide range of issues that range from rising food costs and the growing organic movement, to new trends in the marketplace.
Andree Lau is a CBC web reporter in Calgary. Her journalism career includes seven years as a CBC-TV reporter. Her own blog called "are you gonna eat that?" chronicles her eating adventures (including sampling snake and camel hoof tendon).
Jessica Wong is a CBCNews.ca writer who loves to eat and cook, as well as discuss, read and watch programming about food, sometimes all at once.
Kevin Yarr, CBCNews.ca's writer in Prince Edward Island, wrote about food and beer for national and regional magazines before joining the CBC. He acquired a desire for new tastes on his first trip to Europe, and an appreciation of eating locally and in season when he finally settled down on P.E.I.
Elizabeth Bridge is a writer with the CBC Digital Archives in Toronto. She first ventured into the kitchen as a child to indulge a sweet tooth by baking cookies and making fudge. A student budget compelled her to be a vegetarian (for a while) and instilled in her an ongoing curiosity about food and cooking.
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Comments
Luna
Victoria
I found this to be a particularly interesting article because I have so many dietary restrictions myself (gluten and dairy). I find I won't trust others to cook gluten free for me regardless of how hard they try, because the utensils they use have inevitably been contaminated by gluten. For example, wooden spoons that have been used in regular flour cannot ever be used in a gluten free recipe without adding gluten to it. Same goes for teflon pans. And if there's flour in the air from the past few days, forget it. It'll land in the food for sure. So while it's admirable that you try to make things gluten free, don't get too upset if the office Celiac sufferer won't try it. :)
What I do is bring one thing I can eat, dish it up first (so no spoons from other dishes go in, and no crumbs get spilled on it).
Here's a salad that is different and yummy:
Cold Lentil Salad
1 cup any type of lentils
salt or soy sauce to taste, black pepper to taste
1 tbsp wine vinegar
2 tsp Dijon mustard
2 tomatoes, chopped, peeled (optional) Canned tomatoes work in a pinch
2-3 green onions, chopped
2 tbsp parsley, chopped
Garnish with 2 hardboiled eggs (optional)
Cook lentils in water for 30 to 45 minutes (no salt) Drain. Blend in other things except for tomatoes, parsley and green onions. Chill. Add
rest of the stuff.
Oh, and any pasta salad with rice noodles instead of wheat noodles is a good go-to, but cook them in a stainless steel pot, and only strain them with the lid - no strainers that have had gluten noodles.
Posted December 13, 2008 07:09 PM
Rosie
I'm cooking impaired myself, so have no recipes to contribute. But as a vegetarian, can I put forward a plea for people who prepare perfectly wonderful, beautiful salads to stop ruining them with bacon bits? I can't think of how many times I've attended potlucks and been offered salads with what appear to be scraps of dead pig mixed throughout them. And no, since I am not a five-year-old, I am not going to submit to the indignity of picking them out, so don't even suggest it. I prefer to nibble on a roll while chatting politely and then make an early departure from the event so I can go get something to eat.
I love the idea of supplying ingredient lists, too, as it saves chasing people around the room, trying to find what they put in each dish. Even vegans need to be sensitive on this point - yes, there is such a thing as soy allergies!
Supplying a list of ingredients is simply the courteous and respectful thing to do.
Posted December 14, 2008 01:32 PM
Patricia S.
I personally think putting an ingredient list beside a dish at a party is one of the best ideas I've ever heard, and I plan on doing that at my next event.
I've run into the dietary restrictions at events many times myself. I'm allergic to almonds, and I tend to avoid artificial sweeteners due to previous issues with migraines (does any other woman find that they are automatically offered diet soft drinks? I get that all the time).
I don't hold dinner parties or potluck events very often, but I frequently attend them and have often run into issues with dishes because they may contain almonds or almond oils. My strategy with potluck events is to always participate in some way, since I can make sure there is at least one dish I can safely eat. If I am attending a dinner party which is not supposed to be a potluck, I always contact the host or hostess to make sure there is a few dishes in the plan that do not cause me any trouble.
On the rare occasions I do host an event, I make it part of my plan to make sure everyone has something they can enjoy, but I don't always try to make sure every dish is safe for everybody. As long as there are 3 or more dishes each guest can happily eat (with no need for picking out undesired ingredients such as mushrooms, bacon bits, olives etc) I am satisfied I've done a good job.
Posted December 15, 2008 01:03 PM
AlysM
Vancouver
At potlucks that I attend, the hosting location checks in for allergies and preferences and passes that info to all invitees.
We then take a few minutes just before the serving starts to "declare" the dishes and their ingredients.
This make it easier to everyone to choose safely and promotes the inclusion that we want to feel.
Posted December 22, 2008 06:57 PM