Shea panic

ONE OF THE few mainstream chocolates that is safe for Sidney to eat is Cadbury’s Buttons. This is fantastic because:

* they are kiddie-friendly

* they come in teeny packs so it’s easy to limit the amount he shovels in

* they are available everywhere so it’s the perfect party bag sweet to suggest to friends

* they are available everywhere so it’s the perfect treat for family to buy

* they are available everywhere so if we find ourselves in a situation where we’re out with friends and every kid is having an ice cream, or a cake, or something Sidney can’t have, it’s easy to track down a packet of Buttons for him to enjoy

* they are brilliantly versatile for cake toppings, biscuit decorations, etc

So imagine the panic when a new ingredients listing turned up on selected packets of Buttons a little while ago: shea.

FreeFrom Food Awards – top picks

THREE YEARS ago on Mother’s Day my then five month old had his first allergic reaction and was dashed to hospital in an ambulance. Some bloody Mother’s Day.

But last night I was a guest at the FreeFrom Food Awards and it set me thinking how amazing it is that, three years back, I had no clue about allergy and no part to play in its weird old world whereas now I am privileged to know a wonderful circle of people who share a common cause.

Dear Lollibop

Tickets for the Lollibop Festival go on sale this Friday. Now in its 5th year, the under-10s jamboree started in my local park and has ballooned to become the UK’s largest children’s festival. This year it’s being held at Hatfield House, and I would like to take the tots. But I would also like organisers to think about catering for food allergies, so here’s the email I just sent… 

‘Demystifying Oral Food Challenges’

JUST a quick link here to a very helpful, step-by-step guide to oral food challenges from the Kids With Food Allergies Foundation. It hails from the US but maps out how to prepare your child and what to expect. Thanks to Dairy Free Baby and Me for the tip.

I particularly like the point about how a reaction (i.e. failing an oral challenge) can be a learning opportunity: until last week, Sidney had never even eaten any egg, so the notion of being allergic to it was entirely abstract. While not particularly pleasant, he now knows that eating just a small amount can make him feel unwell – perhaps enough for him to recognise an allergic reaction should it happen again.

Well worth a read.

Is no reason good reason? More on allergy labelling

Allergy labelling: make it clear

SO, THE ANAPHYLAXIS Campaign has sent a speedy and detailed response to my email – big thanks to them. Still waiting for the FSA, mind.

Anyway, the Campaign has outlined the reasons for the labelling changes we’re so het up about and it looks like the issues causing most concern (removal of the ‘contains allergen’ box, not standardising the way allergens are highlighted in the ingredients list and the banning of the word ‘gluten’) are actually by-products of the legislation.

In other words, they came about because the legislation is concerned with many labelling issues (including nutrition, country of origin and date marking), and no-one gave much thought to the impact the clauses would have on allergy information.

Addendum, or, ‘I need a drink’

MAN, I SHOULD never blog in haste. After all my waxing lyrical about M&S, turns out their allergen labelling isn’t so perfect after all.

Off we trotted to buy some bread for a picnic tomorrow: after checking and cross referencing each of the egg free, nut free and sesame free lists on the M&S website I had settled on the ‘supersoft’ white as being our safe option.

Hello, Hazel

GOOD news: we are OK with hazelnuts!

After scoring a zero on Sidney’s last two skin prick tests, we were given the go-ahead to try a taste challenge at home. Actually, we were given the go-ahead a year ago but couldn’t for the life of us find any hazelnuts in their shells (naked ones run the risk of being contaminated by other nuts) until Christmas. And then I had a baby and we only got round to it now.

Crispy chicken bits

(Wheat free, gluten free, egg free, optional dairy free)

MY BID to recreate the chicken in matzo meal I loved as a child – minus the wheat and egg. Cut into goujons, chunky nuggets or a mini escalope it’s a great dish served warm and just as tasty doled out cold the next day for a picnic-style meal.

Ingredients

One pack chicken breast fillets

Orgran corn crispy crumbs (basically just baked maize breadcrumbs)

The perfect cheesecake (two ways)

YOU’LL BE hard pressed to find a shop or deli-bought cheesecake that doesn’t contain egg, let alone wheat or nuts. But it’s actually really simple to knock up an allergy-friendly alternative that tastes just as good… and maybe even better.

I first made this recipe, just before Sid was born, for my husband’s birthday. (I’m not a mental baker, but I was six months pregnant and we weren’t going out on the razzle so I decided a cake would be a substitute – albeit a poor one!). I’ve adapted it here for Sidney using Tru Free digestives, which are egg, nut, wheat and gluten free.

‘Life with my allergic toddler’

SO TODAY I have a small piece in The Times’ Weekend supplement, ‘Life With My Allergic Toddler’, about the pain in the arseness of trying to shop, cook and cater for a food allergy tot when everything you try to buy ‘may contain’ this that and the other. (Here’s the link. It’s a shorter piece than originally intended but I’ll post the full and unabridged soon…)

Meanwhile, this morning I headed out to the supermarket to buy ingredients for a Sid-friendly cheesecake (recipe also to come). And instantly proved my point.

Sainsbury’s Organic double cream? “Not suitable for nut allergy sufferers”. Silver Spoon icing sugar? “May contain traces of egg.” Sainsbury’s ‘Free From’ digestive biscuits? “May contain nuts”. Three separate shops later and I think we finally have what we need. Minus the cheery disposition I may or may not have had when we started…