Living with food allergies

You can tell quite a bit from this picture:

1. That I have never been called an artist and likely never will be
2. That I have also never been called a calligrapher and likely never will be
3. That I have brought home take out Indian food at least once in my life
4. And, most salient to today’s topic, that I live with someone who has food allergies.

My husband Martin is one of the 3% of adults who has a peanut allergy. He is also deathly allergic to hazelnuts and gets sick in varying degrees from eating other legumes such as lentils (pictured above as Dal Tarka), chickpeas and pine nuts.

Most of the time, we work around his allergies just fine; however, it does mean that I do a lot of label reading when I grocery shop. I cook lentils and chickpeas and buy hummus often but keep them (as illustrated above) well labeled so that Martin doesn’t inadvertently make himself sick.

When it comes to the deadly stuff (peanuts and hazelnuts), I’m a lot more careful and seldom use them at home. That said, I have to admit that I sometimes have shameful, distracting cravings for peanut butter. Since peanuts are, in essence, my hubby’s kryptonite, it seems wrong to fantasize about peanut butter and banana croque monsieurs. Wouldn’t a better woman be able to swear off this stuff out of loyalty?

A result of my day-to-day peanut butter deprivation and this deep-seeded guilt, is that when Martin is out of town, I  succumb to unabandonned peanut butter binges. The high of dipping a spoon into a jar of that sticky goodness is tempered only by the intensive, obsessive kitchen cleaning that comes afterward. It’s pathetic, but it’s who I am.

Do any of you have to cope with living with someone  who has a food allergy or such a strong aversion to certain foods that it affects your shopping and meal choices? If so, how do you run your household safely and harmoniously?