Southeast Asian ingredients a boon if you're looking for food substitutes!

I invite you to check out my lastest article published on the online Suite101 Magazine!

http://www.suite101.com/content/southeast-asian-gems-in-the-food-allergy-treasure-chest-a373438

Food Substitutes from Southeast Asia

Thought I’d share a tidbit from the new Suite101.com article I’m about to submit for publication – but first, other good news:

Visits to this blog have increased a LOT over this past month, including new visitors from Brazil, Russia, and Singapore!  Welcome J 

I’m happy to see that search engines and referral sites are sending more and more readers too – a big thank-you to AllergyEats.com which sent 10 referrals.  I’m also seeing referrals from Facebook.com, Blogger.com, and Guru.com.  Please keep the referrals coming, whether electronically or by good old-fashioned word of mouth!!

TIDBIT FROM MY UPCOMING ARTICLE:  For people whose meal choices are limited by food allergies, Southeast Asia offers so many enticing possibilities of ingredients which can be used as an alternative to any number of other ingredients.  Among these are unripe/brined jackfruit to replace chicken in stews (jackfruit “chips” are also sold in Oriental stores and make an interesting alternative to potato chips!) or jujube berries (also known as Chinese dates) to replace either fresh or dried cranberries.

Treasures from so many cuisines!

I find myself doing what I don’t like to see other bloggers doing – feeling that I have to apologize for being away for a while without having put anything new on my blog.  I know we’re all only human, so I forgive them and myself (at least a little bit) but I still wish I had had more time to contribute to my blog over the past few weeks.

That said, I’m very grateful that, despite my temporary disappearance, the number and diversity of visitors to this site continue to increase – both new and returning readers not only from across the United States and many European countries but also from Central America (Costa Rica), other parts of Europe (Norway, Russia), and even the Pacific Rim (Australia).  My greatest hope is that the information found on this blog is helpful.  Thank you to everyone who’s visited, and please continue share this blog with anyone you know!

Meanwhile, as mentioned in my last post, I’m writing articles for Suite101 Online Magazine, and planning that the next one will be about how Asian cuisines and food markets offer a wealth of food substitutes and alternatives for those of us dealing with multiple and less commonly seen food allergies.  It’s a big topic, so the challenge will be to trim it while still giving all the info I know readers will find useful.

I’ve also got draft articles about alternatives and undiscovered “safe” foods found in the varied cuisines and markets of Africa, the Middle East, the Caribbean, and Latin America.  Discovering these foods, and seeing how they can enrich a diet that otherwise may be extremely limited by food allergies, has lifted my spirits and given me new resolve to share what I have learned. 

In that vein, I warmly invite you, my wonderful readers, to share any such treasures which you may have found, too – foods that perhaps are not familiar to people living outside of your own location and might just provide a needed boost of nutrition, flavor, and release from menu monotony J

Adult Onset of Food Allergies: Some current theories

Further to my post of earlier this month regarding Adult Onset of Food Allergies, I wanted to pass on some information I recently discovered -- definitely worth looking into if you're wondering, as I am, what may be causing adults to suddenly develop food allergies.

In the Spring 2011 issue of Allergic Living Magazine, on pages 15 & 16 within the section titled "The Food Allergy Experts", Dr. Scott Sicherer (Chief of the Division of Allergy and Immunology at the Jaffe Food Allergy Institute, Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York) tells a reader some of the current theories about why adults are experiencing food allergies they didn't when they were children:

1) Allergy to proteins in the air which are similar to proteins in certain foods may contribute to developing food allergy -- for example, proteins in birch pollen are similar to the proteins of foods in the same family as apples and pears (Pomoideae, a sub-family of the Rose Family).

2) Environmental exposure to a food or food protein, even if not ingested, may increase risk of allergy to that food/protein (peanuts are the example given).

3) Changes in digestion, such as taking antacids, may lead to increased risk of food allergy (the theory is that lack of stomach acid reduces digestion and allows proteins to pass intact to the immune system).

4) An imbalance in the immune system caused, for example, by a severe viral illness, may lead the body to attack proteins it formerly considered benign.

This list is by no means exhaustive nor definitive, and Dr. Sicherer emphasizes the importance of talking with a board-certified allergist about your specific case.  The bottom line is that no one has yet sufficiently pinned down the cause(s) of food allergies in adults or children, but every day our knowledge is increasing -- a heartening thought for the times when our hope of relief seems to dwindle.

Indian Ingredients in the Food Allergy Treasure Chest

I am pleased to have recently published my first article as a contributing writer to the Suite101.com Online Magazine.

Of course it's an article on one of my favorite subjects: finding ingredient alternatives when your "safe foods" list is limited by multiple food allergies (especially those beyond the "Top 8").  This is the first of several articles I'll be writing about how ethnic markets can be a fantastic boon for eliminating monotony from meals. 

Feel free to check it out at:
http://www.suite101.com/content/indian-ingredients-in-the-food-allergy-treasure-chest-a366570

Indian vegetable market
(Credit: babasteve)



Check out "AllergyEats.com" for great info on finding allergy friendly restaurants (its blog site has also kindly included my food allergy blog in its "Friends" list): http://www.allergyeats.com/blog/

The AllergyEats Blog

www.allergyeats.com

Adult Onset of Food Allergies

I’m delighted to welcome recent readers from Hong Kong, Iran, and Israel, as well as a steadily increasing stream of readers from the USA, Canada, and various European countries.  Please continue to visit, and bring your friends!

This will be a short post today, but I wanted to share with you what I’ve been thinking about the past few days.  I’ve started receiving regular “Google Alerts” for anything that appears on the web about multiple food allergies, and one item that caught my attention was a post in the “Allergy Community” section of a website called www.medhelp.org.  The post was from a woman who as an adult began experiencing food allergies to a variety of foods, though she had not had prior food allergies.  Some of her food allergies are not to the currently recognized “Top 8”, and some started out as mild allergies but got more severe if she continued to eat those foods.  Her further frustration is that the number of food allergies she has is increasing, and she’s afraid she’ll soon have nothing that is safe for her to eat.

This resonated with me because it’s all too true a scenario that my own family has experienced – first with my mother, then with myself.  Adult onset of food allergies, and the growing number and diversity of those allergies, seem to be topics much less frequently addressed than food-allergic kids and the “Top 8” food allergies.  This is not only disturbing to those of us who as adults developed food allergies but also disheartening because far too few people know (as I do from my own research and personal experience) that there are myriad alternative foods as well as extensive information that can help this large segment of the population.

Obviously this blog is one such resource, and I strive daily to add more sources of information and support to it.  My magazine articles and of course my book that I hope to have published soon are also inspired by my desire to provide such information and encouragement.  There are a few other sites out there that also address food allergies beyond the “Top 8” and aren’t aimed primarily at kids (see the links to the left and right of this post).  Nonetheless I am wondering how to reach more people like the woman who posted on the medhelp.org website – when I investigated further I found many more posts from as far back as 2007 from adults who, like her, were experiencing adult onset of food allergies and didn’t know where to turn for help in order to still be able to eat well.

I would love to hear your comments and anything about your own experiences with adult onset food allergies – both the difficulties and the solutions you’ve found.  And I promise I’ll share with you whatever I can find that will be of help, too.

Ketchup and pasta sauce with NO tomatoes or nightshades...

First, I’m thrilled to welcome an ever-increasing number of visitors to this site – in the past month several new online readers have joined us from Canada, and new visitors continue to come to us from Germany, Slovenia, France, and across the United States. 

Reports generated by Blogger.com, Google Analytics, and Grader.com indicate that more referral sites and search engines are finding this blog and that its rank is swiftly rising among food allergy blogs worldwide.  Thank you to everyone who’s visited, and please continue share this blog with anyone you know!

My post today is on the topic of “tomato sauces” that are tomato-free AND nightshade-free.  Last month I offered some suggestions on alternatives to using red or green tomatoes in recipes, but most of those unfortunately still use members of the Nightshade Family (of which tomato is one), leaving those of us with allergies to the whole Nightshade Family (Solanaceae) in a bit of a fix.

Two days ago I came across a recipe for red pasta sauce that DOESN’T involve tomatoes OR any other nightshades, and I was so excited, I started searching for similar recipes.  The original recipe I found was in a fairly old “International Macrobiotic Cuisine” book called Whole World Cookbook, produced by a group of editors at East West Journal back in 1984, and used carrots, beets, and red miso as its main ingredients.  My immediate thought was why didn’t I think of using carrots and beets like that?!?

Already I saw a nightshade-free sauce coming together in my mind – carrots being from the Carrot/Parsley Family (Umbelliferae or Apiaceae) and beets from the Goosefoot/Beet Family (Chenopodiaceae).  Red miso is soy-derived and therefore from a sub-family called Papilionoideae or Faboideae and which belongs to the larger Legume Family (Leguminoaseae or Fabaceae).  As the amount of miso required was quite small, I would probably leave it out altogether.  Alternatively, I could easily imagine adding various other ingredients to replace its saltiness if needed, e.g. coconut aminos or a smidge of yeast extract (Marmite).  Basically, the macrobiotic recipe I found called for pressure cooking the carrots and beets with onions and then adding the miso and various Italian-style herbs and spices to get the right flavor, plus arrowroot to thicken the sauce.

Inspired by that recipe, I did a quick websearch for other tomato-free and nightshade-free sauces, and to my surprise there were a number of similar recipes using carrots and beets, and not just for pasta sauce but also for ketchup – those of you who have to avoid ketchup because of tomatoes will no doubt be as happy as I was to finally get that item back on the table!**

Here are a few of the recipes I found (note: one uses yams instead of carrots) – I haven’t tried them yet, but am gearing up to do so.  If you beat me to it, please let me know how you liked the results.  I even found a company that makes such sauces commercially.  The best part is that with carrots and beets, you’re already getting more varied nutrients than you would have been getting with tomatoes or their nightshade siblings anyway!

Tomato-free red pasta sauce: 

http://www.tomatoesareevil.com/tomato%20free%20recipes.html

http://oko-organic-clothing.blogspot.com/2010/01/macrobiotic-gluten-free-carrot.html

http://www.fatfreevegan.com/dressings/mock_tomato.shtml

http://www.wellsphere.com/allergies-article/beet-sauce-a-k-a-tomato-free-spaghetti-pasta-sauce-gluten-free-vegan-tomato-free/841225

Tomato-free ketchup:

http://www.wikihow.com/Make-a-Tomato-Free-Ketchup

Commercially sold tomato-free sauces:

http://www.nomato.com/products.htm

P.S. For a long time now I’ve used a sauce made primarily of red lentils (which dissolve and become orange) as a pasta sauce topping that is also nightshade-free.  Doesn’t taste much like tomato sauce but is very flavorful and colorful plus a great source of additional protein.  I’ll try to post that recipe in the coming weeks.

** Of course, if you are allergic to carrots, beets, or any member of their respective food families, or to any of the herbs or spices used in such sauces, you would have to adapt the recipe(s) accordingly.  Fortunately there are a number of other vegetables that can be cooked to resemble carrots in texture and color but hail from different food families (such as sweet potato/USA yam or pumpkin).  For beets, you’d most likely have to substitute other red-colored foods, perhaps rhubarb or red plums?  Wait till my soon-to-be-published book comes out – it’s FILLED with food substitution ideas!

Why Food Families Are Important

A big part of the book manuscript which I recently submitted for publication was an extensive and detailed list of food families and their members.  From both research and personal experience I’ve learned that knowledge of food families, and their inter-relation, is extremely helpful in aiding food allergy sufferers to avoid harmful and potentially deadly foods.

While many “food allergy cookbooks” contain a food family list, it is not usually very extensive and sometimes not even particularly accurate.  To be fair, scientists are still revising categorization of some food families or members of food families, so that could explain some of the variations from book to book – for example, until rather recently amaranth was considered a member of the Goosefoot/Beet Family (Chenopodiaceae), but now is categorized as its own family (Amaranthaceae), together with quinoa and tampala – and even at that, quinoa is in a different “sub-family” from amaranth, lessening somewhat the likelihood of allergy to one even if you’re allergic to the other.  You therefore might be fine eating amaranth even if you’re allergic to beets, swiss chard, and spinach (all members of the Goosefoot/Beet Family).  Or you might, as in my case, be able to eat quinoa without a problem but have to stay away from amaranth.

In my opinion, understanding food families is KEY to being able to eat safely and well, and to achieve that goal people need to know not only which foods belong to which food families but also the fact that two or more members of the same food family MAY OR MAY NOT cause the same allergic reaction.  Some people can eat certain members of a food family but not other members of the same food family, while other people must avoid all members of the food family either because of allergy to all of them or simply because trying to find out which ones might or might not be allergenic is not worth the risk.  Furthermore, allergy to some foods within the same food family may appear at different times, often in a progressive type of situation where first one or two members of the food family are off-limits and later on an allergy to additional members becomes apparent.

If being able to eat a variety of nutritious and varied foods while avoiding harmful allergens is at the top of your priority list, I encourage you to learn as much as you can about as many food families as possible.  Start by thinking back to high school science, when we learned that all living things are scientifically categorized in a series of levels or groupings which, ultimately, are all linked at their highest level (e.g. all plants belong to the “Kingdom” of Plantae – including bacteria and fungi and sometimes separated into six smaller kingdoms – while all animals belong to the “Kingdom” of Animalia).  Below the “Kingdoms” are myriad additional groupings that are more and more narrowly defined: below “Kingdom” is “Phylum”, then “Class”, then “Order”, then “Family”, then “Genus” (sometimes called “sub-family”, and sometimes followed by “Species” to specifically differentiate between differing forms of very similar plants or animals).

With regard to food and food allergies, focus is usually on the “Family” or “sub-families” (Genus) but sometimes we must look higher up the scale to “Order” or even “Phylum”.   Thus we can pinpoint and if necessary avoid the entire family of, say, Nightshades (Solanaceae), which includes white potato, eggplant, tomato, bell pepper, chili peppers, tamarillo, tomatillo, cape gooseberry, and pepino.  Or, we might be able to safely eat some members of one family while avoiding others – my mother, for example, can eat brussels sprouts and watercress but not broccoli, cabbage, turnip, radish, or canola – even though all seven are members of the Mustard Family (known as Cruciferae or Brassicaceae).

Knowledge is even more important with foods that are harder to pinpoint as belonging to a certain food family.  Take the Mollusk Family (Mollusca), which is actually not a family but a “Phylum” that can be divided into multiple sub-classes or sub-families but usually seen lumped together for ease of reference.  The Mollusk Family includes abalone, clam, mussel, oyster, scallop, cockle, snail, squid, octopus, and cuttlefish – the first six or seven sometimes “sub-categorized” separately from the others because they are found in shells…but NOT to be confused with “shellfish” (e.g. crab, lobster, shrimp) which come from the Crustacean Family (Crustacea) – itself not actually a family but rather a sub-phylum that can in turn be further divided into multiple sub-classes or sub-families.  Thus ANY of the members of EITHER of these two “food families” MIGHT OR MIGHT NOT be allergens for you…At a minimum, knowledge tells you that “shellfish” is a broad category and you might not have to dump all of the above into the “unsafe” basket after all!

Another point to keep in mind with regard to food families:  Sometimes you will hear the same name for foods from completely separate families.  Snapper and bass both come to mind because although red snapper is a member of the Snapper Family (Lutjanidae), some fish from other food families are also referred to as snapper.  Conversely, there are many fish called bass yet they can come from any of three separate families: Sea Bass Family (Serranidae) which includes its namesake sea bass, Sunfish Family (Centrarchidae) which includes black bass, and Temperate Bass Family (Moronidae) which includes yellow bass, white bass, and striped bass.

Lastly, the inter-relation of some food families can be equally important in relation to food allergies.  For example, the Rose Family (Rosaceae) has three main sub-families which are often considered distinct and separate families and therefore an allergy to one may not mean an allergy to the others.  These sub-families are: 1) “Pome” or Apple (Pomoideae or Maloideae) which includes apple, pear, quince, mayhaw, loquat, crabapple and rosehip; 2) “Drupe” or Stonefruit (Prunoideae or Amygdaloideae) which includes plum, peach, cherry, apricot, nectarine, and almond; and 3) “Tiny Seed Berry” (Rosoideae) which includes strawberry, raspberry, blackberry, boysenberry, loganberry, youngberry, Japanese wineberry (wine raspberry), cloudberry, and garden burnet.  At the same time, one of those sub-families (the Apple Family) is also closely related to the Birch Family (Betulaceae) and therefore an allergy to members of the Apple Family may also mean an allergy to hazelnuts, wintergreen, and birch sugar (all members of the Birch Family).

Likewise, the Asparagus Family (Asparagaceae) is closely related to both the Lily Family (Liliaceae) and the Amaryllis Family (Amaryllidaceae ), increasing the likelihood of shared allergenic qualities among asparagus, aloe, sarsaparilla, and all forms of onion and garlic.  Similarly, the Caper Family (Capparidaceae or Capparaceae) is closely related to the Mustard Family (Brassicaceae or Cruciferae) and within the huge Bovine Family (Bovidae) are several large and separate but still related sub-families (each called a genus) which thus inter-relate goat, sheep, cattle, yak and muskox.  Nonetheless, many people can safely eat both lamb and beef or goat meat, while other people may find they are allergic to them all.

The more I learn about food families, the more sense I can make out of why certain foods cause an allergic reaction, and the more easily I am able to use that knowledge to continue to ensure healthy, tasty and nutritious meals are still on the menu at my house.  I invite you to share your own experiences and learning in this regard – I am sure such knowledge will benefit us all J

Pizza, Nightshades, Book

Although neither of us can eat wheat, my 6^th-grade daughter and I shared a delicious pizza last weekend, home-made and tasting like it was fresh from the local pizzeria.  In fact our whole house smelled like a pizzeria, and it was wonderful!  I want to share the recipe I used, as it was not only yummy but also very easy and quick to make. 

The recipe (for “Pizza Margherita”) came from Alice Sherwood’s Allergy-Free Cookbook (Dorling Kindersley Ltd., 2007).  Of course being the “Adapt-a-Recipe Queen”, I made a few tweaks to it, but in general I followed her suggestions for gluten-free pizza dough as well as toppings and cooking time.  Here’s the recipe, per my modifications:

Gluten-free dough (also nut-free and egg-free)

1 c. rice flour

¾ c. potato starch

¼ c. tapioca starch

1 T. xanthan gum

¼ tsp. salt

1 tsp. powdered (confectioner’s) sugar

1½ tsp. instant yeast

1 T. olive oil plus extra 1 tsp. for pan

Scant 1 c. lukewarm water

2 T. cornstarch for dusting

Topping

6 -8 T. tomato sauce

1 c. shredded mozzarella cheese

½ c. sliced hard salami or pepperoni (optional)

1 T. olive oil

1 tsp. dried oregano (optional)

1)    Set oven to “warm” (or 150ºF).  Oil 12-in. pizza pan or baking sheet with 1 tsp. oil.

2)    In a food processor fitted with “kneading” blade, combine flours, xanthan gum, salt, sugar, yeast, and oil.

3)    Add water and mix to form soft dough that just begins to pull off sides of food processor bowl (2-3 mins).

4)    Dust clean flat work surface with cornstarch and transfer dough to work surface, shaping dough into ball (you may need to hand-knead slightly) and making sure cornstarch covers all surfaces of the ball.

5)    Roll out dough until approximately 12 inches in diameter.  Transfer dough to pizza pan and pat down, spreading evenly to edges of pan.

6)    Cover with aluminum foil and place in warm oven for 20 mins.

7)    Remove pan from oven and re-set oven temperature to 425 ºF.

8)    Spread tomato sauce on pizza dough, leaving about a ¼-in. rim of plain crust around edges.  Sprinkle cheese on tomato sauce, add salami or pepperoni slices (if using), then drizzle olive oil on pizza and sprinkle with oregano (if using).

9)    Bake in oven for 20 mins.  Pizza will be puffed up and golden when taken out of oven, but will lose its puffiness as cools.  Serves 2-4 depending on how hungry you are and what else is served with it.

One drawback of the above pizza recipe is, of course, that it contains potato starch, which belongs to the Nightshade Family and so is off-limits for many people with food allergies.  I haven’t experimented with other flours in this recipe, but I do believe it can be done, perhaps with added tapioca flour or rice flour.  In thinking about replacing the potato starch, I realized that the pizza also contains another nightshade: tomato.  This is harder to replace, but a first step might be to make a “white pizza” using only a cheese sauce plus flavorful herbs/spices. 

Unfortunately, in my quest for food substitutes to put into my (hopefully) soon-to-appear cookbook (see below), I didn’t find much for tomato.  This was a disappointment because there are some dishes that just can’t be done without tomato sauce, and that’s been a thorn in my side for a while now.  Though I did find some alternatives both for red and green (unripe) tomatoes, most of the alternatives are also members of the Nightshade Family (one that is not is the bilimbi fruit, also known as Indian tree cucumber, which like its sibling starfruit or carambola belongs to the Wood Sorrel Family).  A possible consolation is that some people who are allergic to one or more members of a food family are not necessarily allergic to other members of that same food family.  So, if you’re willing (and fairly certain you won’t have an adverse reaction), you could try these substitutes in place of tomatoes: 

Substitutes for green (unripe) tomato*: tomatillo (husk tomato, ground cherry), cape gooseberry, bilimbi fruit (mimbro, kamias, Indian tree cucumber), pepino (melon pear)

Substitutes for red (ripe) tomato*: ripe tamarillo (tree tomato), roasted red (bell) pepper + lemon juice

That soon-to-appear cookbook I mentioned, by the way, is actually more of a food substitutes and adaptable recipes guide, and it’s the main reason my posts to this blog have been so sparse lately.  I am planning to ship it off to my prospective publisher this weekend (it’s awaiting a final read-through by an unbiased friend at the moment – Mom and I decided we’re too close to the forest to really see the trees objectively). 

True to my nature, I’m not going to veg out now that one project is over (at least for the moment); I’m already working on a cookbook that will include lots more adaptable recipes and resources, I have several food allergy articles in the works, and I am impatiently waiting for the new local Asian market to open so that I can scour its shelves and discover some more ingredients to add either as substitutes or enhancements to my ongoing cooking experiments.  I’ll be sure to let you know what I find!

Cassava (or manioc, or yuca, or tapioca, or...)

Last week a visitor to this MFAA-Interchange blog asked me what to do with cassava root.  I thought my answer might be helpful to other readers, especially since it is a great alternative starch both as a vegetable (e.g. in place of potato) and as a baking ingredient.

First, though, keep in mind that cassava (or cassava root) is also known/sold as manioc, manioc root, mandioca, yuca, yuca root, or even tapioca (yes, the same kind that you find in pudding).  It is NOT related to the casava (or casaba) melon, and NOT the same as “yucca” (which is a type of aloe plant) even though you may see this spelling used.  Cassava root is a starchy white tropical tuber that is said to be high in Vitamin C and fiber.  Sometimes taro root is used interchangeably with cassava root, but be aware that these two are NOT from the same biological/food family.  Similarly, “tapioca” can come from at least three different biological/food families, so you may not be able to tell from the package whether it’s really cassava or not.

Cassava is sold in several forms that can be used in numerous ways; the forms most commonly sold – and most easily found in the USA – are frozen, fresh, or canned cassava root, and sometimes cassava meal/flour.  Generally the frozen and canned versions are pre-peeled; the fresh version looks a bit like a thick tree-branch and requires peeling before use. 

I also use a wonderful gluten-free commercial flour mix called “Chebe” which uses manioc (cassava) as its primary ingredient; I have successfully used Chebe to make breadsticks, hamburger buns, bourekas and turnovers, and I still have more ideas to explore!

The frozen cassava root that I buy at the supermarket (Goya brand -- good brand for a lot of different Hispanic foods) I just boil in water until soft and then drain, mash, and treat like mashed potatoes (mixed with cream, butter, garlic powder), either eating "as is" or making a sort of pancake with the mash and lightly frying in oil or butter.  You can also freeze the "pancakes" before frying them and then take them out to fry whenever you want some.  They are a nice snack or accompaniment to a meal.

Cassava meal/flour can be found online or at ethnic markets/food stores (ranging from Mexican/South American to Caribbean/African to Indian/Asian especially Filipino) and can be used much like wheat flour to make cakes etc. I personally haven't used it yet, but I have found quite a few recipes online – have been trying to find time to make them, and will share with you as soon as I can. Below are a few links where I found some great-looking recipes...If you’ve got a good recipe using cassava, please share it with us on this blog too!  

http://www.cooks.com/rec/search/0,1-0,cassava,FF.html

http://www.ifood.tv/network/cassava/recipes

http://www.food.com/recipe/cassava-cake-28845

http://www.whats4eats.com/breads/bammie-recipe

More good news!

More good news!  Check out the below link to see an article of mine which was recently published in a U.S. metropolitan parenting magazine -- Bringing attention to the fact that many people are dealing with multiple food allergies that may be less common but are no less challenging.

http://www.treasurevalleyfamily.com/wellness/463-food-allergies-beyond-the-top-8-by-bethany-niazian.html

Your comments/feedback welcome!!
Bethany

Check out new listings under Info/Support Groups and Food Source Links!

I'm hard at work finishing up the final draft of my allergy-free adaptable recipe cookbook to submit to the publisher, so I haven't had time to write a new post, but please do check out the new listings on this blog on the"Info/Support Groups" and "Food Source Links"  pages -- I have found some great new resources to share with you!

More good news:  This blog's readership is still growing -- The "audience stats" that this website provides tell me that MFAA-Interchange now has received visits from readers not only from the USA, Australia, the UK, Luxembourg and Germany but also from France and Slovenia!  Thank you to those of you who have told friends about the site, and please continue to do so :-)

A Rose is a Rose...

According to Shakespeare, a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.  Unfortunately, that doesn’t mean that a food by any other name is still that food.  

Case in point: several years ago my mother was diagnosed as allergic to sweet potato but not to yam.  These are, biologically, very different foods, and generally differ in taste, texture, and sometimes appearance.  Yams are from the Dioscoreaceae (Yam) family and are closely related to lilies and grasses, whereas sweet potatoes are from the Convolvulaceae (Morning Glory) family.  It would seem a simple thing for us to avoid having sweet potatoes in the house, but over the recent holidays it became apparent that Americans are in fact often confused about the difference between sweet potatoes and yams – or worse yet, think there is no difference. 

The canned yams we buy at our local supermarket for making traditional Thanksgiving and Christmas dishes, for example, actually say BOTH on the label – “yams” in BIG letters, and “sweet potatoes” in smaller letters under that!  Interestingly, this same supermarket chain sells fresh (raw) versions of these two foods but has “yams” in one place, “sweet potatoes” in another, clearly marked as different items and clearly different-looking in appearance.

Knowing that yams and sweet potatoes are not really the same thing doesn’t necessarily make choosing the “safe” one any easier when shopping.  I did some research and found the reasons that Americans are so confused – and I say “Americans” because it seems that the rest of the world already has this riddle figured out.

Long story short: what we call “yams” are actually orange-fleshed versions of what is really a sweet potato.  That means that the canned yams label is accurate when it says “sweet potatoes”, but it is not scientifically correct in calling that same product “yams”.  A “true yam” is a bland, starchy tuber that is usually much drier and more starchy than a sweet potato and contains very little beta-carotene.  What Americans think of as yams are native to the Americas and are primarily grown in the southern USA, whereas true yams are of African and Asian origin and currently come to us mostly from the Caribbean.  True yams are generally harder to find in the USA, though that is changing.  History and habit are the main reasons for our confusion and the fact that the name “yam” appears on can labels (see below), but in the manufacturers’ defense, I did discover that for a long time now the US Dept. of Agriculture has required that the label “yam” always be accompanied by “sweet potato”, indicating the true biological origin.

Historical accounts say that Americans refer to sweet potatoes as yams because the word “yam” is similar to the African words “njam”, “nyami”, and “djambi” (meaning “to eat”) and came with the first Africans brought to the New World, who thought that our sweet potatoes resembled their native yams.  The true yam (starchy, less moist tuber, not our sweet-tasting delight) is still a common food in Africa and the Caribbean, as well as in Asia and Latin America.  Another likely reason for the name confusion: when sweet potatoes (our “yams”) first became readily available in the US marketplace, our forefathers logically wanted to differentiate between the good old white potato and this new, sweeter, more colorful version.  In terms of both taste and biology, we should call the latter sweet potatoes only, which is what the rest of the world already calls them (even when they are marked here as “garnet yam” or “jewel yam”!).  Caveat: there are some sweet potatoes that have lighter-colored flesh (yellow or white) and which may be drier and less sweet than their darker cousins, but they’re still sweet potatoes, not yams.

As for yams, we Americans have simply got it backwards: the candied, marshmallow-topped dish that what we eat at Thanksgiving and Christmas should be called sweet potatoes only, never yams.  And what we see in the supermarket marked as fresh “sweet potato” (when differentiated from “yam”) is actually the “true yam” (starchy, less moist tuber) and should be called a yam only.  The flesh of true yams can range from ivory to yellow to purple, and their skins (rough and scaly) can be white, pink, or dark brown.  I personally don’t buy or cook those (they are, after all, an allergen for my mother), but in other parts of the world they are roasted, boiled, mashed, fried, ground into flour, and made into porridge, noodles, cakes, and a variety of other dishes, none of them sweet unless a sweetener is added.  Examples include Congolese fufu, Japanese ganmodoki, Chinese yam and chicken soup, Jamaican yam and goat meat appetizer, and Vietnamese creamy yam soup.

 

Further irony on this topic: you will sometimes see the phrase “true sweet potato” – don’t be fooled, because in America this means what we now know should be called a yam (“true yam”); nonetheless, unless you’re sure it’s a biologist speaking, be wary!  Most Americans don’t know the difference, and any foreign products made to sell in the USA could easily be trying to follow the common lingo by saying one when in their own country it might be the exact opposite J.  Thus when I saw “yam noodles” at the Japanese store near me the other day, I thought twice and didn’t buy them, realizing that in Japan a yam would really be a biological sweet potato and therefore off-limits in my house.  I’m still never sure which it is when I see “sweet potato flour” sold online, so I don’t take the chance even though I know that in other countries that seems to be what we call yam and therefore would be safe; in fact this type of flour tends to be the non-sweet type or “true yam”, in which case it is actually NOT safe for my family.

I am certain that this dichotomy is not unique to yams/sweet potatoes nor does it only confuse us Americans.  For example, I’ve mentioned in past postings that what is often commercially referred to as arrowroot can in fact derive from any number of biologically different plants found in diverse parts of the world; furthermore, this is a name sometimes applied to other foods which can also be variously known as tapioca, cassava, yucca, manioc, or mandioca.  Package labeling can only go so far in clarifying the origin and true name of food, so my advice is to err on the side of caution.  I suppose that Shakespeare is right about the rose and I would love to smell it even if it was called a tumbleweed; we food allergy sufferers just can’t afford to take that risk when it comes to foods of a different name.