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