I developed an anaphylactic allergy to milk very early in life. Anaphylaxis means that multiple body systems are involved in a reaction, which then carries the risk of shock or death. For those of who you are wondering, I was a horrible baby, because most foods made me cranky and sick – so I was breastfed for a very long time, and never used formula. My poor mother. What a saint.
Unfortunately, that restriction means that eating outside the home can be complicated, whether in a restaurant or in someone else’s home. I am forced to interrogate my host or cook: about ingredients – sometimes digging in the trash for discarded packaging – and about preparation techniques – whether they were careful to not contaminate the dishes being cooked with milk product residue. On some occasions, these lines of questioning have been met with confusion or apathy.
“Oh, so you’re lactose intolerant?”
“You just don’t like it then …?”
“There’s cheese on your salad? That’s too bad.”
“Um, yeah, can we wrap up this discussion? I’ve got food burning on the grill.”
Imagine my horror when I heard that the very first week I moved into Philippi, West Virginia, we would be eating with a different family in the church every single day. I prepared myself to find and call each of them, and imagined having to slog through the same discussion over and over. The thought of it caused an unpleasant feeling in my gut … none of these people had spoken to me in their lives, and I was introducing myself with a set of requirements in hand as a thanks for their invitation.
Well, no time to lose, right?
The first person picked up the phone, I introduced myself, and the first words she said were something along the lines of, “Hi, I’m so glad you called! Your leaders have been talking about you in church the last few weeks, and everybody is really worried about how to cook for you. They don’t want to make you sick! The meal I’ve planned is basically grilled chicken, vegetables, and fruit because I don’t want to risk anything. By the way, you should probably call Donna, because she’s losing sleep over it.”
Wait, what? I was totally floored. This was the polar opposite of what I had feared, and more than I had dared to hope for by any stretch. Obviously, I didn’t want anybody losing sleep over me, but that so many people would be concerned, and one of them would be concerned so much, was one of the most profoundly humbling things I have ever experienced. That church is unbelievably caring. All the food I ate that week was delicious.
