Sunday, March 11, 2007

From One Cake to Another

When I was 7, my brother Marco, then 5, acted so out of control sometimes that my mom figured something must be "wrong" with him. Finally, she took him to see an allergist in Laguna Beach, a doctor who did a skin prick test on him and delivered the news that Marco was allergic to wheat, milk, eggs, peanuts, corn, citrus; and, furthermore, he had a sugar intolerance. I remembering hearing this report from my mother and having my jaw drop. I remember the drop of my jaw. I remember asking, "what is he gonna eat?!!" In answer to my question, my mother pulled a bag of rice cakes from a shopping bag.

First of all, they looked nothing like cake.

Second of all, they tasted nothing like cake.

I recently discovered that I am allergic to some of these things, too; only it took me over 30 years to figure this out. And, also, as I'm figuring out, it is difficult to think of things to eat when staples like wheat, milk, eggs, butter, and sugar (hello, CAKE!), are no longer available.

Ah, rice cakes. Welcome back.

2 comments:

cake said...

have you tried toasting them? i used to eat them all the time, and enjoyed them. here are some ideas: toast them and put olive oil on them (since you can't have butter?). spread tahini and miso on them, and, if you are feeling daring, chopped garlic. drape avocado slices on them. also, it makes a big difference what brand you get. quaker...not so good. lumberg (or something like that) are VERY good. freshness makes a huge difference too.

all that being said...i feel for you, and don't think i could handle it.

Christa M. Forster said...

All very saavy suggestions my dear friend, Cake. Thank you.

I wanna try them smeared with ice cream and frosting and cool whip and those whole foods snappy ginger snaps. I bet they'd be SUPER then.