Catering to Alternative Diets

In college, I eliminated all dairy from my diet, believing I was lactose intolerant. For two years I avoided everything - milk, butter, cheese, yogurt - still, I felt sick often. Eventually, between visits to a naturopath, blood tests, and experimenting with "elimination diets," I was able to narrow down my sensitivities to milk and soy protein.

This recent Ahi special happened to be without gluten or dairy.

During that time, I became intimately aware of the difficulties that come with food allergies, sensitivities, and eating out. I began to avoid eating out altogether, feeling that no one understood my situation and that restaurant menus had little to offer me.

Janet gets it. Just yesterday a customer came in to ask what menu items lacked dairy products. Janet explained, "I make everything from scratch, so that I can always tell customers exactly what is or isn't in each dish."

These days, it seems that everyone has some kind of food allergy, intolerance, or specified diet to follow. Vegetarian and vegan diets are becoming ever-popular, further encouraged by the Meatless Monday campaign, Oprah's vegan for a week promotion, and Mark Zuckerberg's "eat only what he kills himself" diet. Even without the extremes, the fact is, many people are either making choices towards alternative health, or being forced to make serious lifestyle adjustments as they discover food allergies or sensitivities. One that we discuss often in the kitchen is gluten intolerance, which as anyone with eyes has noticed, is on the rise.

Angeline's Bakery in Sisters supplies our delicious gluten-free bread. As the chef, Janet works carefully to ensure that our menu can meet a lot of these alternative needs. Of course, we can't cater to every special diet out there, but a little effort goes a long way. Janet''s understanding and creativity mean that customers can always find vegetarian and gluten-free options on both our lunch and dinner menus. We also feature vegan soups on the regular, and I swear, they are just as amazing as Janet's non-vegan soups. Some, like the curried cauliflower, might even win out in a contest against its conventional soup competitors. Our flexibility in catering events means that we can create party menus with plenty of special options for those with gluten, dairy, or meat-free diets.

David likes to say that you can't make lemonade without lemons. In this case, Janet uses what could be "obstacles" of special diet requests and uses them to add a little more creative depth to the menu. The results benefit everyone.