There are so many people in my life who inspired me to start this project. I have been passionate about feeding people, albeit in very different ways, for almost as long as I can remember. It started with what I fondly refer to as “my domestic goddess phase” when I was around 12, continued through my goal to see if I could kindly kill anyone with cream cheese, and then turned into what has been a multi-year keto adventure.
Before the keto adventure, I will confess that I had no real appreciation of how challenging it can be for people with special dietary needs to find something to eat. That statement could apply to going out to eat, to a friend’s house for dinner, to a party (open house, birthday party, etc.), or to an event (wedding, retirement party, etc.). As someone with no real dietary restrictions and very few foods that I wouldn’t at least try, I just didn’t get it. That all changed when we started keto.
However, my lightbulb moment didn’t come until I was cooking for a work lunch meeting. By that point I was seriously tired of people ordering pizza–which is one of my 2 favorite foods–that I couldn’t eat because, yeah, definitely not keto. I knew that several coworkers had their own sets of dietary restrictions that were similarly unaccounted for, so I decided to just handle the food myself. I had a blast! Then came a new year’s eve party with friends and a host of allergies, diets, food sensitivities, and medical issues. Challenge accepted. 🙂
From that point on, I was hooked. I love the challenge of taking the varied restrictions and preferences (e.g. vegetarian, low carb, doesn’t like cheesy things, only poultry for meat, allergic to all of the top 8 most common allergens) and making a menu out of it so that everyone has options they can enjoy. It serves what seems to be one of my main purposes in life–to feed people.
When describing this concept to most other people in my life, I am most often met with a response along the lines of “that sounds like a nightmare”. That response coupled with the complete lack of options and special diet accommodations that I see in everyday life led me to a few conclusions.
- I’m not normal. (Nothing new or shocking here.)
- There is an unmet need to provide food for many combinations of dietary restrictions.
- This problem runs up and down the scale gamut–from families trying to figure out breakfast, lunch, and dinner to someone trying to host a small party at home to someone trying to find a caterer who can accommodate special requirements.
My purpose is ultimately to feed people, with the knowledge that doing so is often a complicated proposition that people often do not have the time, desire, knowledge, or resources to solve. I’m here to help you navigate the stressors of hosting people when they have special dietary needs to accommodate. I’ll give you menu ideas, prep plans, day of time tables, and hopefully a sense of confidence that solving dietary challenge puzzles doesn’t have to be a giant hurdle. At the end of the day, this site is about providing tools for you to easily host the people in your life.
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