My blogs are often long and researched, but I’m in the mood to be more bloggish and just write because I have a wild hair about something.

My husband and I just got back from a weekend at Kripalu Center. The food is just awesome and, for me, it’s one of the best parts of the experience of going there. What’s so good about it? It’s all whole, fresh, seasonal and organic food and the variety includes meal options for vegans, and those with food allergies.

The top five food allergens are wheat, soy, corn, dairy and eggs. The first three, incidently, are directly subsidized by the US government and the fourth is indirectly subsidized by way of dairy cattle being provided with subsidized grain. This is another rant, so I’ll leave that right there.

I’m not a vegan, so I really appreciated the fish and chicken and turkey options at Kripalu, but I do happen to try to avoid dairy, soy and gluten. Some of that avoidance (dairy) is because I have discovered that I feel conspicuously better without it, and otherwise, I’m always messing with my diet in a sort of experimental way to see what I’ll learn.

I can barely explain how HAPPY I was when I found rice milk to put into my tea, and a new kind of gluten-free cereal I had never tried. In general I am extremely psyched to try food I have never eaten before, especially if someone else is making it for me!

My friend Margaret Peet will be holding an Ayurvedic cooking class on Jan 20th and I will be there with 42 bells on, I’m so excited. My dream is to have a building for my office that has a fantastic, fully equipped kitchen for whole foods cooking classes that I can attend (not conduct.)

So I LOVE to go out to eat. We do it more often that we should, really. My favorite spot is Boynton McKay. I love their lo-carb breakfast and they have a kicking salmon pecan salad. They have also been very accommodating with my requests for sugar-free, dairy-free options.

I have one or two dishes I am happy to eat at all the restaurants around town. Usually it’s a salad with no dressing though. That not only gets a little boring, it’s always a compromise in that I know the ingredients aren’t organic, and the meat is kind of scary. I just try not to think about it too much.

Why no dressing? Zaddik’s is the only restaurant I have found (in my price range) where the oil they offer in the oil and vinegar option is extra virgin olive oil. (EV Olive oil is unrefined, which is what I hold out for.) Generally, you ask your server about the oil and they really have no idea what it is beyond “vegetable oil.”

I had a friend with Celiac disease (this means a complete intolerance of gluten) come to Camden from Portland and contact me for recommendations on where would be good to eat. I had to tell her that the landscape was bleak and she should expect to spend some time educating her server on the ubiquitous substance that would make her sick.

So what I’m longing for is a restaurant that knows what “gluten free” means, that sources its simple, wholesome meals locally and organically (without the panache and cost of Primo’s) where I can find “sesame kale” on the menu and perhaps miso soup for breakfast. I’d love to be able to take my three year old to a place where I don’t have to annoy the server with special requests (”please don’t bring white bread or oyster crackers to the table”) and especially where I can go to try new dishes that I had never heard of or thought of in the natural food realm.

Both the Rockland and Belfast Coops have cafés attached to their kitchens, and I don’t want to devalue those. Those, plus Chase’s are wonderful options for a quick lunch if you happen to be in Rockland or Belfast (I rarely am, though, for some reason.) (And the folks who are cooking are clearly winging it in Belfast Co-op.)

Dare I wish for a little wheat grass juice? Raw food options? Macrobiotic meals? I’m getting a little crazy now, but I would think that at very least a restaurant that accommodates people with food allergies (up to two-thirds of us, according to Dr. Stephen Rechtschaffen) would have an immediate and enthusiastic clientele.

There. I said it.

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