As busy mothers, Pauline O’Sullivan and Michelle Kazukaitis are always looking for ways to economize on time whilst providing the very best lifestyle and health options for their families. ‘It can be a challenge to run a household at the best of times', but in Pauline’s experience, 'when you throw food allergies or intolerances into the mix, it can take over your life and leave you feeling stressed and anxious’.
The journey to ‘The Allergy Menu’ began in 2008, when Pauline's seven year old daughter developed a severe facial rash. In a quest to help her, Pauline ran the gambit of traditional doctors, allergy clinics, nutritionists and naturopaths before finally discovering that food intolerances were a big part of the issue for her daughter. Through this process Pauline realized that as difficult as it can be to get a diagnosis, it is only half the battle. Learning to manage ongoing dietary limitations in a nutritionally sound way is a huge adjustment requiring a great deal of study, planning and organization. The ‘food sensitive’ need to become experts at reading food labels though the majority of processed and convenience foods are no longer allowable, usually because they contain gluten based thickeners or artificial additives and preservatives.
Eating out can also be problematic as many food service providers’ do not have the necessary information to know how to adapt recipes or manage the process of food preparation to prevent cross-contamination. When health issues are at stake, it is safer for those with food issues to prepare their own food. This is especially so, if accidental consumption of a particular food is likely to cause life threatening or debilitating reactions. Eating food prepared by others can be for some, like playing Russian roulette as there are so many ‘traps for the uninitiated’. There are many cases where people have died or have experienced severe physical reactions, due to the accidental contamination of ‘specially prepared’ food.
Through communicating with others in the allergy community, Pauline discovered that 'menu monotony' is a common complaint. It can be hard to achieve menu variety when you are busy and it’s especially difficult, if you have to eliminate a number of reactive foods from your diet. There is a tendency to fall into a restrictive eating pattern, simply because you know your recipes are safe, they won’t be rejected by fussy eaters and because shopping and cooking can be done without a lot of extra thought or effort. At different times, Pauline has made it a mission to tackle this problem for her own family. She has spent hours scanning recipe books, making food plans and writing shopping lists. Unfortunately, that was all before doing the shopping or cooking. This practice is just not sustainable all the time. Pauline wanted to have ‘a life’ again and decided there had to be a more efficient way for her and others in her predicament to enjoy a wider variety of ‘safe foods’.
One day whilst pondering this conundrum, Pauline had a “light bulb moment” and was inspired to develop what has now become 'The Allergy Menu’ - a computer based tool for menu planning. Given her years of research, Pauline had a very clear idea of what was needed from an end users perspective. She also knew that if the desired software could be formatted it would be ‘revolutionary’ for those in her position. Being somewhat ‘techno phobic’ however, Pauline didn’t know where to begin. Fortunately her close friend Michelle had wealth of knowledge and experience relating to information technology, photography, recipe book creation and marketing. Having travelled beside Pauline during her journey, Michelle understood the significant benefits “The Allergy Menu” would offer and was willing to dedicate her talents and time, to help turn this concept into a reality.