Emily Beer Hendrix (BA '95)

Living with food allergies
No eggs, flour or milk—but it's still banana bread

When Emily Beer Hendrix (BA '95) got married, she knew little about cooking beyond boiling water. But six years ago, after her third daughter was born with severe food allergies, the Broomfield, Colo., mother used whatever cooking skills she had and became adept at converting and creating recipes that would give her daughter a more satisfying diet.

Eventually her experiments yielded tasty dishes, and she has created "Sophie-Safe Cooking," a cookbook to help others dealing with food allergies.

"We discovered Sophie had allergies at three months," Hendrix explains. "My husband gave her a drop from a root beer float and she immediately developed hives from at the top of her head and to the bottom of her neck. It was a heavy duty reaction, and, at the time we didn't realize it could be life-threatening."

As Hendrix nursed, she tracked her own eating to gauge Sophie's reactions and develop a sense of her baby's allergies. "When I ate a peanut butter sandwich, for example, Sophie threw up the entire feeding. Peanut butter is especially troubling. When she simply entered a room where someone was spreading peanut butter on bread, Sophie instantly developed hives."

Sophie received her first round of allergy tests at nine months, and, in addition to peanut butter, she had serious reactions to milk, eggs, wheat, tree nuts, fish and shell fish. Of the eight most common allergies, the only one she could ingest without trouble was soy.

"Your life really changes in the face of these challenges," she says. The family, which included husband Jeffrey and daughters Sharon and Michelle, decided to do whatever was necessary to ensure Sophie's safety. "Our dinner meal contains foods Sophie can eat, while other meals are more flexible to accommodate all our daughters' tastes."

Following Sophie's diagnosis, Hendrix quickly learned the need to read every food label meticulously. "I even check foods we have purchased previously." She recalls being devastated when wheat was added to a cereal Sophie liked. "I burst into tears right in the store. When Sophie tastes wheat, she not only breaks out in hives, but she also has difficulty breathing. It is important to have a few ready made things for Sophie, so losing this cereal was distressing."

The family also stopped dining at restaurants. The rare times they eat out, Hendrix consults with the manager to find ways to give Sophie a choice. One concern is that if the food itself is safe, it may be prepared near foods that are not.

Hendrix's best alternative became home cooking. Using family recipes and cookbooks, she began experimenting. For example, she took a banana bread recipe and adapted it without wheat flour, eggs or milk. "By the time you make so many changes, it's not the recipe everyone grew up with, but it's pretty darn close."

Hendrix often fine tunes recipes as many as 30 times before she is satisfied with the taste and texture. She is happiest when she makes something and others want the recipe. "For Sophie's birthday, I took fudge cookies with frosting using oat flour to school," she says. "A parent and the teacher each asked for the recipe."

When she met other children with allergies who ate only a few foods because their parents didn't know they had other choices, she decided to publish a cookbook. "These recipes are really good and made without the eight common allergens," she says, "I had not been successful in finding a cookbook to purchase, and I really wanted to help others."

Her goal was to sell 100 books and help a few of the 11 million people in the United States with food allergies. "Sophie-Safe Cooking" has largely been marketed through word of mouth and local television and other news outlets. But word of mouth has done well. She has sold more than 1,500 books, and the sales are consistent from month to month.

"I suppose I could do more aggressive marketing, but I'm a mom first," she says. "I'm just happy when children can thrive with these recipes." She also has battled her own challenges: a brain tumor that required radiation and needed to be eradicated before she could become pregnant with Maggie, a fourth daughter, born without food allergies.

For further information: sophiesafecooking.com

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