Living in an Allergy World
Fortunately, I grew up with my dad and brother being lactose-intolerant, so I was able to acquire years of knowledge. My mom also developed gluten and shellfish allergies when she had cancer, when I was older. I am allergic to tomatoes (and foods in the nightshade family), peanuts, and all nuts - which we didn't find out until I was in my teens when my allergies were triggering autoimmune issues. Little A has an allergy that includes all animal milks (no goat or buffalo cheese - which are great for lactose intolerant folk) that we didn't discover until she was off breastmilk.
Before COVID-19, I would shop at Trader Joe's, Sprouts, Whole Foods, Target, and Safeway to get all our favorites. Now I predominately shop in person at Trader Joe's, do Target drive-up, Instacart Sprouts or Safeway, and have Amazon Prime Whole Foods. We also do Farm Fresh to You and are able to get a lot of vegan goodies.
We are also fortunate that we have a lot of restaurants that cater to vegans and I know how to order at restaurants for allergies. It may seem silly, but it is super important to know how to communicate your allergies - especially at restaurants because some servers don't know that pecorino cheese means sheep cheese and usually lactose-free or that a dish is sauteed in butter (thus not vegan and contains an allergen).
A completely plant-based diet is not a lifestyle I am ready to adapt. I try to buy ethical, age-free, free-range, organic, sustainable, local meats, chicken, and fish. I say try because sometimes I am more budget-conscious, unhappy with expiration dates, or don't trust the brand (the verbiage on the packaging is questionable like "all natural").
If my personal experiences do not qualify me as knowledgeable, you can refer to my education. I have worked with nutritionists since I was a pre-teen on my allergy nutrition - nutritionists from Stanford University and Stanford Hospital, also including specialty nutritionists referred to by my doctors. My doctors were really good about providing my parents and I knowledge about food/nutrient/vitamin metabolism and how allergies affecting the different body systems. Though I took them as an easy A class in college, I took lower and upper division classes in the nutrition. And more recently, I am proud to say I completed a for-fun and free course (thank you COVID for making this resource free) through Stanford University - which was cool because I got a certificate that says Stanford, though it wasn't a super comprehensive class. I really want to take a food biology and food chemistry class - food science is super complex and more than creating recipes.