Goals and Objectives:

1. Resources for the corn allergy/intolerance community and those who support us.

2. Connect the corn allergy/intolerance community to allies who are working towards the shared goals of: 

   • Feeding people with clean, healthy food

   • Transparency in food and medicine labeling and manufacturing processes

   • Allergy/Intolerance advocacy

3. Share the history of how we got here.

About me:

I am a person who cannot eat corn or its derivatives. This became evident after my celiac diagnosis and subsequent diet change to gluten-free. Some of my symptoms started going away, but others got markedly worse within a few months. I had switched over to a lot of corn based packaged foods and corn flours for my home baked trials of breads, tortillas, and treats, and after many very uncomfortable weeks it finally occurred to me that corn was causing the problems.

I did what made sense and removed all the products in the house that had the word "corn" on the label, but that wasn't solving the whole problem, either. It dawned on me that there are probably a bunch of corn derivatives, just like there are with wheat, and soon I discovered a daunting list of ingredients likely derived from or processed with corn of some sort. 

The nightmare really began once I learned that since corn isn't a recognized allergen when it comes to food and medicine labeling, ingredient lists on food packaging simply aren’t reliable because corn derivatives aren’t required to be listed (even if it says “no corn” on the label). Still, I did my best to find food in grocery stores that I didn't react to, but I wasn't having any luck. My doctor told me it was good I’d figured out the cause of my reactions, but they had no concept of the depth of this diagnosis. So I was on my own and the internet search began.

I couldn't find much information about what I could eat and where to get it, but what little I did find pointed me to the corn allergy groups on Facebook. I had quit Facebook several years prior and really didn't want to sign up again, but I was getting really hungry, losing weight rapidly, and reacting to everything I was putting in and on my body so I succumbed and joined a few of the Facebook support groups. They helped me find some safe food and product resources and offered some much needed support, but there was still no central library of resources that could be accessed publicly, easily, and/or freely.

That's where this website comes in. This is a collection of my unending search for information to add to our library. It contains all types of resources that have helped me survive my first few years of this allergy/intolerance. It also contains resources others have shared that have helped them. This is an ongoing project and I hope that it will be useful to you or someone you know, as well.

My background includes a Master's in Design Ethnography and undergraduate degrees in Anthropology and Industrial Design.  I see life through the lens of an anthropologist who loves to make and build things, especially when they can improve others' lives.  Food has always been an interest of mine, reading cookbooks cover to cover since learning to read and baking as soon as I figured out how to work the oven. More than a few of my life experiences have revolved around food - creating, providing, and researching - and I'm a bit of a jack-of-all-trades. I've had aspirations of living more of a homesteading type of life, coming from a farming family, but never had the need to do so. Now that I can't do anything corn-related, I am permanently on a path adjacent to homesteading within an urban environment and advocating for access to clean, healthy food for all. 

I hope the information here will help you on your journey, as well. It has helped me learn how to coexist with corn, since it'll be prevalent in our world for the foreseeable future. It has also enabled me to embrace a healthier food lifestyle and discover a few wonderful advocates in authors you'll find in this library. This library will give you a place to start, too, so you can navigate your own path.  Remember that not everything here works for everyone. We all have different allergies, intolerances, auto-immune disorders, and reactions, so do your due diligence with anything you find here.

If you have any recommendations for this library, I hope you'll share them with me.

Thanks for taking a look and I wish you health and good luck!