Writing Characters with Food Sensitivities

This week, I’m tackling something kind of odd and specific (this blog is about going off the rails, of course) which is food sensitivities. Why is this important? Because food sensitivities are more common than you realize and including accurate portrayals of things people struggle with help readers feel more connected to your characters. It’s totally not just because I have celiac disease and I also want my characters to struggle along with me 🙂. Here are my top three tips when including something like a food sensitivity. I'll be mostly referencing gluten/celiac, but the same applies to all other food allergies/sensitivities.

First, look it up. If you’re choosing to represent anything, you need to be well-researched on the subject matter. Especially if this is a major character in your story. Your readers will know if you didn’t do your homework. Trust me, it will be painfully obvious and will suck the readers right out of your story. Look up credible articles, check out a few social media groups or blogs written by people who have the sensitivity you’re trying to write about. Depending on the severity, your character’s life could be heavily revolved around navigating life with their food sensitivity.

For example, let’s talk about celiac disease. Celiac is an autoimmune condition that blunts the villi in your small intestine when a person affected eats wheat, barely, or rye (gluten). Those villi are what help you absorb nutrients into your body (celiac.org). I’ll skip the never-ending symptoms (it’s awful), but the only treatment is completely avoiding wheat, barley or rye. Sounds simple enough, right? No. Not at all.

Not only does this exclude a ton of options at the grocery store (soy sauce, baked goods, regular pasta that doesn’t fall apart or turn into mush) but celiacs can have an autoimmune response to even the tiniest amount of gluten present. This means all cooking materials, pots and pans, seasonings (the store-brand typically has an allergy warning) everything, must be kept away from gluten products. This includes grocery items made in a facility with wheat present.

So, even if a kind person makes something that doesn’t necessarily have gluten in it, a person with celiac could still get very sick very easily. There are a million questions I ask myself when grocery shopping, arranging my kitchen but the most troubling aspect is socially. A person with celiac can’t trust most food, especially when prepared by someone else. Not only does this affect a person physically, but socially and emotionally as well. It can lead to feelings of being left out or misunderstood.

And since it’s an autoimmune condition, it sometimes can be the gateway to a plethora of other health issues.

All of this to say, if I read a book and the author mentions a character having celiac disease, I will know right away if the author truly understands what having celiac means. (Thank you for coming to my Ted Talk.)

So, you’ve done your homework. Now think about how this food sensitivity will affect the story and why you’re choosing to include it. If this is for a main character, it likely will have a large impact on decisions, home-life, and will also affect how others treat them. For our story, The Visionary, our protagonist’s father, Benson, has a gluten sensitivity. Since he is more of a side character, you mostly get to see how a gluten sensitivity impacts food at home but also a possible hint to his career choice. Their family often brings attention to gluten-free substitutes when food is mentioned. Not only to draw attention to the food sensitivity but also to show how his family tries to show support by eating gluten-free mostly at home. Benson is also a geneticist which ends up being a fairly important detail in our story. And celiac and gluten sensitivities are passed down through family members, leading our favorite adoptive dad down a career path that researches these ailments (because who doesn’t love those oversized Costco muffins?? I miss them).

These are very modern scenarios. If you’re writing more in the fantasy genre, you may have an easier time with coming up with substitutes for food items. In terms of gluten, they may eat potatoes instead of bread, etc. If you’re writing more high-fantasy where there are more markets and farms instead of grocery stores, food is more simply made and therefore less to worry about in terms of accidental cross-contamination.

Last, while being realistic, try to keep it positive. I know I was just complaining about not getting to eat muffins but typically those of us with food sensitivities have adapted ways of going about our life. In my case, Costco also has a killer gluten-free pizza (and it’s in a pack of three!). Show how other characters embrace their loved-one's lifestyle, if applicable. Show what foods they tend to gravitate to. What’s their comfort meal? Can they cook? Does that in some way benefit or drive your story?

The goal overall is to be relatable and realistic, but also should not be something completely out of place in your story. Our goal as writers is always to engage and immerse our readers and even small details, like the food the characters eat, can have a big impact.

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Do you have any food sensitivities? Have you ever tried a nut-free, gluten-free, dairy-free, soy-free item that didn’t taste like cardboard? Let us know and thanks for reading!