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Well it’s coming round to that time of year again and so the shops are full of chocolate, chocolate and more chocolate – BUT NOT DAIRY FREE CHOCOLATE. I was shopping on Saturday and visited Marks & Spencer St. Albans, which is obviously stocked exactly the same as every other M & S in the country. I purposely scrutinised their section of Easter goodies to see if they had catered for those among us with a dairy/lactose intolerance and was totally unimpressed that they had not, unimpressed but not surprised. I have written to various M & S stores and have also written a personal letter to Mr. Stuart Rose. I have only ever had one reply – not from Mr. Rose I hasten to add – and that was from M & S Milton Keynes who sent me a list of their dairy free foods e.g. fresh fruit, tinned fruit, vegetables, do they think I am completely stupid. They had completely missed the point of my letter which was that none of their patisserie, sandwiches, cheeses, ice creams and, at that time, milk was dairy free. I note that they now stock goat’s milk and soya milk but hey, it’s not rocket science how about a sandwich that is completely dairy free or a packet of crisps. Anyway I must have been in a grump on Saturday because I once again donned my antidairyfairy hat and accosted Customer Services to put my point of view. The young lady was very sympathetic and tried to be helpful in telling me that they did have gluten and nut free products. This was like a red rag to a bull, as I told her, because if they can cater for two types of allergies why can’t they get their act together and stock dairy free too. Anyway to her credit she said she would tell her Manager of my concerns/queries/views, call it what you will and hopefully he would then pass them on….. I am not holding my breath. I did leave my name and address and details of this blog so one never knows.
There is so much ignorance/apathy in shops and restaurants with regard to allergies. The same weekend we had a family gathering at a local restaurant and as usual had to go through the usual pallaver of querying everything on the menu to see if it contained dairy. I asked the waitress if one of the dishes contained dairy and she said she didn’t think it would be suitable as it contained eggs – now we have been here before, since when have eggs been dairy – she seemed amazed when we told her that eggs were not from cows, give me strength.
Wouldn’t it be nice if shops like Thorntons or Hotel Chocolat stocked dairy free chocolate – maybe that’s my next stop.
ADF
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The Anti Dairy Fairy 
I know it’s too late for Easter, but I now buy all my holiday chocolates online from Amanda’s Own Confections. They are a dairy and nut free facility. We love them! Yes, it costs a fortune, but I just can’t put out an Easter basket without a chocolate bunny. Ya know?
Comment by allergymom March 20, 2008 @ 4:11 pmDear allergymom,
Comment by antidairyfairy March 21, 2008 @ 1:07 pmThank you so much for the tip for Amanda’s Own Confections but am I right in thinking you are in the States? Have just been on your site and will be making regular visits there from now on. Had a narrow escape last week, saw a ‘sheeps milk easter egg’ advertised and thought “Yes, at last a proper Easter Egg”, duly logged on to the site and found it wasn’t sheeps milk at all, it was actually made from Belgian chocolate. Needless to say I did leave a comment on their site to register the fact that they needed to clarify their add…. not holding my breath for a reply.
My daughter does not like dark chocolate either but has found that ‘Ritters’ chocolate (which is German I think) is great for baking brownies and cakes and she is now the chocolate cake queen.
Happy Easter to you and yours.
ADF
Yes, I am in the US. Sorry, I didn’t notice your location, where are you? Amanda’s is available for online ordering but I suppose you have to be in an area they ship to. My middle daughter and I do not care for dark chocolate either, but we thought these were pretty good.
Comment by charmaine March 21, 2008 @ 3:05 pmHi, please don’t apologise it’s nice to hear from you. I am in Bedfordshire, England and although I do think Amanda’s ship to the UK, the shipping costs would probably make it horrendously expensive and she does give warnings on chocolate ‘melting’ on route. The US appears to be much more allergy friendly than here, our supermarkets are still operating on the basis that ‘there isn’t a problem or if there is one, there are not enough people with a problem to make it profitable for us to stock suitable products’. I have had hissy fits in various shops over here trying to explain that yes, there is a problem, a huge problem and they are losing out by not addressing it … am slowly getting through but it is really hard work. Also the allergy free/dairy free goods over here are so much more expensive which is a real bummer.
Comment by antidairyfairy March 22, 2008 @ 11:23 amAnyway, thank you again for contacting me, I shall be visiting your site on a regular basis and if I have any tips will certainly be passing them through to you.
Regards ADF
I can tell that this is not the first time you write about this topic. Why have you chosen it again?
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