At only 6 months old, our middle daughter, Sarah, was diagnosed with a peanut allergy. No one used the words “life threatening” or “anaphylactic shock” so we thought we were fine. We were told she might only end up getting topical reactions and were sent home with an Epipen prescription that we never filled. At the time, it didn’t seem like a big deal to us. We had no idea.

Fast forward then to the moment we ended up in the emergency room with her due to an accidental ingestion of peanut butter at preschool. All it took was one bite of a granola bar. One bite. And this time, we heard the words no parents should ever hear, “You could have lost your child today.” We tested her for food allergies, we knew she had food allergies, but we were unaware of how serious it really was. We did everything wrong that day. We ignored the signs. We delayed giving her epinephrine. We took her home. We put her in the bath. We used the Epipen as a last resort.

Sitting in the emergency room that day we were filled with questions. What happened? Searching online, our world started to close in. We read story after story of kids…who died from their food allergy. Who didn’t administer the Epipen in time. Who blindly believed like we did that as long as the allergen isn’t in the food, you’ll be fine. “What happened?” quickly turned into “How?”. How was Sarah going to navigate this as she got older? How would we keep her from accidentally eating something again? How is she going to advocate for herself when all her friends go out to eat and she can’t have the same thing? How do we keep her safe?

For 6-8 months after this incident, we kind of shut down. We felt scared and helpless…until we realized we could do something about this. We could help kids like Sarah and families like ours take back our lives. We didn’t have to let the fear and burden of having life-threatening food allergies dictate what we did. Or didn’t do. So, our question of how, turned into, “What IF?”

What IF there was a safe place to eat? What IF you could have everything on the menu? What IF you didn’t have to eat at a separate table? What IF we could gather again with families and friends? What IF we could educate our community about food allergies? What IF?

With a desire to provide our community with allergy-friendly meals and foster an inclusive dining experience, we created Intentional Foods Cafe & Market.

We ensure that every product is manufactured in facilities that we can trust, down to the salt & pepper. We are transparent with all ingredients and their sourcing. In our retail market, you will find our favorite allergy-friendly products, local coffee, organic and local produce, fresh seasonings, baked goods, fresh flowers, prepackaged and made to order allergy-friendly meals.

Our promise is simple: Allergy-friendly. Safe and delicious. Always.

IF Family,

We wanted to take a moment and thank you all for your incredible support during these hard times , and also update you on when we will be re-opening our dining room at Intentional Foods Cafe & Market.

Laying off our staff has been very difficult on us but we are so grateful that we were able to continue to serve our loyal customers without interruption. We are thankful for your patience you have shown us, checking in on us, your gift card purchases, your generous tips, cards, prayers and unconditional support. You have been our fuel to keep moving forward.

Although these times have been difficult for so many, we do believe in the resilience of the human spirit and know that we are stronger together. We will be better people for experiencing this pandemic. Hopefully, we will be better, kinder, more generous, and more appreciative of each other and our precious time together.

As the re-opening of Arizona restaurants is upon us, we have had to decide what to do and have concluded to remain open only for curbside pickup and delivery. We have experienced friends in our community sick with this virus and when asked what we could do for them, they’ve only asked that all of us “keep your precious family safe.” We are taking this situation one day at a time, and at this time, we will err on the side of caution.

We created Intentional Foods out of a need to feed our community and our family safely. As food allergy advocates, we are acutely aware of how life-threatening situations can come from out of nowhere, and be taken less seriously then they should be.

Again we are so grateful for your support during this exceedingly difficult time and deeply miss seeing your wonderful faces. We will continue to update you all and look forward to the day we can serve you again in our little safe space.

Sincerely,

Mama Lisa and Chef Ned