Shahla Rashid | Episode 101

Cooking was her creative outlet, and the kitchen was her safe place.  After her two daughters were diagnosed with environmental and anaphylactic food allergies, food was not only for sustenance and joy but also as a means of keeping her girls safe.  Shahla Rashid tells the story about how two weeks completely changed her world, both personally and professionally.  Shahla is a food allergy mom, holistic chef, and co-founder of the online magazine Zestfull.  She shares the journey of her daughters’ allergy diagnosis and how she overcame the panic and overwhelming fear. She talks about how she managed the journey without help or guidance and coped with an allergist that handed her a pamphlet and said goodbye.  She offers advice about navigating dining out, travel, and school with children with allergies.  She also provides unequivocal and exceptional advice to new food allergy parents.  Shahla’s professional journey also took a turn after her daughters’ diagnosis. Already enrolled in culinary school and with a passion for food, she created My Berkeley Kitchen, a blog focusing on allergy-friendly cooking with seasonal, whole foods. This led to the creation of Zestfull, a beautiful online magazine whose mission, with a deeply personal perspective, is to celebrate life with food allergies.