Definitely. Always check the labels and don’t assume.
For example, for ice cream, you wouldn’t think there’s gluten in it but you never know so I always go with a brand that my friend swears by.
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For a lot of recipes, dairy is easily replaced with vegan butter and some type of non-dairy milk. As long as you don’t also have nut or soy allergies, it’s usually pretty easy to sub. I find ready made stuff for Thanksgiving is hard to find with a dairy allergy.
The mashed potatoes come out really well with the dairy free subs. Stuffing works well also as long as your recipe doesn’t contain an egg as a binder. The harder part will be finding a bread without dairy and eggs to use as a base.
My daughter has a soy allergy and also allergic to some nuts. DIL can’t eat garlic.
We have has several successful immediate family gatherings with no dairy or egg. We also had an extended family reunion this summer that was dairy and egg free. Thanksgiving is harder as the menu has been traditionally the same every year.
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For those with Celiac and with food allergies, just a note here that some of us get it. I have three Celiacs in my immediate family, one of which has a severe tree nut allergy. I know your struggle. It’s personal to me though I do not suffer from either.
These are not trendy “food kicks”. They’re serious conditions. A little education for the uneducated about Celiac. Celiac is not a traditional food allergy - it’s an autoimmune condition that causes the body to attack small intestine tissue when the gluten protein present in wheat, rye and barely is ingested in even very small amounts. It’s serious; crumbs count. Besides getting very sick, Celiacs are at a much greater risk of developing gastro-intestinal cancer if they don’t manage their condition. When a Celiac tells you that they need to ensure against cross contamination and have to be mindful about food placement, preparation protocol and contaminated utensils, they’re not being dramatic or high maintenance. Their Gastro MD has told them, rightfully, that they can’t have even a spec of gluten.
And of course, you haven’t lived until you’ve spent the night in the hospital with a loved one who has mistakenly ingested a nut or other food to which they have a severe allergy.
The other thing I’ll share on their behalf is the anxiety these folks have to live with, especially when traveling. You don’t realize how restrictive these things are. We were in Eastern Europe last summer and it was a nightmare. We deliberately avoided a couple of countries, like Poland, for this very reason. In the Baltics, which we couldn’t avoid, it was a huge struggle to find a safe place to eat. When we arrived in Western Europe, where they’re just brilliant about food allergies/Celiac and understand the importance of process and protocol, you would have thought we’d just been liberated from bondage. It is mood altering. If you don’t know you just don’t know. And I deal with it because when they can’t eat I don’t eat. People ask me why and my answer is always the same: because I’m not an *** hole.
If you deal with people who have to deal with these issues, please, please, have a little grace and think twice about getting annoyed with having to do a little extra work. IMO, it’s the very least you can do. It’s so easy to be impatient with others when you can just casually stuff your face with anything while others have to sit there and watch you.
Be better.
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Yes. I would add that Italy has long been a safe place for Celiacs. Due to lazy stereotyping I incorrectly assumed it would be nightmarish when we first traveled there with our kids but, at the time, Italy was heaven compared to Paris. Paris has since greatly improved and Western Europe is now easier for my Celiacs than many places in the US.
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I love you! And this! 
When I apologetically asked a waitress for the second time to confirm a dish was gluten free she replied “Don’t worry, I have anxiety too” which was only when I realized that’s what I was!
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My son and DIL spent a week in Paris last year, and ate gf/df the entire time, every meal. of course she had extensively researched, but they had a fabulous time. Didn’t get glutened – but caught covid on the return flight 
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Nice for them they were healthy until return — beats the alternative—being sick while away from home.
simple solution: potluck
also, do ur best to avoid cross contamination
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Yesterday at Mahjong someone brought homemade brownies. Someone asked if the brownies had nuts in them. They didn’t but I said that the people I know who are allergic to nuts never eat anything not made in their homes.
I had a boss so allergic to tree nuts he never ate bake goods as they could have almond extract or another ‘liquid’ nut. He never ate anything that he wasn’t sure of. People say there are no nuts or contamination (in good faith they say that) but they don’t realize how little it takes to trigger the attack.
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My daughter is allergic to many nuts. She isn’t anaphylactic and would trust the brownies.
My grandson is anaphylactic to many foods and he only eats food his parents prepare for him.
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Yes, the DEGREE of sensitivity & allergy is important. I would never second-guess anyone else’s allergy—way too dangerous. I have never yet had anaphylaxis and hope I never will. I can eat tiny amounts of things I’m allergic to with only mild side effects, so I don’t worry too much about cross contamination, but it has sometimes caused my uncomfortable, itchy hives.
Piggy backing on @cquin85 and @onthewestfence, cross contamination is a real issue.
My DC is “deathly allergic” (doc’s words not mine) to tree nuts. I have had family members say, “well Susie knows not to eat the nuts in that bowl”. Sure, but Billy stuck his hands in that bowl of nuts then in the bowl of potato chips and every other bowl of food - cross contamination.
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As I’ve mentioned my GS has some severe food allergies. The fears are when someone eats dairy or egg and touches surfaces and he touches it he can have a reaction. I don’t allow the cousins to eat anything with dairy or egg in the car seat in my car since GS also uses the same seat. Since we now do allergen free family events everyone is much more relaxed. I was longing for sour cream on my latkes but discovered that Forager brand vegan sour cream is pretty good.
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One of our scouts was very allergic to dairy and even getting a drop of milk spilled on him could have caused an anaphylactic reaction! It was scary camping with him and boisterous scouts.
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My daughter went to an expeditionary learning school (lots of field trips and camping trips) with a guy with Celiac’s. They all knew (and respected) his needs. He had his own bags of corn tortillas and no one put their hands in his bag. His own jars or nutella and jelly. His own utensils. No one tried to ‘fix’ a jar that had been contaminated, he just got another jar (he couldn’t tolerate even a little cross contamination with bread crumbs on a knife).
His parents made it work for him to be able to participate in every activity at this school, but they were understanding too that kids make mistakes so he had to self advocate and NOT let his food be co-mingled with other food, he brought his own snacks to school for birthday celebrations (a bag of Snickers) so he didn’t feel left out, etc.
He is now an adult with special needs, so lives in a condo in the same building his parents live in. His unit is glutton free (as was their home when he lived there) but their unit has regular bread and spaghetti in it. If they eat together, it’s in his unit. His mother said when he was young and just the parents went out to eat, it wasn’t for steak or lobster but for pasta and bread or a pizza!
It’s great that @mom60 can make the accommodations for her GS to fully participate with his cousins.
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OK, I know this is a serious topic, but “glutton free” made me laugh 
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ideally they grow out of some. he still is ultra sensitive to peanuts eggs and dairy but we let him decide which restaurants to dine. he speaks to the servers and sometimes chefs about it. in cali, they sympathize. other states, not so much.
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