The Story Behind Plating with Perel
My food journey started when I was in middle school/high school, and I would watch a variety of food shows from Rachael Ray to Diners, Drive Ins and Dives to Hell's Kitchen. Something about these shows intrigued me as I always had a love for food. As time went on, I would come home from school and I would be the one in charge of dinner. I would print off a recipe from foodnetwork.com with my parents approval (meaning they would try the dish), and I would cook it start to finish. This passion transferred into college, and I always looked forward to going home on school breaks cause I could not stand the dorm food. I was thrilled when I got my apartment junior year of college cause I could finally cook for myself!
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Fast forward to second semester of junior year when I studied abroad in Paris, France. I spent a semester traveling through France and Europe (Spain, Italy, Greece and so many more). The food in France was by far my favorite of my five months there.
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Let's move on to graduation in spring 2015: I graduated with a double major from Marquette University and had a full time job offer to relocate to Dallas, Texas for my first job out of college. I was excited to move to a new city to meet new people, experience a new place and most importantly try the food!
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I would cook for myself on a regular basis, but nothing special since I was working full time. One day that changed.
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It was a summer morning in August 2019, and I was on my way to work. I lived close to the office, and I could do this drive with my eyes closed. All of a sudden I had this sensation rushing through my body; I did not know what was wrong and if I should keep driving or pull over. I ended up getting to work, and realizing I suffered a panic attack. This was the first of multiple panic attacks over the next few months and what led to the start of my new journey.
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I remember laying in bed all weekend with no appetite, anxiety, stomach aches, headaches and so much more. On Monday, I went to my eye doctor thinking I needed new glasses and that I was overly stressed. A few days later the symptoms came back, and I just tried to ignore what I was feeling and go about my life.
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Fast forward to mid September and being on vacation with my family onboard an Alaskan cruise; we had just finished a day of dogsledding in Juneau and were on our way to the dining room. All of a sudden, I had a panic attack in the middle of the dining room. I had to get up and go to the room to try and calm myself down. I wondered how was I going to make it through the next five days of this trip.
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I returned from Alaska, and I made a doctor's appointment ASAP. My parents thought it was acid reflux as it ran in the family. I went on medicine for acid reflux, reduced acidic foods in my diet and started feeling more like myself. Over the course of the next month, I tried to keep myself busy to stop my mind from wandering and thinking intrusive thoughts/questioning what was wrong.
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In early November, I was out with friends and I had another panic attack. I had to drive myself home from this outing, and I questioned what was wrong. My anxiety was high, my stomach was killing me, and I had no appetite; I had to force myself to eat.
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The next morning I took myself to the ER. The doctors thought it was an ulcer, prescribed me medicine and I made an appointment with a gastroenterologist for later that week. I was so relieved to finally be seeing a stomach doctor after three months of problems. We ran more lab work and did a sonogram to make sure all my organs were working properly.
The sonogram came back normal with just a lot of gas buildup from the ulcer meds, and one week later I got the call...my labwork came back positive for Celiac Disease. I had never heard the term before until the nurse explained it to me. I realized this is what my Grandpa Marvin had, and when we would always go out to eat he could only eat certain foods.
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Four days after my labwork tested positive for Celiac Disease, I had a colonoscopy and upper endoscopy to confirm my diagnosis and ensure nothing else was wrong. The tests confirmed it and from November 18, 2019 onward I have been on a gluten free diet.
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I was at a loss of what to eat, how to get back to my normal lifestyle and how to find the true me. I started therapy, tried to keep myself occupied and most of all got into cooking again. I bought gluten free cookbooks and started talking to friends who had Celiac Disease for suggestions.
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Everyone I spoke with was so welcoming and supported me on my new journey. Covid then hit in March 2020, and I received the news that I had been furloughed from work for up to 90 days. I questioned what I would do with all my free time, and the first thing I did was go out of town to Lake of the Ozarks for the weekend to clear my mind.
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During this weekend, one of my friends suggested I make a food page on Instagram as I had been sharing so much recently on my personal Instagram and on our drive back I decided to pursue this. Now is where the fun comes in...I wanted a catchy name and Plating with Perel stuck!
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I returned to Dallas later that week, and Plating with Perel took off in April 2020 without me ever looking back.
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