wild rice?

[fizzymom]

Does anyone know if wild rice is related closely enough to cause a reaction in someone allergic to regular rice?

My 2 year old DS2 can't have gluten or rice. The gluten isn't a big deal, but the rice is making things difficult and we were hoping to be able to add some variety. I'm just a bit nervous about doing a trial without more information.

TIA

[rhesp1212]

I was told by a dietician that wild rice is not in the same family at all as other rices. It might be worth doing a trial with a small amount to make sure though. When my son was reacting to rice, he reacted to the wild rice too (course he was reacting to everything else at the time too).

[bodhitree]

Wild rice is not actually rice (it's a wild grass). So yeah, I'd trial a small amount and see what happens.

[tanyalynn]

Are you just looking for another grain?  I couldn't tell if you specifically wanted only to try wild rice, or if you just wanted another option.  I just found a new GF one (well, it was new to me) at my local Asian market, in English it's called Job's tears, but that's not what the label says. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Job%27s_Tears

This talks about it, it looks like cartoon barley, plumper and rounder, but noticeably not like regular pearl barley if you've used barley in the past.  I'm just starting to experiment with it, it's fairly mild and I'm looking forward to making the beef and barley soup that I grew up eating with this stuff. 

[fizzymom]

Mostly, I'm looking for side dish options. We are all tired of corn and potatoes.

I have read both that they are unrelated and that they are close cousins. DS2 has reached relative equilibrium and at this point (2.5 years old) I don't want to rock the boat too much. He still has occasional eczema, but all of the GI issues seem to be gone. *knocking on wood*

I haven't seen job's tears anywhere and while I will keep an eye out for them, I can't see myself going to another store just for that. I already have to shop 4 stores to get my weekly groceries. I'll ask my local GF store if they would consider getting some in though.

@rhesp1212 sorry to hear about your son's reaction. I wonder if any other kids with rice allergies have been able to tolerate wild rice.

[tanyalynn]

Ah, it's easy for me to get because there's an Asian market close by and I buy a lot of veggies there anyway. 

[rhesp1212]

What about things like Quinoa, millet, teff and amaranth for other gluten free grains to use as side dishes or mix in with veggies, etc. for sides?  I've seen a yummy looking pilaf using quinoa, millet and lentils at our local grocery store.

[kjbrown92]

I was going to say quinoa too. DS avoided rice for 2 years because I didn't even think that wild rice could be different from white rice. He just got it back, on rotation (once every 4 days) a few months ago. You can do so much with potatoes and sweet potatoes though... sweet potato bake, sweet potato/regular fries, boiled, baked, scalloped. My DS would rather have potatoes back than rice, I think. He misses potatoes.

[fizzymom]

We use quinoa sometimes for variety - I sometimes just crave an asian-y meal and I use quinoa instead of rice there, but my older two don't like it. They both have sensory issues and I think they just don't like the texture.

I suspect that millet, teff and amaranth would all have similar texture issues for my older two.

We do use sweet potatoes a lot, along with regular ones.

Kathy, I don't understand - did your DS get regular rice, wild rice or both back?

I really wish there was some accurate testing for non-IgE allergies and intolerances, I hate doing (and failing) trials.

[kjbrown92]

Originally Posted by fizzymom 

We use quinoa sometimes for variety - I sometimes just crave an asian-y meal and I use quinoa instead of rice there, but my older two don't like it. They both have sensory issues and I think they just don't like the texture.

I suspect that millet, teff and amaranth would all have similar texture issues for my older two.

We do use sweet potatoes a lot, along with regular ones.

Kathy, I don't understand - did your DS get regular rice, wild rice or both back?

I really wish there was some accurate testing for non-IgE allergies and intolerances, I hate doing (and failing) trials.

I don't know that I've tried wild rice with him. I mostly just use jasmine rice.

We used the ALCAT test for intolerances, which for the kids was pretty accurate (they had one false negative each on it).

I used millet when I made jambalaya before DS got rice back. Can you do rice noodles for an asian-y meal? And just pick those kind of recipes instead of rice?
 

[fizzymom]

Nope. No rice at all. He has never even eaten it directly, he reacts to it in my diet (still BF). If I eat one bite of rice he has diarrhea and wakes up screaming and arching his back at night. We even avoid vitamins with rice derived ingredients.

I'll look into ALCAT. Thanks.