Modern Mama Project started because I was hungry. That is the least glamorous version of the origin story, but it is true. I was a new mom. My baby was miserable. We were trying to figure out what was bothering her. Foods kept coming out of my diet. And every time something else joined the list, I had the same increasingly desperate thought: Okay, but what CAN I eat? I could find lists online.

Dairy-free foods.

Soy-free foods.

Gluten-free foods.

Top allergy-friendly snacks.

Wonderful.

Except my list did not always match their list. I would open something promising and immediately find one of the other things I was avoiding. Then I would open another.

And another.

Usually while holding a baby. Usually at an hour when reasonable people were asleep. At some point I remember thinking, why can I not just check the things I need to avoid and have somebody show me what is left?

That was it.

That was the idea.

I did not start this because I wanted to become a food-allergy expert. I started it because I wanted lunch. And the more I worked on it, the more I realized how many families were asking their own version of the same question. There is a mom staring at a grocery shelf trying not to cry because her baby was just diagnosed with several allergies. There is another mom who has removed so many foods from her own diet that she is living on the same three meals.

There are parents worrying about daycare before their baby can even walk. There are parents wondering whether restaurants are ever going to feel normal again. There are parents of older kids packing food for birthday parties and teaching their children how to ask what is in something. And there are families years ahead of us saying, yes, it was terrifying in the beginning. And yes, it got easier. I really like hearing from those families. I need to hear from those families.

Because when you are in the newborn fog and every day feels like another experiment, it is easy to believe you are going to spend the rest of your life thinking about poop, ingredients, and whether something has soy in it. I would prefer not to. I also do not want this to become another place telling moms what they should be doing. There is enough of that on the internet. I am still figuring things out too. I still read labels. I still email companies. I still get irrationally excited when I find a normal food that happens to work for us. I still occasionally stand in my kitchen and wonder what we are going to eat.

This is not a story from the other side where I have mastered food allergies and returned to teach everyone my ways.

Absolutely not.

I am just a mom who needed something, could not find it, and decided to start building it. And if another tired mom finds lunch a little faster because of it?

Perfect.

That is exactly what I wanted.

That is still what I want this project to be: the thing I was looking for when I was exhausted, hungry, holding a baby, and wondering what on earth I was supposed to eat.

Not a place that pretends there is one perfect way to handle food allergies. Definitely not a place where I pretend I have all of this figured out. I am still reading labels. I am still asking companies weirdly specific questions. I am still inspecting diapers more closely than I ever imagined I would and celebrating baby farts like tiny sporting events.

I just have a much better grocery list now.

And, thankfully, lunch.