Beach store fills a need for people with allergies to food

Kristin Osborne knows some people might find it silly that ice cream cones could bring her to tears.

But when she discovered some that her 2-year-old son, who's allergic to wheat, milk and eggs, could eat, she almost started crying.

David would know the glories of an ice cream cone on a hot summer day after all.

Osborne found the cones at Navan Foods, a Virginia Beach store that caters to people with food allergies.

With three family members - her husband and two sons - allergic to three different lists of foods, Osborne's grocery shopping was something of a scavenger hunt.

And she felt that her children were sometimes missing out on treats that other people took for granted, the signature foods that bind people together at birthday parties, neighborhood cookouts and sporting events.

"We'd go from grocery store to specialty store to looking online," Osborne said. "I was running all over town."

At Navan Foods, though, she walked up and down aisles with foods that filled the holes in many an allergy-ridden customer's diet:

Small gluten-free cake mixes you can just add water to and pop in the microwave for 60 seconds, great for taking to children's birthday parties to include the odd child out. Coconut-based ice cream with no dairy or soy. "Sheese," a dairy-free product that tastes like cheese. Gluten-free croutons. Organic lollipops with no corn syrup. Flours made from rice, or potatoes, or almonds.

Each food item has a card on its shelf listing "made without" icons, like a stalk of wheat, plus information about the manufacturer, such as whether foods with peanuts or other allergens are made on the premises.

Jennifer Elizondo opened the store on Holland Road in May after experiencing the same hunt for foods that Osborne had.

Elizondo's 3-year-old son, Vaughn, had been diagnosed with allergies to wheat, eggs, soy, yeast, corn and nuts when he was 18 months old.

She found that regular grocery stores and specialty stores would carry some of the items, but the range was limited. She could fill in some of the gaps by shopping online, but there were always times when she needed the item that day.

She quit her job as a defense contractor consultant last December and started pulling together a financial plan for the store, and researching companies that made allergy-free foods.

She opened the store five months later, coming up with "Navan" by using the first letters of her children's names - Nyle, Vaughn, and Nina.

She did have a few moments early on when she questioned whether her idea would fly -the day, for instance, when her sales came to a grand total of $3.87.

But gradually word spread through other parents, allergists, blogs and customers who saw her sign.

Her clientele falls into four main categories:

People with allergies to foods; those with celiac disease, an intestinal disorder that forces sufferers to eliminate wheat, rye and barley from their diets; families of autistic children who use the "anti-Candida" diet, in which sugar, yeast, gluten and dairy products are avoided; and people who are looking for preservative-free foods.

For 70-year-old Art Smalley of Virginia Beach, the store answered a 10-year hankering for a sandwich.

That's when Smalley was diagnosed with celiac disease after years of fatigue, depression, nausea and diarrhea. As soon as he cut out wheat, rye, oats and barley, he started feeling better and gained weight.

Unfortunately, though, he missed sandwiches and waffles.

But he found gluten-free bagels, sandwich buns and waffles at Navan Foods.

His first bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwich "was like being in heaven."

Osborne said Elizondo also does her best to find specific products she's looking for. She wanted a nondairy, gluten-free salad dressing her son could dip vegetables in; Elizondo found one for her and added it to the inventory.

Having a child with allergies herself helps Elizondo recognize what families on special diets go through and just how pervasive some forbidden items are in food products.

"Parents are desperate when they come in here," she said.

She also realizes one wrong ingredient can mean a reaction that could land someone in the hospital.

Searching for foods that fit a diet can be frustrating, but there's a positive side to it.

"They're very wholesome foods because they don't have preservatives," Elizondo said.

Convincing a 3-year-old of the merits of that can be tough, she admits, but she hopes her son will appreciate it some day.

Elizabeth Simpson, (757) 446-2635, elizabeth.simpson@pilotonline.com