“Through the years, many things have changed, but my obsession with Amy’s Mac has not wavered. “
I’ve consumed one serving of Amy’s Gluten Free Mac & Cheese nearly every day since I was five years old.
While it’s not the only thing I eat, I’m obsessed! According to my calculations, that means I’ve eaten over 4000 portions in my lifetime.
Growing up with multiple food allergies, I had very limited food options, making it challenging for my parents to feed me. Being a picky eater made that even more complicated. That is until we discovered Amy’s Gluten Free Mac & Cheese! With its soft noodles saturated with perfectly salted, ooey gooey cheddar cheese, attractively packaged in a snow-speckled green container, it easily became my favorite food. Packed with nourishing grams of carbs and protein, it was not only safe to eat, but also quite delicious. What’s more is that my love for Amy’s Mac spurred some memorable life stories.
When people first discover my food allergies and love for Amy’s Mac, it often results in looks of surprise and sometimes pity. “Mac & cheese again?!!” “Oh, you poor thing, you really can’t eat anything!” I don’t think these people ever intended to hurt me, but their comments did bother me when I was younger. The thing is that I never felt too sorry for myself, although I’d prefer not having any allergies at all. But, I found that many often felt sorry for me on my behalf. Feeling confused and frustrated, I would react with only silence. But, that changed as my confidence grew, along with my understanding of other people’s perspectives. These days, I don’t hesitate to respond to these comments with my staple line, ”Don’t feel bad for me because I don’t. I just love my mac!!”
Thanks to Amy’s Mac, I was able to forge a closer connection with my younger sister. An adopted child with ADHD who joined our family when she was five, Vivien came to us with behavioral challenges that made it difficult to bond with her. Throughout the first year, I spent a lot of time with her. I taught her origami, took her ice skating, and defended her when my parents scolded her. Despite all this, I didn’t know how she felt about me until one afternoon when she went food shopping with our parents while I was sick at home. Throwing a big tantrum at Wegmans, Vivien had refused to leave until my parents bought two more cartons of Amy’s Mac for me, screaming that it was my favorite. My parents were mortified. But when I heard what she had done, I became flooded with warm emotions that she cared about me too.
Like my sister, my father also recognized how much I loved Amy’s Mac. What he didn’t appreciate was how much it added to our grocery bill each week. One day after paying a hefty bill, my dad, the chef in our family, announced that he would create his own recipe that would rival the taste of Amy’s Mac. Feeling amused, I offered to help with this seemingly impossible challenge. Together, we spent weeks cooking up batches of mac, experimenting with various noodles and cheeses, and giving brutally honest ratings on our experimental dishes. We laughed and sometimes argued, but we eventually had to admit that nothing we made measured up to Amy’s perfection. Thinking back now, it may have been a failure, but we enjoyed each other’s company and now have a hilarious story to share!
Through the years, many things have changed, but my obsession with Amy’s Mac has not wavered. It continues its role in my life as a comforting and nourishing food that has created lasting memories, all packaged in a sparkly container from Wegmans. What’s there not to love??
Disclaimer: The writer has no affiliation with the Amy’s Mac & Cheese brand despite her very enthusiastic tone. She is just an unusually devoted fan of this absolutely perfect product!
-Kyra