Getting a diagnosis of alpha-gal syndrome – an allergy to red meat (and often dairy) ignited by a bite from a lone star tick – means new challenges and more vigilance when cooking and eating. We’d like to help. In response to the skyrocketing number of lone star ticks and subsequent cases of alpha-gal syndrome on the Island, Cook the Vineyard has created this resource page – and a tagged recipe collection – to help the hundreds of Islanders affected by AGS navigate the illness and eat well. Resources are listed below, after a few notes about our recipe collection and some shopping tips.

Note: Just a quick reminder that if you suspect you might have alpha-gal, or you’ve recently been bitten by a lone star tick, you should call your primary care provider, who will see you to diagnose symptoms and most likely order an alpha-gal IgE blood test to determine what level of alpha-gal antibodies you have (if any) in your system. This guide is not a substitute for medical advice from your physician. (See disclaimer below.)

The Alpha-Gal Friendly Recipe Collection

How do you find alpha-gal friendly recipes on our website?

1. You can find an indexed list of our alpha-gal friendly recipes here. This is a work in progress, with tagging ongoing. The index has more than 100 recipes in it already and many more will be added in the weeks ahead.

2. You can also go to our recipe index page, scroll down to “Recipes by Dish,” and you’ll see Alpha-Gal-Friendly at the top of that list. You can click on that to get the index as well.

3. Recipes on cookthevineyard.com that are alpha-gal friendly will be tagged. The alpha-gal friendly tag (or label) will appear at the end of the recipe. So if you are browsing our recipes and aren't sure if something is alpha-gal friendly, look for the tag at the bottom.  

4. in every weekly newsletter, all alpha-gal friendly recipes will be flagged. Subscribe to the newsletter at cookthevineyard.substack.com.

How do we determine which recipes are alpha-gal friendly?

A recipe must not include red meat (beef, pork, lamb, venison, goat) in any form.

Even though some folks with AGS can tolerate dairy, it is a gray area, so any recipe we tag as alpha-gal friendly does not list any dairy (butter, cheese, yogurt, etc.) as a main ingredient. If a recipe includes a dairy ingredient as an optional garnish (and does not contain red meat), we’ll tag it alpha-gal friendly.

Recipes that include processed ingredients – including condiments like mayonnaise and chili paste or canned broths and stocks – will, in many cases, not be tagged alpha-gal friendly. Some of these recipes will be fine if you’re cooking for yourself and have researched your favorite brands. But as a service to those who may be cooking for alpha-gal guests, it’s safest to leave out recipes with an ingredient that may have a hidden meat component. In some cases, if a recipe has just a single ingredient (like asian chili-garlic paste) that is processed but normally does not contain mammalian products, we will indicate that the recipe is alpha-gal friendly as long as you check the ingredients in that one ingredient and substitute if necessary.

Shopping & Cooking Tips

The good news about an alpha-gal friendly diet is that it puts healthy ingredients like legumes, grains, veggies and fish front and center. Alpha-gal folks can eat chicken, turkey and other fowl, too. If you were a vegetarian before getting AGS, you’ll now be eating a mostly vegan diet (except that you can still eat eggs). Or if you were a pescatarian, you can continue to be, as long as you don’t cook your seafood in butter or with other dairy products – unless you can tolerate them.

It’s important to note that not everyone with alpha-gal will react to the same things with the same severity. (There are many factors affecting reactivity.) Some people can tolerate dairy, but many must steer clear of all mammalian products, including gelatin and other thickeners found in a variety of products, such as supplements and non-dairy creamers.

• Shop around the perimeter of the grocery store. Buy fresh, raw ingredients so you’ll know what you’re starting with. Steer away from the middle of the store, where processed foods can hide all kinds of additives that might activate an alpha-gal reaction. When you do purchase packaged goods, check the ingredient labels not only for dairy, but for gelatin, guar gum, xanthum gum, and carrageenan, a substance derived from seaweed that naturally contains the alpha-gal molecule. Carrageenan is found in a wide variety of processed foods – including some brands of raw poultry, as well as some brands of ice cream, jams, plant milks, powdered drink mixes, and vegan non-dairy substitutes.
• Shop with the intention of stocking up your pantry, so that you can make a variety of flavorful meals without meat. Before you go shopping, read Your Pantry is Stocked With Hidden Flavor: 10 Essential Categories.
• Buy high-protein ingredients. (Editor's note: the longer I cook with alpha-gal, the more important I find it is to have a pantry of high-protein, non-meat and non-dairy items so that I don't wind up with an unhealthy breakfast or lunch. I keep boxed EdenSoy soy milk (no carrageenan), quick-cooking and steel oats, chia seeds, and toasted nuts around for breakfasts (and eggs of course); a lot of canned chickpeas and black beans as well as dried red and green lentils; a range of my favorite grains so that I can cook at least one every Sunday; canned high-quality tuna (I like Wild Planet), rice crackers (Crunchmaster); locally baked wheat bread (no additives) sliced and frozen, and high-protein snacks like roasted edamame and pistachios.)
• Learn to substitute coconut oil for butter in baking. Here's a great article on how to do that.  
• At the store, be aware of cross-contamination. Don’t buy freshly sliced turkey meat at the deli, where ham may have just been on the slicing machine. (FYI, sliced deli turkey can contain carrageenan.)
• If you’re on the Island, join a CSF (community supported fishery) or stop by the Martha’s Vineyard Seafood Collaborative’s booth at the West Tisbury Farmers’ Market for cryovaced, flash-frozen fish. Other seafood stores on the Island also have freezers stocked with useful ingredients, including fish stock and chopped clams. During the deep winter months when many seafood stores take a break on the Island, consider ordering online from WIld Alaskan Company. With seafood in the freezer, you’ll find you eat it more often.
• If you’re a bread eater, buy your bread at one of our Island farm bakeries like Morning Glory or Beetlebung, where they are transparent about ingredients, and where your bread will not have a lot of additives.
• Invest in two kinds of olive oil – one for cooking, one that you can use for drizzling on toast or veggies instead of butter. Pick up an infused oil or two. Buy grapeseed oil or another neutral oil to use instead of butter when cooking eggs.
• Consider joining an off-season CSA, like Island Grown Initiative’s. With so many vegetables to cook, you won’t notice that meat is missing.
• Shop at North Tabor Farm farm stand, where a shelf is dedicated to alpha-gal friendly take-out meals prepared by North Tabor Farm Kitchen. Healthy Additions, Cronig's and Vineyard Grocer also carry a lot of vegan and healthy ingredients.
• Consider downloading the Fig app, whichquickly scans barcodes to tell you if there is an ingredient in a product that you shouldn’t eat. The app can be very helpful and it does allow you to customize which ingredients you would like to warned about. It has a few limitations, so read up on it before you decide to download.
• Research your medications online to find out if they contain mammalian products. Many capsules contain gelatin or other mammalian products. The Daily Med website allows you to search for an FDA-approved medication and find out what ingredients are in it.

Information and Resources

About Alpha-gal on the Island

For background on how and when lone star ticks arrived on the Island – and brought alpha-gal with them – read these articles from the Vineyard Gazette and Martha’s Vineyard Magazine from the last three years.

Experts Aim to Raise Tick Awareness, Katrina Liu, Aug. 21, 2025

An Island Epidemic, Ethan Genter, June 6, 2025

Health Officials Begin Alpha-gal Survey, Ethan Genter, Dec. 9,2024

Alpha-Gal Cases Skyrocket as Lone Star Ticks Dig in, Ethan Genter, Oct. 31, 2024

Tick-Borne Alpha-Gal Syndrome Continues to Soar, Noah Glasgow, July 25, 2024

As Lone Star Ticks Spread, So Do Concerns About Alpha-Gal, Ethan Genter, May 4, 2023

Island Resources:

The Martha's Vineyard Boards of Health maintain a tick information page on their website.

Here is a list of informational videos from talks at the Vineyard Haven Public Library by tick experts.

About the Science of Alpha-Gal

Start with the expert: Dr. Scott Commins, the associate chief for allergy and immunology at the University of North Carolina’s School of Medicine, is the leading expert on alpha-gal syndrome research.  He was one of the researchers who first confirmed alpha-gal syndrome’s connection to tick bites. The Vineyard Haven Public Library hosted Dr. Commins for an hour-long video presentation and question and answer session last year and the recording is available on Vimeo. It is an excellent place to start learning about how alpha-gal syndrome occurs and how it can be managed. You can also watch a series of short question-and-answer videos with him, produced by the Two Alpha Gals (more on them below). And you can read this interview with him in Allergic Living.

Alpha-gal Support

• A great source for all things alpha-gal are the Two Alpha Gals. Candice Matthis and Debbie Nichols are two friends who suffered years of alpha-gal symptoms before being diagnosed with the syndrome. They are determined to help others navigate diagnosis and living with AGS. Check out their website, follow them on Instagram and You Tube, and read this interview with them on Allergic Living.
• You can also buy (for a small fee) their 22-page alpha-gal resource guide. Most recently, they have founded a nonprofit, the Alpha-Gal Foundation. They are actively working to have alpha-gal allergy, which is the 10th most prevalent food allergy in the country, declared a major allergen (like the top nine allergens are) so that products would be required to list it on labels.
• There are many alpha-gal support groups (and groups with sub-interests) online. As always, do not take everything you read online at face value. There are lots of so-called experts in chat groups!

— The AlphaGal Kitchen is a Facebook group with 53,000 members.

— Alphagalinformation.org, includes a list of more than a dozen other Facebook support groups.

— Here is the Reddit Alpha-gal group.

Please note: We will be adding to this resource guide. Feel free to leave a comment if you have useful information you’d like us to consider including.

Disclaimer: The information and resources provided by Cook the Vineyard are for general educational and informational purposes only. They are not intended as, and should not be taken as, medical or dietary advice. Alpha-gal syndrome (AGS) affects individuals differently, and dietary needs may vary. Always consult with a qualified healthcare provider or registered dietitian before making changes to your diet or treatment plan. Cook the Vineyard and its contributors assume no responsibility or liability for any consequence resulting directly or indirectly from the use of the information provided on this page.