The Lactose-Free-Thing

Chocolate Mug Cake

Happy Sunday!

Despite my love to France, I have to deal with one big issue here: my lactose intolerance.

Maybe French genes are composed differently, but every time I enter a supermarket I feel that they have never heard of this allergy. Shelves full of yogurt, milk, cheese (oh-how-yummy-is-that) - but nearly no lactose-free products. OK, might be that I am a little demanding since I neither like soy products nor sheep milk, but still - in other countries like the US or Germany I find plenty of special products.

Even Starbucks here in France cannot offer lactose-free milk which helped me to save a lot of money as I have stopped going there. And this is a true shame because sometimes there is no better than a Chai Latte or a Hot Chocolate on the way to work (right, I still don't touch coffee, though I am a stressed student).
Luckily, I can still have my favourite cheese "Comte" as it is hard cheese that hasn't any lactose left. Yet, Camembert is excluded from my diet.

What about you? Has anyone of you faced same problems? And more important - how do you overcome them?
I, for instance, import some dairy products from Switzerland and Germany from time to time when I feel the urge. However, I adapted my diet a lot since I got the diagnosis.
Finally, I found some great recipes to replace the conventional dairy product by other products that are composed by the same nutritional values. Only last week I tried this Chocolate Mug Cake and combined it with a lactose free yogurt (bought in the super market and pimped it with some chocolate chips). While I normally need dairy products for desserts, this is one that is incredibly delicious without!

Preparation I

Lactose-free yogurt

Finished (and yes, I don't have a pic with the final dessert...)