Alicia Wolf creates connections in the kitchen. She's the brains behind The Dizzy Cook, a widely followed blog and social platform dedicated to anti-inflammatory cooking and life with migraine. Wolf says cooking is her "love language" – and though that love started with simple dishes for college roommates and date nights with her husband, it now radiates outward to the wider community. Specifically, the migraine community.
"I got the idea from the food blog smitten kitchen, which I found back in the heyday of online blogging," says Wolf. "I loved [the creator] Deb Perelman. She was so relatable and funny and down to earth. So I thought, 'What if I could make a smitten kitchen, but for people in my situation? Beautiful photos, good recipes, fun stories … and chronic illness.' I wanted to make it relatable for people living with migraines."
So that's exactly what she did. Now nearly a decade and two cookbooks later, she's a voice for the migraine community, advocating for awareness and delicious food choices for those who live with this common but often misunderstood neurological disorder.
When the World Turned Upside Down
In her 20s, Wolf did creative work in fashion and watch design, and was a seasoned traveler who loved to learn how to cook the local cuisine in places like Burgundy and Japan.
Then, after a trip to Asia, she started having intense sinus pressure, a floating sensation, and extreme dizziness that made her feel untethered. First the symptoms were fleeting, and then they escalated. She couldn't drive. She couldn't work. Even sitting at a computer felt impossible.
Doctors ran test after test, but everything came back normal. An ear, nose, and throat doctor suggested anxiety and depression. Another round of specialists led nowhere. Meanwhile, her symptoms got worse. She was dealing with rocking sensations, ear pressure, neck pain, and episodes of violent spinning vertigo.
"It felt like I was having all these symptoms that were in my head, and everyone was telling me I was crazy," says Wolf. "I had gone from traveling to all these amazing countries to basically being bed bound. And everyone was telling me I was fine."
It took a 16-hour trip to the Mayo Clinic for Wolf to finally find the answer to her mysterious symptoms: vestibular migraine, a type of migraine that causes dizziness and vertigo, and – most remarkably – often no head pain at all. Back in Dallas, a neurologist confirmed the diagnosis and started her treatment.
"I think he saved my life that day," she says. "Having some type of treatment and working towards that gave me a fresh look on everything, and made me feel at least I was validated in what I was feeling. And that, to me, was everything."
Starting Over From Scratch
The months Wolf went without a proper diagnosis and treatment allowed her condition to become severe and chronic. Months of being unable to work eventually meant she was let go from her job.
"It took me months to try to feel like myself again," she says.
During that rediscovery process, Wolf's therapist tasked her with writing a list of what brought her joy. At the top of the list, she wrote down her long-held passion: Cooking.
Her heart was ready, but her body took a little longer. The fast, fluid movements she once loved in the kitchen now left her off balance.
"I could no longer move quickly around the kitchen like I was used to," she says. "I had to use a stool or I had to have all my ingredients out in sort of a 'mise en place' preparation" (a reference to the French term for prepping your ingredients before you make a recipe).
In time, she was able to learn a new normal, and in doing so, she found a new purpose.
"At the end of the day, I'd make this meal and sit down with my family, and it made me feel like a real human being," she says.
A Dizzy Cook Is Born
As she got more comfortable in the kitchen, Wolf began experimenting with the Johns Hopkins migraine elimination diet, adapting recipes to remove common triggers.
"It was more of an opportunity to cook in new ways and find new recipes that I would've never made before," she explains.
Wolf started documenting her recipe adaptations online, but she didn't have a goal to "influence" an audience. In fact, she felt very alone and hoped to find community through blogging. A site with "chef" in the title didn't feel approachable, she thought. So she'd be The Dizzy Cook and teach others how to make delicious food while living with migraines.
Soon she developed a cookbook, The Dizzy Cook: Managing Migraine with More Than 90 Comforting Recipes and Lifestyle Tips, based on her site. Later, she partnered with her doctor, Shin Beh, MD, on a second book focused on the Mediterranean migraine diet. Using research on beneficial ingredients like leafy greens and dark berries, Wolf created recipes that used foods rich in omega-3s, such as chia seeds and salmon, for migraine prevention and long-term brain health.
Today, her site and social media platforms (@thedizzycook) blend practical advice with lived experience. She shares migraine-friendly recipes, electrolyte ice cubes (her specialty), anti-inflammatory one-pot dinners, and realistic glimpses into life with a neurological disease.
"I’m here for the average home cook who's just trying to figure out how to chop well and what they can make in 30 minutes or less," she says.
"My hope with The Dizzy Cook is to give people recipes that support a somewhat difficult diet when you first read it, and a long-term guide for meal planning. I want to show them that if I can do it, they can, too."
Cuisine for a Cause
Wolf's work goes beyond building recipes. She volunteers and works with organizations including the Vestibular Disorders Association (VeDA), the American Migraine Foundation, Miles for Migraine, and the Danielle Foundation through its Migraine at School initiative.
Through her advocacy, she helps raise awareness of some of the lesser-known symptoms, causes, and complications of migraine. For example, she says, she's learned that migraine can show up in kids as motion sickness, digestive upset, or vertigo.
"If I would have just known that was an early migraine symptom, it would have been easy for me to explain that I do have a migraine history," she says. "I just never knew because I never knew what to look for."
She wants to help make migraine education part of the mainstream so people can come prepared to doctor's visits with better questions. It's a way for her to turn her diagnosis, which she calls "one of the best and worst things that happened to me," into direction.
"It was awful to go through," she says. "But I look at the difference I've been able to make and the things I've learned about myself in the meantime, and I think this has to be where I was meant to be all along."
