Chocolate

What food would you say is your specialty?

I really don’t have a speciality. I eat to live. Food doesn’t really interest me, never has.

Between the ages of two and three I apparently ate three digestive biscuits a day and was never ill. I was hungry during my younger years, but never really minded what I ate as long as I liked it.

I’ve never had a desire to go to an expensive restaurant and have posh looking food on a very expensive plate. It has to be the plate right, because I’ve eaten bigger biscuits than some of those meals?

Gluten!

Turned out to be my nemesis. The things I did love were toast, a ham sandwich, croissants, cake. Wheat was eradicated from my diet overnight, and there ended my rocky relationship with food, or strengthened it.

Suddenly the cakes I was offered were an insult to the digestion. I used to love a chocolate brownie, bring one near me now and you’ll hear a grown woman scream. I’m brownied out! There are many nice gluten free cakes available, and they’re not difficult to make. They are costly, but cake is a luxury so…

The supermarkets try hard. Things were building up nicely. Then vegan took off. Now many GF things are also vegan. I’m not vegan. But there are more of them than us, they mean more revenue, so we’re stuck with weird textured gloop some of the time.

I am sensible enough to know that something home cooked by a vegan would be a different matter, but they can also eat wheat so they’re not as stuck. I do wonder if they walk into shops and think ‘vegan and gluten free? Why aren’t we allowed decent flour anymore?’

Giving in gracefully

When you’re GF you learn to take your focus off food. It’s not so much the food, it’s that you become the problem in the room. Everyone worries about you. Will you be able to get anything to eat?

Restaurants use wheat in the strangest way. One pub told if that I couldn’t have roast potatoes as they part roasted them, then coated them in flour and deep fried them for speed. I looked at the other people in the restaurant, innocently tucking in to twice the fact, and actually felt saved.

It’s horrible to be a problem on what should be a fun night out. Some places have GF menus, or one that is marked with GF. With some the manager has to come out with a tablet and go through each item with you. The kitchen is closed by the time they’ve finished! Okay I’m exaggerating but it is tedious.

Back in the summer I was nearly in tears in a pub restaurant. Tony was worried, my lovely friend/neighbours were worried. They patted my shoulder reassuring me that there was lots to eat on the menu.

That was the problem. There were eight main courses alone that I really liked and I was out of practice making a decision!

The good news

I’m beginning to feel that I can start trying wheat again. My granddaughter Isla told me how she got over a lactose intolerance, so I’m giving it a try.

It will be nice to not have to worry when I eat out. But for me it’s always going to be the social side more than the food.

If any of you have food allergies or intolerances, my heart goes out to you.

Deb xx