Darina’s alternative festive feast

Even if you love all the razzmatazz, Christmas is certainly ‘a bit of work’ and can be a deeply stressful time for the cook or chef.

This is exacerbated if you or a member of the family have a food allergy or intolerance. Until relatively recently I never heard of anyone who had a food allergy or intolerance. The problem has really gathered momentum in the last decade. Nowadays between one-quarter and a third of our students report a food allergy or intolerance on their booking form.

There is a very important distinction to be made between food allergies and food intolerance. The former can be life-threatening e.g. a peanut allergy, the latter may cause varying degrees of discomfort.