Beat the wheat

COELIAC disease is triggered by eating gluten, the protein found in wheat, barley, oats and rye.

The only way to treat it is to totally embrace a gluten-free diet and embrace is scarcely the word — when the diagnosis is confirmed — one’s heart sinks at the prospect of life without the yummy foods that we look forward to.

Certainly one’s diet has to change but there is no reason to despair. Once the basic elements are understood it’s a question of investing in a new store cupboard of basic ingredients and some reliable recipes and then it should be perfectly possible to reproduce many favourite breads, cakes and puddings.

It’ll take a little practice because many of the ingredients feel and react differently but it’s definitely worth the effort. Coeliacs and those with a wheat intolerance need to familiarise themselves with the disease and the sources and foods that contain gluten.

A lot of foods and drinks may contain gluten without you even realising it. Some are obvious breads, pasta, flours, cereals and others like fish fingers, sausages, gravies, sauces, soy sauce, some types of mustard powder are not so obvious. These can change daily as food manufacturers alter ingredients, sometimes without notice.

The Coeliac Society of Ireland (www.coeliac.ie) as well as the British Nutrition Foundation (www.nutrition.org.uk) monitor the situation on an ongoing basis and are an essential resource and support group for coeliacs.

Several good gluten-free cookbooks have been have been written the most recent by well known Phil Vickery. In response to many requests Phil launched a range of Christmas and Winter puddings in 2006.

The response was overwhelming (he has sold 10,000 to date) so he continued to experiment and his latest book Seriously Good Gluten Free Cooking published by Kyle Cathie is the result. The book includes more than 120 flavoursome dishes making the most of fresh wholesome ingredients — all completely safe for people with coeliac disease to eat.

From breakfast to snacks, outdoor eating to desserts, here are dishes that many people would never have dreamed they could eat again, including the notoriously difficult area of home-made breads, scones and cakes.

Recognising that many chefs didn’t even know how to spell coeliac least of all what it was, Phil wanted to write an accessible and inventive cook book to show that gluten-free cooking could be just like and other food and to help people make the most of the special food ranges now available.

With extra information on the hidden gluten in store-cupboard essentials, what results is a book that will not only revolutionise the diet of thousands of people with coeliac disease but will be an essential and trustworthy book for anyone wanting to cut down on their wheat intake.

Healthy Gluten Free Eating, which I co-wrote with Rosemary Kearney in 2004, is still available at all good book shops. This book has more than 100 really, really delicious recipes and key nutritional and lifestyle recommendations, cooking and shopping tips.

I chose a few recipes from Phil Vickery’s Seriously Good Gluten Free Cooking book for you to enjoy.