Gluten, Wheat and Dairy Free Cookbook: Over 200 allergy-free recipes, from the ‘Sensitive Gourmet’. Antoinette Savill

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       Introduction

      For many years, people have known that stress, pollution and junk food take their toll on our systems. The result of this onslaught is that more and more people are being diagnosed as suffering from food intolerances or dietary problems, and are being advised to follow bland, unappetizing diets. Having experienced the misery of such advice and the monotony and frustration of a restrictive diet, I decided to develop these recipes to prove that it is possible to eat exciting food and stay healthy.

      The purpose of this cookbook is to allow those with food intolerances to entertain family and friends on all occasions and throughout the various celebrations of the year, giving everyone such delicious food that none will even realize that the ingredients are slightly different. The idea then is to make entertaining, be it a children’s tea party or a simple picnic in the garden, a relaxing, fun and sociable few hours for everyone – including the cook!

      My passion for food comes, essentially, from the intoxicating Mediterranean flavours: ripe and heady smells of fresh herbs, fruit and vegetables that are piled up on market stalls and wicker baskets, displayed casually but always looking glorious and in harmony with their surroundings. Not for me the regimented piles of perfect supermarket fruit and vegetables that all too often have no perceptible aroma but only a flaccid dullness evocative of nothing except the mysteries of science. This cosmopolitan collection of recipes, although at heart European, also has a sprinkling of oriental and Asian influences, whose intriguing ingredients are now available all over the world.

      Food intolerance is, by its nature, a complex subject and no two people experience exactly the same intolerance. While nearly all the recipes in this book are dairy or wheat free and so helpful to IBS and ME/chronic fatigue sufferers as well as others, there are plenty of gluten-free recipes for coeliacs. Please remember that other ingredients included in the recipe may not be suitable for individual intolerance. If you are new to this challenging game of food avoidance, the table on page 266 will reassure you. It is important, however, that you do not try to diagnose or treat yourself: if you are having problems with foods or liquids do seek the advice and help of a good nutritionist, doctor or homeopathic practitioner. This book will help you to avoid certain foods while still letting you enjoy food, but will not cure your intolerance.