Are food allergies more common these days or are we just more aware? It’s evident that there are a lot of people who have adverse reactions to common ingredients but everyone wants to eat delicious food. How to Cook for Food Allergies will be welcomed by millions who want to provide safe food for the whole family with dishes that everyone can enjoy.
Lucinda Bruce-Gardyne is a chef and co-author of award-winning Leith’s Techniques Bible. She has not only taught but has run her own catering business. She has three children, two of whom have food allergies. Lucinda is well-placed to give advice born of first-hand experience.
If problem foods were ingredients such as truffles, larks tongues in aspic and fillet of aardvark then this book would never have been written. It’s common foods that cause the difficulties. Eggs, soya, nuts, gluten and dairy are the main culprits. If you want to have a varied and interesting diet then you need to know how to substitute these foods for ones that will not present symptoms. Lucinda gives you all the advice you’ll need to make those substitutions.
How to Cook for Food Allergies has three parts, the first being Living with Food Allergies. It’s probably the most important element of the book as it deals with how to avoid problem foods, eating out and travelling, and eating a balanced diet on a restricted diet.
The second part of How to Cook for Food Allergies tells us how to substitute ingredients, and each of those common problem foods has a chapter. Read this and you’ll start to see the light at the end of the culinary tunnel. Lucinda offers us the prospect of real food that doesn’t taste like a compromise.
The third part introduces the recipes and you’ll linger over these because they are good, flavourful dishes that are easy to prepare and will be appreciated by the whole family. Gone are the days of cooking two different meals to accommodate allergy sufferers as well as those lucky folk who can eat everything down to the pattern on the plate.
Moroccan Chicken, Apricot, Olive and Saffron Tagine is aromatic and exotic but free of dairy, gluten, eggs, nuts and soya. Lasagne al Forno will become a favourite if you use gluten-free pasta. There are lots of allergy-aware products in supermarkets today. Gluten-Free White Bread uses potato flour, cornflour, tapioca flour and rice flour instead of the conventional strong wheat bread flour. The same recipe can be used to make pizza.
How to Cook for Food Allergies is a practical cookbook that will be a god-send for anyone who either suffers from food allergies or cooks for someone with a food intolerance. It’s well-researched but not over technical. It’s sure to become a best-seller.
How to Cook for Food Allergies
Author: Lucinda Bruce-Gardyne
Published by: Rodale, Pan Macmillan
Price: £12.99
ISBN 978-1-905744-28-2
Cookbook review by Chrissie Walker © 2018