The hunt for a grown-up free-from Easter Egg is over! Cornish choc and fudge supremo Buttermilk has come up with these gluten, wheat and dairy-free beauties, in choc orange and choc honeycomb flavour. Buttermilk has been making artisan treats for half a century and wisely made the move into the free-from market. And it’s really […]
Since being forced down the gluten-free road ten years ago, Tesco has become my trusted friend. Its free-from aisle puts a grin on my face and probably several inches on my waist. Added bonus – the staff are always good for a checkout chat at my local one in Goole in Yorkshire. Which makes […]
Confession time. Back in my care-free, gluteny years, I was a terrible beer snob. I went to real ale pubs and hung out with CAMRA members who had big beards before they were cool. These guys schooled me on “foaming, hoppy, nut brown ales” and sneered at lager drinkers. I drank Harvey’s, Dark Star, Hobgoblin, […]
I know you shouldn’t be happy when mates tell you they are sick. But the other day, a friend messaged to say he’d been diagnosed with coeliac disease. And I was (secretly) ecstatic. This wasn’t just any friend. This was a top scientist friend – the type who is actually looking to cure diseases. It […]
Craving foods you can’t have is pretty standard when you get lumped on a free-from diet. As soon as I was told I had to be gluten free for life or risk a body breakdown, I wanted a macaroni pie, half a dozen Biscuit Boosts and a foaming pint of Guinness. Cravings can be all-consuming, […]
There’s a bloke down my street dressed as Spider-Man. He’s been there for a week, gritting his teeth through the tail end of Storm Doris – weather that would test the toughest superhero, let alone one wearing holey Nikes. He’s also wearing a sandwich board, declaring that Domino’s has just opened in the next town. […]
When I was first diagnosed with coeliac disease ten years ago, I felt hungry. Hungry and a bit lonely. I’d never heard of this thing the gastro guy had just given me after staring into my stomach. It drew blank looks from family and friends too. Sealy-what? Free-from food wasn’t getting the column inches or […]
When you’re first diagnosed with coeliac disease, as well as digesting the fact your diet has to change FOR EVER, the specialist also hits you with a lovely list of things you’re more at risk of, like: Osteoporosis Sure enough, I don’t have a brilliant bone density and, after a bone scan last year (Dem […]
Lazy cook and coeliac Kay Harrison has reclaimed her freezer – and loves what shops are now offering. Things are hotting up in my freezer. For years after being diagnosed with coeliac disease, the only gluten-free things in there were ice cubes and bread (normally eight sad loaves I’d picked up from Boots). But the […]
Despite being strong on the outside, I’m pathetically feeble on the inside. As was seen last week, when I was brought to my knees by a bit of toast. I’m coeliac and was diagnosed a decade ago. Over the years, I’ve come to recognise the small window you have before your tiny, overpriced gluten-free loaf […]
Unless you’ve had your head stuck inside a gas oven for the past week, you’ll know The Great British Bake Off is back. Despite being on Series 7, I only sat down to my first episode last year. As I’m coeliac, I thought the cakey subject matter would frustrate me. Like a horny nun sitting […]
The older you get, the more bothered you are about what’s going on inside your body instead of on the outside. Crying over fringes, spots and big noses is replaced by freak-outs over lumps, aches and barking coughs. And so the latest worry in my life is not wrinkles… it’s bones. And whether they are […]