For just one week in May, that’s 7 days, take the Gluten Free Challenge for Coeliac awareness week. Fortunately I don’t have Coeliac disease but I do have to be careful about eating wheat, especially if I’m stressed and if I eat too much I suffer. I love bread it just doesn’t love me so I totally empathise with everyone who is intolerant or allergic to wheat.
Trying to avoid wheat can be a complete nightmare, you spend half your life reading ingredients lists in supermarkets, avoiding food like some brands of Soy Sauce as well as all those lovely baked goods and pasta. Then there are the attempts to eat out, the amount of restaurants who have no idea what ‘gluten-free’ means is a little like trying to explain to some restaurants in France that vegetarian means you don’t eat fish, poultry and pork, not just red meat. OK they have changed a bit but I remember having that argument a few years ago in a number of places …… mussels are OK, they don’t have faces? (aaaargh!) I digress.
May 16-22 is the Coeliac Society’s Awareness Week and all they’re asking is for you to give up eating gluten. Gluten is a protein found in wheat, barley and rye. People with Coeliac disease have to avoid this protein as it causes their body to attack itself.
To support Awareness Week all they’re asking is to help raise awareness of the condition by going gluten-free for the week, having a gluten-free dinner party, if you’re eating out encourage the whole party to request gluten-free food at the restaurant, getting your office to have gluten-free lunches.
You may be surprised that you feel better by giving up gluten for a week, you never know.
Myself and other celebrity chefs such as the wonderful Phil Vickery have put together some gluten-free recipes to tempt you all into trying gluiten-free food for the week, mine are chocolate cakes to prove that you don’t have to live without chocolate cake if you can’t have gluten, to find out more and discover our lovely gluten-free recipes check out the Coeliac Society’s website.