Читать книгу Gluten, Wheat and Dairy Free Cookbook: Over 200 allergy-free recipes, from the ‘Sensitive Gourmet’ - Antoinette Savill, Antoinette Savill - Страница 5

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.

Many of the recipes in this book were once ‘conventional’ ones that that were totally hostile to my dietary needs. Having decided that I enjoyed them too much to give them up, I set about replacing the conventional ingredients with appropriate substitutes – for instance, sunflower and soya products replaced dairy, while corn and rice products replaced starch and cereals. Now, having familiarized myself with the fundamental problems associated with juggling ingredients, I can safely and quickly prepare menus to suit even the most restrictive of diets. This process of substituting ingredients is not only of benefit to those with food intolerances: medical opinion is now that we all eat far too much wheat and dairy products, so these recipes will be a healthy change for everyone.

A lot of problems, I feel, come from the artificial colourings, additives, preservatives, pesticides and chemicals that are mixed with or coated onto many of today’s foods. These problems can, of course, be overcome by buying organic food and washing thoroughly or peeling off all the vegetable and fruit skins. Another problem stems from chlorine in tap water. Even people who do not suffer from the most common food sensitivities may react to this, so I recommend that you use filtered or boiled water for cooking and drinking.

The nutritional value of our foods is very important, especially if you are on any restricted diet. Using this book, you will be able to construct well-balanced menus with plenty of starch, which provides sugar and fibre, to fill you up and make you feel contented. The decrease in consumption of fats will help you achieve and maintain a healthy weight, but I do advise using unsaturated fats that are unhydrogenated as this helps considerably in reducing cholesterol and heart disease. Remember it’s not the bread that is fattening, but what you spread on it.

Carbohydrates are essential fillers and give you slowly released energy. You can buy very good breads such as gluten-free sourdough or corn bread, but take care to read the labels. This applies to everything we buy as, unfortunately, most foods have added wheat or yeast in them.

Cutting out dairy products means losing a lot of protein, especially in the form of cheese. Yogurt is easier to digest than milk, so some people who cannot tolerate milk may be able to eat yogurt. I often use goat’s and sheep’s products, as these can be tolerated by many people who are susceptible to the ill-effects of other dairy produce. In addition, they now have very sophisticated flavours and textures – quite unlike 10 years ago!

Soya is a particularly useful substitute for dairy products. Soya milk is a white liquid made exclusively from soya beans. You can buy it sweetened and with calcium, which helps to improve the taste. You can also buy soya yogurt and cream. Soya cream adds thickness and richness, but with all the optimism I possess I can’t get it to whip up properly. This makes it ineffective as a filler. A more workable solution is to always have a tub of (GF/WF/DF) Swedish glacé or Tofutti ice-cream dessert that can cunningly be used to fill meringues, roulades or other puddings.

It is often the sweet finale to a meal, or particular celebrations that call for cakes and other sweet treats, that are a particular problem for those with food intolerances. For this reason, you will find a large number of desserts, cakes and sweets in this book. However, our consumption of refined sugars has increased dramatically in recent years and we need to restrict our consumption of these, so regard the wonderfully tempting sweet recipes in this book as providing you with a wide repertoire and not an excuse to eat a sumptuous dessert every night!

Don’t worry if any of the ingredients in the book seem unfamiliar – they are all available at supermarkets, Italian delicatessens or health food shops. If you live some distance from a large town or city and none of these options are available or if you find it difficult to obtain the gluten, wheat and dairy-free products there are marvellous mail order companies around. You will find a helpful list of these on page 262. I have also included my list of ingredients, which might come in useful.

A professional nutritionist has assessed every recipe in this book, so you can be inspired with absolute confidence. However, do please check each recipe before you start planning, shopping or cooking, as it would be extremely annoying to find at the last minute that it is unsuited to your specific needs.