I cook for an elderly relative who has celiac disease, so the difficulties of preparing a gluten-free diet are something I have to think about every day. I do believe it's the most difficult dietary restriction challenge I know of, in part because it's more than an intolerance: it's a kind of allergic reaction, so even the tiniest amount of gluten can throw a person's body into the auto-immune response that severely damages the lining of the intestinal system, which then takes weeks to months to fully heal. "Just this little bit, just this time, won't hurt" is death-wish thinking for a person who is gluten intolerant.
Celiac disease is a great outlet for Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder! You can't trust any sort of prepared food. Wheat derivatives are in everything.
But those are problems for the cook. For the person who has the problem, the hardest part is learning to do without all those familiar foods that Europeans, particularly, take for granted. Bread [wheat] truly is the staff of life! How can we live without bread - pancakes - fried chicken - biscuits - sauces - spaghetti and all other pasta - pizza - cake - pie - cookies - pudding - beer! - dumplings - cheeseburgers - hot dogs - even that fake crabmeat, all contain wheat. Oh, rye also has gluten. So does barley. And even oatmeal, though it does not contain gluten, has a component that is similar enough that some gluten-intolerant people cannot eat oats either. A diagnosis of celiac disease forces a radical re-adjusting think about what qualifies as food.
First things first: the beer of course! I tried a six-pack of gluten-free beer last year that I found in a supermarket in New Orleans. It was okay. One could get used to it. Sorghum-based, I think it was, but I don't recall the brand.
There are two ways to go when one decides to eliminate a food category from the diet. The first way is the way of substitution. Do you know anyone who is a newly devout vegan? Look in their freezer. It'll be filled with veggie burgers, veggie hot dogs, veggie ground "beef". The refrigerator will contain chocolate "silk" and some lame replacement for butter. How about soy or yeast "cheese" for the pizza? Well, to each his own, but in my book building a diet on substitutions for familiar foods is second-rate and discouraging.
There is a better way! Consider that most people in the world, most of the great civilizations, have lived in places where grains containing gluten do not grow well or do not grow at all. The cuisine of those nations is healthful, delicious, and entirely safe! Rather than face a dispiriting substitute for macaroni and cheese, wouldn't you rather dig into a feast of stir-fry over jasmine rice? Nachos supreme? Sushi? Or even the everyday "poor food" of the American inland deep south, where flour biscuits were a luxury and cornbread was eaten at every meal. (Real southern- style cornbread, unadulterated with flour and sugar.) Fresh butterbeans from the garden, cooked with a slice of bacon, ladled over a slab of cornbread, sliced tomatoes on the side, and a glass of buttermilk. Lunch. Delicious! and gluten-free.
My intention here isn't primarily to provide a guide to gluten-free cooking. But I can see that it's going to be an unplanned byproduct, so to anyone who needs it, I offer some tags to help you find us via google, and also my blessings. What you'll find here are recipes that have been handed down through my family and my extended family, that I learned by watching and by asking through the years. Good dishes that have stood the test of time.
Cooking and eating are as basic to humanity as the discovery of the wheel and the conquest of fire. It should be uncomplicated and enjoyable! Let us share our culinary heritage and make it so.
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