A belly swells with baby – and good food. I have never thought of living gluten-free as a deprivation. But the day I followed a bizarre craving for lemongrass, right that instant, I realized that eating while pregnant might be a bit more challenging. Scanning the shelves of my favourite grocery store, I found that [...]

You must have noticed it, too. Suddenly everywhere – the words “gluten-free” appear. They’re on packages of foods and bottles of beer and advertising supplements for grocery chains. Companies that produce food have begun to take notice of those of us who cannot eat gluten. According to a report by Packaged Facts, a market research [...]

Yes. When my doctor told me that I had celiac disease, I said it out loud – yes! Not the typical reaction, I know. Most people, when told they must live without gluten, begin grieving right away. Imagine being told that never again can you eat gluten – the elastic protein in wheat, rye, and [...]

Long before our daughter was born, we dreamed of feeding her. After we finally brought her home, we introduced her to rosemary just clipped from the bush, vanilla bean, and balsamic vinegar. No, we weren’t giving food to a 2-week-old baby. We were putting it under her nose, encouraging her to sniff. Our kitchen often [...]

After years of physical suffering and not knowing what was wrong with me, I had been ecstatic to find the food that loved me back. Blessed with a website that helped people, as well as a new career in food writing, I had found my life in food. And then, almost a year to the [...]

At the end of our honeymoon in the Italian countryside, my husband Danny and I were filled with contentment. The days had been languid and gorgeous, with our laughter echoing off surrounding hillsides. And the meals? In the land of pizza and pasta, I ate free of gluten without any trouble, day after day. People [...]

A few years ago, I had started to doubt whether I’d ever have a child. I wanted to, fervently. There were only two problems: I had not yet met the man with whom I wanted to raise a child, and my entire reproductive system seemed to be in an uproar. Like many undiagnosed celiacs, I’d [...]

It has become fashionable as of late to mock food allergies as a “trendy” condition, a construct of over-protective parents or attention-seeking adults. I simply can’t think of any other serious, sometimes life-threatening condition that is dissed more often. Take last month, for instance. There we were smack in the middle of Food Allergy Awareness [...]

Was there ever a more capable foe Than one who shields his strength so? An unremarkable plant, heavy with seed cast to the wind with resolve and speed. As his fecundity causes grief both far and wide, from behind fairer bloom, he shrinks to hide. Between sniffles, I must confess a grudging admiration for the [...]

When a Harvard social scientist equated the measures taken by schools to accommodate food allergies with mass hysteria – the media ate it up. Perhaps it was the “emperor has no clothes” syndrome, gotcha journalism or simple contrarianism, but Dr. Nicholas Christakis’s article in the British Medical Journal got columnists and reporters buzzing in a way [...]