Ep 33 Weeknight Allergy Buster

Let’s start the blog with the Show Notes for this episode:
On this episode I interviewed Corinna Meckelborg, author of an innovative cookbook that tackles the dilemma of family meals to accommodate multiple allergies. Her e-book (downloadable) handles a variety of allergies and how to mix and match family meals to suit everyone. The book is called Weeknight Allergy Buster. Corinna has a special contest to give away 10 copies but you must enter by Thursday, August 23rd – here’s the link for the contest and pre-sale of the book.

https://friendlypantry.lpages.co/weeknight-allergy-buster-presale
After that date, you can buy the e-book and check out Corinna’s webpage at –
www.friendlypantry.com

You can also follow her on social media –
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/friendlypantry/https
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/friendlypantry/
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.ca/kidsfoodallergy/

Sue’s Websites and Social Media –
Podcast – acanadianceliacpodcast.libsyn.com
Podcast Blog – acanadianceliacblog.com
Facebook – @acanadianceliacpodcast
Twitter – CeliacPodcastCA
Email – acdnceliacpodcast@gmail.com
Baking Website – suesglutenfreebaking.com
Instagram – @suesgfbaking
YouTube – https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLUVGfpD4eJwwSc_YjkGagza06yYe3ApzL
(search Sues Gluten Free Baking)
Email – sue@suesglutenfreebaking.com

My Thoughts –

When I had my bakery, I was always challenged with how many ingredients I was prepared to eliminate from the foods we made for sale. Different customers would often ask for dairy-free, egg-free, nut-free, vegan and other alterations to my recipes. Gluten free formulation for baking is much like a chemistry experiment and it is often not an easy swap or removal.
As a business it was decided to only concentrate on making quality gluten free foods. Once we developed recipes, if we could easily make an ingredient substitution and the product was of the same quality, we could then make special orders, but otherwise, we stuck with just gluten free. Some ingredients like nuts and dairy can sometimes but substituted, but not always, depending on their purpose in the formulation.
A retail store once asked for cases of my brownies, some with walnuts, as I normally made them and some without walnuts. I can still remember the frustration of baking off the nut-free brownies, only to have them collapse and not bake evenly. This may not be the case with a different brownie recipe, but the one I developed used the protein in the nuts to add to the texture and bake-ability.
There is a tendency currently for bakeries to be free from many ingredients. This will often satisfy allergies to dairy, nuts, corn, soy as well as a vegan preference. I can understand the business decision, but I firmly believe that removing a long list of ingredients from baked goods does not produce the best gluten free foods. Yes, the foods can be consumed by a wider range of people, and that is a plus, but to look strictly at the quality of the food for someone only requiring gluten free, or only dairy free, or only nut free, foods often fall short.
Having more food restrictions other than gluten can be very frustrating. I have spoken before about my late-in-life allergy to flaxseed. Most free-from allergen and vegan baked goods contain flaxseed to compensate for the lack of eggs. When I attended a food conference last year, the organizers were hard pressed to accommodate gluten free and flax free. They worked with a local specialty bakery that produced free-from vegan baked goods to meet all the special requests – except mine. I understand that requesting gluten free can be tricky for food suppliers and to add a further allergen complication on top of that makes the job harder. I accept my inability to digest gluten and I cope well with that, but the flaxseed allergy is something I just don’t need. I can’t presume to understand how difficult it must be to have a variety of allergies within a family, and I’m glad that someone like Corinna is tackling that everyday issue.