Gluten-Free Girl: How I Found the Food That Loves Me Back...And How You…

The author does a great job remembering what it was like to grow up in the U.S. in the '70s and the kinds of foods we were raised on. Her celiac diagnosis changes her life and this book reads like a road trip into her budding and then fully blossoming interest in food. ( )

People keep trying to loan me this book. I wish they would stop. I also have celiac disease, and lean towards sounding like a newly converted missionary at times, and like many other people with the disease, I spend a lot of time stewing over the terrible foods I ate in my benighted ignorance, and the horrible ramifications my diet had for my health. Seriously - I lived on those cans of fried mock duck chunks you find at Asian markets (wheat gluten fried in wheat sauce), noodles, and beer. It's no wonder my body gave up on the stuff, probably out of fear and despair. But Ahern out-stews me, easily. You'd think she'd suffered more than anyone ever, and she blames her mom for most of it. I felt really bad for her poor mom, probably just doing her best, feeding her what in retrospect was a bad array of wheaty foods, but no different from what most people eat. It's seriously uncomfortable to read.
Blame slinging and navel gazing aside, the food writing is too twee for my taste, all misty rapture and preciousness. If you enjoy Thomas Kincade paintings or Christian television, this is the food writing for you.
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Yes, she uses expensive ingredients but part of her point is that if you're going to have to make a move from food that could kill you to more complex foods you might as well treat yourself well. That rebuilding the relationship between you and food may be more complex than you think and that you should treat yourself to the best because less than best can be adulterated with wheat which can lead you back down the path of pain and illness.

I am myself someone who has had to rethink my relationship with food. I had to give up gluten before I could get a firm diagnosis but any gluten in food makes me quite ill. This led for a while to an almost avoidance of food on my part, which was almost as unhealthy as the food issues themselves. I haven't quite got around to fully fixing my relationship with food but I'm getting better. It's people like her who help and reassure me that I'm not completly crazy. ( )

This book is a must read for anyone diagnosed with celiac disease or gluten sensitivity. It helped me come to terms with my diet, as well as made me want to get back into the kitchen. Her amazing descriptions of cooking and food are drool-worthy!

Fantastic recipes, great cooking ideas/tips ( )