A note on why have I included dietary alternations to most of my recipes…

Over the years I have cooked for many people with dietary restrictions. While it was a challenge I used to find very frustrating, its something I now totally respect. It also made me get out of my comfort zone. I used to be well known for rich dairy laden meals but as I was forced to experiment, a whole world opened up; dietary restrictions were an opportunity to explore. How could I make food taste good when I couldn’t can’t use butter!!?

To my surprise, I fell in love with creating food for people on restrictive diets. Can’t eat diary, gluten, fructose or nightshades? Bring it on! I think it has made me for more creative in the kitchen and encouraged my to experiment more. When you are restricted from using common ingredients it forces you to think differently about how to make your food delicous. I also particularly love cooking vegan food. And an added bonus? It makes me feel better. I still love chocolate mousse but usually I need to spend the next two hours recovering on the couch. Not the case if it’s a beautiful vegan nut based mousse!

My partner has also recently started the FODMAP diet. The downside (apart from no longer eating garlic in our family meals) is that my in house recipe tester and guinea pig now can’t sample much of my food! The upshot is most of my recipe’s will now have a FODMAP friendly variations.