Delicious Gluten Free Meals: Former North Devon reporter publishes debut cookery book

A former North Devon Gazette journalist who set out to prove living without gluten was not a death sentence for your taste buds has published her debut cookery book which is poised to take the culinary world by storm.

Delicious Gluten Free Meals by Sarah Howells, aka The Gluten Free Blogger, is full of tasty easy recipes to show people who can’t eat gluten that they can still enjoy their favourite foods, cooked at home without fancy techniques or expensive ingredients.

In her words it is ‘the book I wish I had been given 20 years ago when I was first put on a gluten free diet’ and recipes range from fantastic fried chicken or Chicago-style deep dish pizza and chicken and leek puff pie to brie, butternut and sage quiche.

Published by Hodder and Stoughton and available in hardback at all good book stores and in e-book format, this unique cookery book is filled with delicious recipes as well as helpful advice and reassurances that simply because people can’t have gluten, their enjoyment of food isn’t over.

Sarah, from Barnstaple, has coeliac disease, an autoimmune condition which means if she consumes gluten – a protein found in wheat – her body attacks the lining in her intestine. This can cause a number of symptoms, from stomach pains to extreme fatigue and if left untreated can lead to more serious issues such as infertility, osteoporosis and even bowel cancer.

Gluten is in so many staple foods – bread, cakes, pasta, biscuits and pastry, as well as a lot of processed, convenience foods and even sauces and soups. In addition to coeliac numbers, many people have an intolerance or allergy to gluten and have to remove it from their diet.

Until relatively recently, many gluten free alternatives were bland, boring and sufferers felt condemned to a lifetime of food drudgery.

Sarah started The Gluten Free Blogger in 2009 to reach out to others with coeliac disease and share her experiences and recipes, to raise awareness – and the response was phenomenal. Today she has more than 110,000 followers on Instagram and more than 200,000 social media followers.

She said: “I had never met anyone else who was on a gluten free diet before and as my blog's online community grew, I realised I wasn't alone at all.

“It became clear that many people who followed my blog were struggling with missing certain foods, so I wanted to try and help them and reunite them with the foods they missed. I really believe that food should be fun and having certain dietary restrictions should never restrict you, which is what I have tried to prove with my new book, Delicious Gluten Free Meals.

“I was diagnosed with coeliac disease in 2002 as a young teenager - my symptoms were a persistent stomach pain and I wasn't growing at the same rate as other children in my year group. I was very short and skinny, but once diagnosed and put on a gluten free diet I soon shot up in height!

“I was quite lucky my symptoms were caught young, as the average diagnosis time in the UK for coeliac disease is around 13 years. I think this is probably down to the fact there are so many varied symptoms, not all of which are gut-related.”

Sarah studied journalism at university and worked as the Torridge area reporter for the North Devon Gazette for eight years, leaving in 2019 to pursue her blogging work full time.

She said: “I loved my time at the Gazette but I knew that helping others adapt to a gluten free diet was what I wanted to do and I feel very lucky to have had an amazing online community supporting me every step of the way.

“As my blog grew, I knew I wanted to write the book I wish I had been given when I was first put on a gluten free diet 20 years ago, filled with delicious recipes as well as helpful advice and reassurances that my enjoyment of food wasn't over.

“I'm so excited to be able to share Delicious Gluten Free Meals with the world and support as many people struggling with a gluten free diet as possible.”

Delicious Gluten Free Meals is available from all good book stores, Amazon (including Kindle) and e-book format.