About Kate

Hello and welcome to Gluten Free Alchemist. I’m Kate – An Award-Winning Gluten Free Recipe Creator, Traveller, Photographer, Food Discoverer and Blogger! I live in the beautiful Garden of England – Kent, UK. Most important of all… I LOVE GREAT FOOD and won’t rest until EVERY recipe I create is at least as good as the old wheat version.

I’ve been sharing all my recipes, baking wisdom and travel guides on my website since 2013. From fluffy bread and tender cakes, to biscuits that snap and crisp pastry with no ‘soggy bottoms’.

I come from a family of (at least) 3 generations of Coeliacs and live in a completely gluten free household (with a willingly gluten free-sympathetic husband). As a family, we are passionate about living Coeliac life without limits… wherever we find ourselves and wherever we want to go.

Although eating gluten free is (for us) a Coeliac necessity, we are genuinely excited by the opportunities that diagnosis opened up… introducing us to ingredients, flavours and textures we never knew existed. We love our gluten free life and live by the motto ‘Positively Coeliac ~ Adventurously Gluten Free’.

We also love to share our passion and hope you will join us on our family journey as we cook and eat our way through life, seeking out the best gluten free food wherever we go.

Our Diagnosis Story

I grew up in a Coeliac family, although when I was a child, it was not something that impacted family life. My father was diagnosed Coeliac as a child, but at that time (we’re talking the 1930’s & 40’s), little was known about how best to treat it and the connection with gluten was simply not made. We paid the price. As a life-long gluten-eater, my father’s gut was destroyed and he died from cancer in his early 50’s (when I was just 18).

Fast forward many years to 2011 and I have a beautiful 6 year old daughter who appears to be thriving, apart from being small for her age, and experiencing (among some other signs) stomach pains and lots of bugs. We took a trip to the doctor, who luckily, was exceptionally astute. Discussion about what appeared to be vague symptoms led to an immediate blood test, which led to an endoscopy that confirmed Coeliac diagnosis. Coeliac, it turns out, can be genetic.

At that time, I’d not been diagnosed myself with Coeliac. In hindsight, I’d experienced many symptoms (right back to when I was a child) that I’d never connected. Despite my daughter’s diagnosis, I still didn’t reflect on any possibility that I too may be affected.

And so began our gluten free journey…

Actually, we consider ourselves to be very lucky. Of all the conditions that could affect us, Coeliac does not required drugs or regular medical interventions. It is controlled by diet alone.

To make life as safe, simple and inclusive as possible after my daughter’s diagnosis, our home became a designated gluten free haven. The result of not eating gluten at home was that my own body started to react significantly when I ate gluten elsewhere. Thus came the realisation that I too had a significant intolerance and was likely to be Coeliac. I’ve not eaten gluten since and thus, blood test results have always been negative. However, in 2018 during an endoscopy for other reasons, I was informed that there was evidence of ‘old flattened villi’ in my gut. While I still have not been formally diagnosed, I have taken that ‘evidence’ as relatively conclusive and now consider myself to be Coeliac… It’s easier for everyone to define it that way. While the condition could have been ‘silent’ for many years, it is also possible that it was triggered by pregnancy.

To be honest, I don’t miss gluten at all and as she was diagnosed so young, my daughter has no memory of it to miss (although she does often feel ‘misled’ that she cannot eat the foods other people have).

Why I started a blog

I am no longer in my 20’s… or 30’s… or (dare I say) even my 40’s, but blogging has nonetheless become a passion through which I can share our Coeliac experience, gluten free wisdom and INCREDIBLE gluten free recipes. It comes after an extensive professional career in the public sector (from which I took redundancy) that frequently left me grateful for the life and health we have. Coeliac is simply a life-challenge we had to embrace.

The Gluten Free Alchemist blog first posted at the end of March 2013. It was born out of a need not just to understand a whole new world of gluten free cooking, but to document our journey through experimental baking and new recipes with ingredients which for us, had previously been totally alien.

It was to be my daughter’s recipe book… written with love, for her future. A compendium of family recipes from her childhood, that would give her the memories and knowledge to recreate for a lifetime. The blog was originally my motivation for making that record, without which many recipes would have been lost or forgotten.

While the blog remains a gluten free legacy to my daughter, the desire to share my enthusiasm for great gluten free food and confident Coeliac life has grown. Gluten Free Alchemist has become a compendium for everyone in our incredible gluten free global community. It is shared with you for free.

The BEST gluten free food… a philosophy

The availability of commercial gluten free food in supermarkets back in 2011 was pitiful and what you could buy was dry, crumbly and tasted (for the most part) pretty unpleasant. Consequently, I started de-glutening and recreating favourite foods and treats, determined that my daughter would never miss out on anything her friends ate.

From the start, I passionately believed that being Coeliac should not mean being destined to a life of limitation and I made it my mission to ensure my daughter would never have to look enviously at other people’s plates. We continue to recreate all our favourite meals, bakes and snacks gluten free… from cakes and cookies, to bread, pastry, pasta and beyond. In our world, there is no such thing as ‘can’t eat that…’ only ‘let’s find a way to make it at least as good gluten free, if not better…’.

Although still limited, the gluten free supermarket ranges have grown massively since our diagnosis and we continue to relish each new product discovery, pulling it off the shelves to try. Some finds win our hearts and become essential grab and go choices in our busy lives. Others ‘bomb’ and remind us that gluten free products still have a long way to go. Either way, we are open to tasting each and every one and love to share our discoveries with the world.

Living our best gluten free life

Travel

Over the years, our confidence and knowledge to manage gluten free eating anywhere we find ourselves has grown. I have always been a traveller and it’s been exciting to continue exploring the world and (importantly) to give my daughter experiences that will support her independence and enable her to live her future adventurously. Despite there being obstacles, we have (so far) not found ourselves anywhere we couldn’t eat safely with a little planning or creativity. We hope that by sharing our experiences and gluten free travel finds, our excitement might be infectious and encourage other Coeliacs to travel the world too. It’s there to be discovered!

Parenting

We’ve also learnt a thing or two about parenting a Coeliac child and how to manage the educational and social whirlwind that comes with school, friends, play dates, parties and adolescence. We know how scary it feels faced with keeping a little person food safe and love that we can share our knowledge and give support to others facing similar challenges.

My daughter is now an adult and has fledged to university. I know we have taught and supported her well with Coeliac risk-management. And I am 100% confident she has the skills to be safe in a world filled with gluten.

Food

And of course, there’s food! We LOVE food at GFHQ. We’ve spent the last 13 years in a gluten free kitchen… And when we haven’t been making the BEST gluten free food at home, we’ve been searching for the best gluten free restaurants, cafes, bakeries, pubs and street food.

Whether it’s the achievement of developing the most INCREDIBLE gluten free bread (I have a bit of an obsession with it); creating gluten free recipes for PERFECT Cakes, Desserts or Cookies (we have a sweet tooth); mastering Gluten Free Pastry and Pasta (a bit of a necessity when your roots are part-Italian); or discovering an incredible gluten free eatery or safe take-away sandwich, we are always happy to share in the hope our recipes, wanderings and gluten free finds make someone else equally happy.

Through the Gluten Free Alchemist website, Facebook page, Instagram, Pinterest and other social media, we share our gluten free passion with the world. Whether or not you need to eat gluten free, I hope you love what we do. My aim is simple… to help you love gluten free life again and to join us in being Positively Coeliac and Adventurously Gluten Free.

Missing something or need some help?

If you are struggling with any part of Coeliac life, I would love to hear from you and will help where I can. Whether it’s a dilemma about gluten free parenting, managing a gluten free diet, negotiating gluten free food in restaurants or even at office parties, or something totally random, get in touch!

If you have a recipe request or there’s something you miss, let me know….. there may just be a gluten free way around the problem.

Contact me at kate@glutenfreealchemist.com

If you are a brand looking to work together, I’d love to hear from you too. Head on over to my Work With Me page for more information.