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Mum & nutritionist Emily Kerrigan tells us how her daughter’s illness inspired her to help others, and shares her local foodie faves, including gluten-free goodies
“The thing with coeliac disease is that not everyone’s symptoms look the same. If you have a question mark over your own symptoms, do take a look at Coeliac UK’s website – they have comprehensive advice to support you.
For my daughter Chloe it meant a lot of stomach upset and just generally feeling poorly. She’d become anaemic which is very common with coeliacs because gluten damages the lining of the gut meaning your body can’t absorb the nutrients in food. Anaemia is actually one of the first markers that can show up in GP tests before you get a diagnosis of coeliac disease. We’d figured out Chloe’s issues were due to something she was eating but when the diagnosis came back it was still a shock. You realise in a split second that nothing will ever be the same. Every school lunch, every snack box, every meal at home, meals out, meals at family and friends, holidays: it all needs pre-planning.”
Q. Do you think Coeliac disease is still widely misunderstood?
“Very much so. For a start it’s an autoimmune disease, not an allergy or an intolerance and definitely not a dietary fad or preference for someone with coeliac disease. Even one crumb of gluten is harmful for a coeliac and avoiding cross-contamination is crucial. It’s not something you can grow out of either – it’s a lifelong condition where the only current treatment is strict gluten avoidance. The lines I hear most often are ‘well it’s easy these days with all the free-from products in supermarkets’, ‘one crumb won’t hurt’ and ‘it’s not that serious though, is it?’. None of these are true!”
“Coeliac disease is definitely not a dietary fad or preference for someone with coeliac disease”
Q. What has been the most rewarding aspect of writing this book?
“The book is for everyone who needs to eat gluten-free but the inspiration for writing it was my daughter. I’ve already watched her cook the waffles and pancakes from it without my help which was an amazing moment to see her following the recipes and cooking it all independently. I hope she’ll come back to the recipes time and time again as she gets older.”
Q. What do you love about local life?
“We moved from West London to Oxfordshire when the kids were little. We’re on the border with Bucks, too. We’re lucky to have Oxford within easy reach and London still a train ride away but also to be surrounded by countryside. We can walk from our front door up onto the Ridgeway and cycle down the Phoenix Trail to Thame.”
Q. Are there any local shops/suppliers you really rate?
“Chiltern Ice Cream is a family-run fantastic small producer. They make their ice cream with milk from Lacey’s Dairy up the road and all their lovely flavours are GF – we like sea salted caramel and morello cherry. We buy ours from Haddenham Garden Centre.”
Q. How about restaurants – maybe there are some that cater to GF better?
“The Beech House in Beaconsfield and Cote in Marlow both have a good selection of GF dishes. The Ivy in Marlow also does a non-gluten afternoon tea whilst Coopers is perfect for GF avo on toast and great coffee. Not far from Bucks, Honest Burger in Windsor is fantastic for gluten-free burgers.”
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