Plant-based, allergen-free – and totally delicious
“I thought you couldn’t eat dairy?” said a friend as she stuck a fork into a creamy dollop of burrata with sage-roasted squash and pumpkin seeds that I’d just placed on the table. I was hosting friends for dinner and her question set a precedent for the remaining courses. We grazed on sourdough and butter; the main course was pasta; while dessert was a warm, spiced apple cake with ice cream.
She was right to ask. As well as being allergic to dairy, nuts send me into anaphylactic shock and I’m also intolerant to gluten. Yet this quintessentially allergen-heavy meal was free from those ingredients. More importantly, it was delicious.
Just a couple of years ago, free-from food was predominantly free from fun. The chocolates were bland, the cheese like plastic, while breads and cereals had the taste and texture of cardboard. If I wanted a decent birthday cake? Forget it. I could barely swallow the slice of a free-from caterpillar cake I had for my 30th.
Julienne Bruno Burrella, £4.50, is inspired by burrata
But the boom in veganism has driven demand for high-quality, dietary-friendly foods across the spectrum. Globally, the gluten-free market alone is set to be worth $9.99bn by 2028, according to a report by Fortune Business Insights. And the uptick in clean-eating trends such as keto and paleo suggests the food industry is shifting in a free-from direction.
Michaela Pontiki, founder of the vegan Arapina bakery in south-east London, wants free-from to become a developed sector within the culinary scene, “rather than a suffix”. Her birthday cakes are light as air and ridiculously moreish. “We don’t want to have to justify our position,” she says. “Our desserts can stand up next to any ordinary cake.” Very hungry caterpillars included.
This story originally appeared on: Financial Times - Author:Grace Cook
