This web page is Gluten Free and celebrated its 13th anniversary in 2018!
Gfzing.com started out as a way to store gluten-free recipes that work, to allow the author and her friends and relatives easy access to them. The website now sees traffic from all over the world. Over the years, it has evolved to include essays on food and culture as well. The dopey name, gfzing.com, was chosen because the author got tired of the word “gluten” and wanted to add some zing to the drab gluten-free food that was available in 2005.
Over the years, the author has been encouraged to include photos of the food, because apparently many people just look at photos of food and do no actual cooking at all. This is an interesting cultural development – doubtless we will understand it someday, maybe in 50 years after some social scientists write a Ph.D. thesis about people looking at pictures of food. For now though, recipes are provided along with the photos here because people on a gluten free diet are sort of forced to cook a lot.
If you walk in to a grocery store and notice the blast wave of “baked goods” aroma, that will tell you that most of what is for sale at the grocery store is off-limits to the gluten free community. The gluten free folks shop mostly around the perimeter – in the produce and meat sections. We avoid most of the prepared and convenience food products on the market (several whole aisles of products) and steer over to the limited “gluten free” products section. Then, we go home and cook.
Who are the gluten-free? People with celiac disease (coeliac, coeliaque, celiaquia, celichia, zöliakie etc.), or gluten intolerance must cook without gluten (a protein found in wheat, barley and rye). People with autism, attention deficit disorder, arthritis, and various gastrointestinal disorders sometimes choose the gluten-free diet as well. Lately, athletes are taking an interest too!