The Big Book of Gluten-Free Recipes

Recently I was sent this book to review. I'm thinking that we're pretty over-saturated in the gluten-free department these days and I'm kind of sick of hearing about it.  Yes, celiacs need to avoid gluten absolutely for sure, and there may be some who have true sensitivities, but I'm not convinced that other folks really benefit from avoiding gluten, and there certainly isn't any scientific evidence to support this.

Anyhoo, I was curious to see if this book would be novel in any way.

Nope.

It's certainly a good deal for $20, you get over 500 recipes.  But aside from a few exceptions, I did not find this book particularly exceptional.  Most recipes are Italian or American inspired, with a few Asian ones thrown in for goog measure.

There are no photos whatsoever, nor is there a lot of information about how to avoid hidden sources of gluten, although strangely some of the recipes call for 'gluten-free' varieties of a lot of foods I didn't know needed to be classified as such, like yogurt or raisins.  I suppose, however, that any food could be contaminated with gluten just as products often declare 'may contain peanuts'.

There are only a handful of vegan recipes, but a whole chapter devoted to vegetarian dishes.  For me, I found most of the recipes used ingredients I don't like to use like white sugar and butter.

The only recipes I found interesting were the ones in the quick bread, appetizer and dessert chapters where they use gluten-free flours for baked goods and crepes.

If you want or need to follow a gluten-free diet and don't have any other dietary restrictions (low-fat, sugar-free, vegan, etc.) than you might like this book because it has so many recipes covering a wide variety of dishes.  But frankly, it's nothing special.

Have a fabulous, healthy, happy weekend!