I don’t often read or review food books, as I’ve become much more used to searching for recipes online in the last few years. However, seeing a chunky family cookbook designed for us awkward eaters who can't just eat some of those “normal” ingredients without suffering for it later, I thought it was worth looking through to inspire some new ideas.

I especially liked the tables of substitutes and allergy-friendly meal plans at the start. I’ve been aware of my food allergies and intolerances for several years now, but even I found these genuinely useful for helping me consider how to add variety to my diet. Likewise the first chapter being a how-to guide for fridge and pantry staples is super helpful, making it easier to make use of cheaper forms of foods and prepare ingredients ourselves — it can be much easier and cheaper to buy rolled oats than to buy oat flour, for example.

Reading through the book, I was very conscious that, despite measurements having been translated from US cups to metric units, some of the text still felt very American and could have been tweaked for international use, especially with references to “non-GMO” and “nitrate-free” foods, which are alien to my European eyes — and protein powder is not so commonly used over here. Likewise, the very helpful “Resources and References” section lists brands that provide different ingredients mentioned several brands we don’t have in the UK, with a note that international readers might be able to source them on Amazon or Vitacost (a US retailer priced in dollars with international delivery) rather than additional research being done to suggest other non-US brands.

While the book handles the major allergens well, it would also have been good to see some mention of some of the other common food intolerances, such as Fodmaps, and mentions of when these ingredients could prove difficult for some people. Someone who is early in their journey of discovering how their digestion works might not know to exclude garlic and onion, cashew nuts or high-fructose fruits from recipes or how to substitute those if they found they reacted badly to some of the recipes; people “recently diagnosed cœliac” might not realise that gf oats might be a problem for them. Given the book describes itself as being about all major food issues, “for everyone around your table”, this was especially disappointing.

While Fodmap-friendly eating might not be not the primary focus of this book, I certainly found it a little depressing to read something like “Finally a casserole that meets everyone’s dietary needs” and see that it contains 42g of onion, 227g of mushroom plus onion and garlic powder. I realise that I have more dietary issues than average, but sensitivity to Fodmaps is not particularly uncommon and I would be unable to eat most of the recipes in the section “Easy Prep Mains and Family Favourites” and I can only have one of the “Simple Soups and Stews” (albeit one that I’m hoping to make later this week!)

I very much had the feeling that the author was trying to do too many things at once and that the book might have benefitted from greater editorial focus.

That said, I am very much looking forward to trying out some of these recipes — especially the snacks and desserts — over the next few weeks. I’m also going to have to check out the author’s food blog to see what other recipes I might enjoy.

On a production note, I enjoyed the typography, which is playful yet easy to read. While the large photos are beautifully-shot and exactly what one would expect from a cookbook like this, the superimposed labels onto homemade oat milk (for example) reduced the quality of the imagery. This could have looked much more slick had a little more time been spent using someone more skilled with Photoshop or by having labels on the jars and bottles before taking the photographs.

I received an advance copy for free from NetGalley, on the expectation that I would provide an honest review, however it is worth noting that the high-quality images are not handled especially well by Adobe Digital Editions, making it less easy to read through the book for review. I would expect that this book would be much better as a nice big hardcover than as an ebook, partly because of the lovely high-quality photography.

I received a copy of this book through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This is an ok recipe book. The book focuses on recipes that don't have gluten or other common allergens like peanut butter. There's a variety of recipes - some are vegan, some use meat, some use soy, etc. The book avoids sugar and milk as well as other ingredients. There aren't many pictures of the food which is a bummer because it would be helpful to see. There's recipes for breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks, and desserts. I wish there was more consistency between recipes (i.e. all meat free, all vegan, etc.) since if you have dietary restrictions it's unlikely you can use every recipe in this book. There's also a lot of use of nuts and oats which surprised me given how many people are allergic to nuts or have poor reactions to oats. Overall not for me, but I can see how others might find it helpful.

I’m always on the look out for new recipes that are allergy friendly, specifically gluten-free. This book does a great job accommodating (and educating) a lot of food allergies. There are some great different recipe options.

Thank you, Netgalley and Quarto Publishing Group – Fair Winds, for the ARC. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I wanted to like this book, it's nicely presented with clear photos and plain instructions, but I cannot endorse something that uses 'guilt free' as a term for a spaghetti meal, or advocates hiding veg in food

I do understand that some parents stress over getting 'decent' food into their kids, but as someone still living with food issues in her 40s, DO NOT DO THIS. I still rarely trust anyone to cook for me, and it took me decades to feel I was in control of what was going into my own body. Your kid will be fine without the gaslighting and stress for you, and they'll have a much healthier relationship with food if they're allowed to come to vegetables/healthy eating in a more honest way.

Aside from this, the book relies heavily on oat flour, which lots of coeliacs (myself included) don't easily tolerate, this isn't mentioned at all. A lot of the recipes would take a long time to prep for, making your own dairy-free milk isn't something I have time for, and I have no children, so how a working parent would cope, I've no idea.

I received an advance copy for free from NetGalley, on the expectation that I would provide an honest review.