New Contributor for Gluten Free Charlotte

I must admit that I’m not much of a foodie. By that I mean, I’m not the sort of person who has to have the best in culinary creations to be happy. But that said, I am gluten-intolerant. As anyone with a food allergy will tell you, when an allergen knocks many a food item off the “Eatables” list, you can’t help but start to become a bit of a connoisseur.
My name is Rachel Bastarache, and though I’ve probably always been gluten-intolerant, it wasn’t diagnosed until just a few years ago. Until then, my only food allergy was aspartame. This only knocked most chewing gum off the food list, so it wasn’t a problem. But with gluten…entire restaurants became off limits! Learning to cook gluten-free became a nightmare as my family quickly realized that substituting ingredients didn’t work in gluten-free recipes. Food, which never was much of a hassle, suddenly became something I paid attention to.
When I was diagnosed, I was living with my parents in Upstate New York. Though it’s a small town area with little by way of shopping and restaurants, we quickly found places that supplied all of our gluten-free needs. Last year, I moved to Charlotte, NC, and that’s when I found out I’d been spoiled at home! Where gluten-free pastas, crackers, and cooking ingredients had been relatively easy to purchase around my small hometown of Oxford, NY, in Charlotte I had to relearn how to shop, where to shop and even where to eat!
I found the Gluten-Free Charlotte blog when I moved to Charlotte. I volunteered to write for the blog because Charlotte is my new home city. If I’ve been learning where to find gluten-free food to eat, and where the good stuff is, then perhaps others would like to know as well? Gluten-intolerance isn’t the easiest of diets to maintain, especially when food choices are slim. But as I’ve discovered, both in New York, and here in North Carolina, finding and enjoying GOOD gluten-free food is possible!
I hope to be contributing to the Gluten-Free Charlotte blog at least once a month, with the latest foods I’ve been trying, and the latest places I’ve gone shopping. My geographic location is South Charlotte, so sometimes I venture into South Carolina in search of good tasting, gluten-free food. I’ll try to be honest about the way things taste, the texture, the price, even the location. To tell you the truth, after being spoiled by great gluten-free living in a small town in rural Upstate New York, I’m hoping to prove that Charlotte has more than meets the eye…or the taste buds!