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Contributor
Lucinda Bruce-Gardyne
Founder of Genius Foods and Food Expert
Within the world of ‘Free From’ foods, the Holy Grail has long been the creation of a genuinely delicious fresh gluten-free loaf. If anyone was going to crack the problem it was going to be Lucinda Bruce-Gardyne.
Lucinda’s family founded Lyons – Britain’s first food ‘empire’ – and ran it for the best part of 70 years. Although Lucinda shares her parents’ flair for cooking, she took a degree in Physiology, which provided her with a scientific understanding of the human body. It was only after leaving university that
Lucinda thought she would temporarily indulge her love of food by enrolling on a cookery course at Leiths School of Food and Wine.
Lucinda was soon offered the job of being a section chef in the Michelin-starred restaurant, Bibendum. It was shortly after that the award winning author accepted a job cooking in Tuscany and it was there that she first developed a fascination for baking bread.
On returning to Britain, Lucinda started her own catering business, named Thyme and Place before moving back to Leith’s as a teacher. It was at this point, Leiths asked Lucinda to write the 800-page Leiths Techniques Bible in conjunction with Sue Spaull. During the four years it took to write it, Lucinda had her first two sons. The book was awarded the Gourmand Food Book Award 2003 and was also voted on to the list of The Top Ten Best Cookery Books Ever by Waitrose Food Illustrated.
At six months old, Lucinda’s eldest son was diagnosed with severe allergies to dairy products and eggs. On attempting to cater for his dietary requirements she would discover that her second son, was a diagnosed coeliac.
Opportunity and acclaim gave Lucinda the impetus to write a second book, ‘How to Cook for Food Allergies’. The book illustrates how to substitute the five main allergens with allergy-free ingredients in 100 of the nations favourite dishes.
On embarking on the slow process of searching for substitutes she learnt just how dense and heavy the gluten-free bread alternatives were; so decided to do something about it. After hundreds of attempts, 4 years and a broken oven Genius was born.