Baking for Celiacs

Anyone looking at the bread-making machines might have thought this was a regular cookery class, or a sales demo for household appliances. But it wasn’t. With paper and pens at hand, 10 or so people were busy working with dough: Rosário Rodrigues, 47, is the mother of two Celiac children – Sofia, the youngest, aged 10, was diagnosed eight months ago, and Hugo, her brother, is 17.

“In the beginning it was very difficult – and a shock, because I don’t have anyone else in the family with this problem,” explained Rosário. Until recently “we had a lot of trouble finding gluten-free products in the Algarve. There was only one pharmacy with half a dozen things” in Faro.

Even though there has been an increase in products to choose from, Rosário says “she’s always reading labels” as almost “everything that is industrially processed and on sale in supermarkets – from low fat butters to crisps, desserts, creamy cheeses, products at the delicatessen, sauces and frozen food – almost all of it contains gluten or starch” from wheat, barley, rye or oats, the enemy cereals for Celiacs.

Who says this is Rita Jorge, 27, dietician and full-time APC collaborator for the past three and a half years. Right now the association has around 1100 members, 50 of which live in the Algarve region.

“Celiac disease isn’t just a simple intolerance; it’s an auto-immune deficiency. The problem is that the body sees gluten as an aggressor and it then creates antibodies that effectively turn on itself. The body begins to create lesions and blockages in the intestines where nutrients are absorbed”.

Mário Rui Romero, 36, the father of two children, is one of the founders of APC and its current treasurer. He was born in Mozambique and arrived here as an emergency case. He’d been diagnosed with Celiac disease when he was 18 months old.

“Thirty years ago, it was still considered very rare. The greatest problem today is that Celiac disease is under-diagnosed. In children the symptoms are easier to detect and pediatricians are more aware of the problem”. Classic symptoms like lack of weight gain and anemia are important leads, though confirmation still has to be done through tests and a biopsy.

But in adults, everything gets more complicated. The disease has a genetic component – “people are born with it, but the question is when does it develop?” explains Rita Jorge.

“Environment plays a part – bereavement in the family, a change of country, a stress situation. Any one of these can trigger an initial Celiac outbreak - which often causes symptoms that aren’t associated with the gastrointestinal tract.

For instance, it could be a depression, a general feeling of malaise, chronic pains. The outbreak could also trigger infertility”, explains Mário Rui.

“I always managed to live with the disease and think it can be used to discover new ways of doing things - and new forms of cooking”, he smiles. “We have a lot of interest and appeals from foreigners who don’t know our gastronomy and are worried when they come to live here. What I always tell them is don’t avoid going to restaurants because, in general, our cooking is Celiac-friendly. We have a huge variety of foods and people only need to worry really about the sauces. It’s only these that pose problems,” he adds.

When it comes to children, Mário Rui said “it’s important that young Celiacs don’t feel a burden to the family because they have a condition”.

“You have to give them a normal life” – while keeping the people closest to them “very well informed”.

Rosário Rodrigues has a story to tell. Happily, the state school where Sofia goes (Faro’s EB2+3 Dom Afonso III) has been very supportive of the problem. “The director asked me to bring pasta as near as possible to that which they used in the canteen – so as not to create a huge difference” between what Sofia eats and what her classmates are served.

“I was really surprised. They asked me only to supply one packet. They guaranteed to get the rest”, she said. Another of the big problems of this disease is the cost of the foods people need, tells Margarida Madureira, manager of «Glutamine» the firm that started importing gluten-free foods into Portugal seven years ago. The majority of products come from France and Germany.

“It’s a lot more expensive that a normal diet. You see the difference particularly in the pastas. For example, a gluten-free spaghetti costs eight times more” than a normal one. The manufacturers “have to use other types of flours – potato starches, quinoa, teff, amaranth – cereals that have existed for thousands of years but which have a lower productivity per hectare.

This is why wheat and corn have ended up dominating modern-day society’s diets”, she explains. Biscuits cost up to “three or four times” more than regular biscuits, and a kilo of the flour used in our workshop costs seven euros. «Glutamine» supplies hypermarkets with a “basic, essential” range, and also sells direct over the Internet. Although it’s the most expensive option, it has seen demand grow. “Yes, because although people in Portugal are very accepting of new technologies, they still balk a little at buying over the Internet. They’re worried about being conned”.

Also taking part in the workshop was Ricardo Silva, baker and pastry chef, 27 years old, who came all the way from Ericeira/ Ribamar. “My sister was diagnosed with Celiac disease 18 years ago. I went to work at a pastry shop with the idea of making things without gluten”, he explained.“These days there are more and more people who are lactose and egg intolerant, as well”, he said. Silva is creating a business - «Soluções sem glúten» - and he brought a carload of gluten-free pasteis de nata and profiteroles to the Algarve with him. For now it’s very much a cottage industry but he knows there’s “a market to exploit”. “Unfortunately, the Portuguese economy is in shreds.

I’d like to have tried for financing, but no-one’s loaning money for investment these days”, he shrugs. Even so, he’s aiming to raise €70.000 with the aim of opening a business “with all the necessary conditions of hygiene and food safety”. Soon, he’s hoping «El Corte Inglês» will start marketing his gluten-free Bolo Rei Christmas cake…

Questioned about Serbian tennis champion Novak Djokovic, who switched to a gluten-free diet last year, Rita Jorge said “there are no studies that prove that a gluten-free diet is good for people who haven’t got Celiac, but certainly, it won’t do them any harm because it is a very natural diet. Because someone with Cealic has to make their food at home, they don’t eat fastfood, and end up eating yoghurts and fruit instead of pastries and cakes. It ends up being a much more healthy way of eating”, she concludes.