If Food is the New Religion I'm an Atheist

If Food is the New Religion… I’m an Atheist.

Gavin Wren Food Opinion Pieces, Writing

Religion, historically, was the saviour from a life of eternal pain. Today, food brings the same utopian promises of paradise on earth, a life free of disease, the ability to alleviate the suffering of the environment and the animals within it. Whichever devotional path to dietary enlightenment that you choose, bear one thing in mind; like every religion on earth, there are always extremeists waiting around the corner, ready to spoil it for the rest of us.

2017 wasn’t kind to clean eating, the diet beloved of bloggers and Instagram influencers, who revelled in it’s snap-happy aesthetic and took delight in revealing the latest South American plant extract which purported to cure anxiety, or even cancer.

The spurious health claims that abounded were roundly dismessed by a tranche of media criticism, starting with Ruby Tandoh exposing its toxicity January, a follow-up to her tirade against clean eating on…

An avocado in defence of clean eating

In Defence of Clean Eating

Gavin Wren Food Opinion Pieces, Writing

Congratulations, you’ve made it through January 2017. We can now turn our backs on that inaugural month and all the short lived health crazes that accompanied it. Veganuary and dry january both featured prominently on social media this year, the last vestiges of many new leafs which abounded just a few weeks ago have fallen into the annals of history for yet another year. We’ve already reached peak gym membership 2017. In this time I’ve …

Maple syrup brings a rich sweetness to theses maple pecan spelt muffins stuffed with whole rolled oats, pecan nuts and no refined sugars, just naturally sweetened with banana and maple syrup. These easy spelt flour bakes make for a wholesome alternative muffin recipe that's just as tasty yet packs more positive nutrition, perfect for afternoon tea or a sweet weekend treat.

Maple Pecan Spelt Muffins

Gavin Wren Baking, Dairy free baking, Recipes, Spelt & ancient grains

It’s been quite savoury around here recently. Not much sweet goodness going on, and my God, was I longing for something sweet. So today’s post is about some utterly delightful little maple pecan spelt muffins topped with oats which are dairy free that I put together last weekend. These are muffins made with a mixture of wholemeal and white spelt flour, along with whole oats and sweetened using maple syrup and that ubiquitous banana, because …