Jan Bilton is a leading food writer and editor, and a Coeliac New Zealand ambassador.
Nine years ago my daughter Andrea was diagnosed with gluten intolerance. This reshaped my thinking towards cooking and developing recipes for my weekly newspaper columns. Many are gluten-free.
Today there are numerous great gluten-free products that can be used in all manner of dishes and bakes which appeal to people with or without coeliac disease or a gluten intolerance. And using these products becomes second nature.
Growing up in Dunedin gave me the ideal opportunity to attend Otago University and obtain a food science degree. But it wasn’t until I travelled overseas that my interest in different foods and cooking techniques developed.
I love to fuse international flavours and foods and I’m always on the lookout for new ingredients. Healthy, quick, flavoursome uncomplicated dishes are my aim.
Gaining an International Marketing Degree has helped in the selling of my cookbooks especially those my husband and I have developed ourselves. Publishing a book on New Zealand kiwifruit led to an amazing opportunity to promote this fruit and other New Zealand foods throughout America, Canada, Asia and Australia.
The skills I developed over time were put to good use during my 16-year stint as editor of The Foodtown Magazine. And my overseas experience appearing on numerous television shows promoting kiwifruit, helped in my ride as presenter for Fresh and Fancy Fare which showcased New Zealand food and was screened locally and in Australia and the USA.
While living in Marlborough for 10 years, my husband and I wrote, photographed and published Marlborough on the Menu, which won Best Food/Wine Guide at Le Cordon Bleu World Food Media Awards. We now live in Cambridge and two years ago produced a fundraiser for Rotary Cambridge, Taste Waikato which showcases the food and producers of the region.
You will find a range of Jan Bilton's recipes on the members only section of the website and some of her favourite seasonal GF desserts published today in regional papers across New Zealand.
Read the article here.
Stronger Together
Being able to talk to people who understand about what living with coeliac disease is really like, is why being a party of the Coeliac New Zealand community of staff, volunteers and members is so special. It also provides a great opportunity for you to have fun and make new lifelong friends.
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