There was a time, in what feels like the distant past, when I lived and worked in London, running my own little gluten-free coffee shop in the East End, and trying to show the world that gluten-free could be delicious not just to coeliacs, but to omnivores, too.
Over the years I succeeded in doing just that, and most of my customers came because they liked what we made, and the slightly random atmosphere, and our gorgeous moggies who adored their company and cuddles.
But I also became ill and disabled, and when the last member of kitchen staff left and I was unable to find someone to replace her, I tried until I could no longer do so to keep the kitchen going. And so my shop had to close, and we had to leave our home.
We moved somewhere completely different: from the centre of London to the Yorkshire Dales National Park. I’m still coeliac, still making lovely gluten-free food, and it may one day be that I make it again to sell.
Cook and Dale is what happened next, once we decided to leave London and make a new life for ourselves. It’s for those who wondered where we’d gone and for family to keep up to date on happenings here, but it’s also for our former customers who miss things they used to buy, as I’ll be including recipes from the shop, brought down to domestic sizes, so you can make them at home.
So welcome to Cook and Dale, and allow me to introduce you to Kettlewell, our new home. I hope you like it as much we’ve come to.