Berlin Paleo Convention 2015

Hello!

I'm a little late posting this but we went to the first Paleo Convention in Berlin a couple of weeks ago and I wanted to share a few pictures.

 

The venue was Neue Heimat, which I'd been meaning to check out for a few weeks. It's very Berlin style-wise but the vibe was much more chilled and less posery than most places like it. AND the bar stocks gluten-free organic beer. So, obviously I am going to live here now.  

There is a nice sunny courtyard with loads of benches, where a lot of food stalls were set up. There was a fish BBQ, a pulled pork van and a few smaller stalls with things like paleo waffles and chutneys and smoothies. We actually went for brunch before we came to the convention because I didn't know what kind of food would be available and I had visions of everything being covered in agave and honey and dried dates. There was a fair amount of that kind of food but there was also a lot of just nice fresh simple food.

 

I was already pretty impressed, especially considering it was only 2 euros to get in, but then we realised there was another hall full of stalls and demonstrations.  The middle of the hall was home to a climbing wall for the kids, a yoga workshop and some seriously impressive demonstrations from a local Crossfit gym. They were just insanely strong. All around this stage area, there were business handing out free samples of their paleo products and we bought quite a few different things that we haven't seen in Germany before. Obviously, most of the sweet things were out because of honey and dates but we picked up some savoury goodies.

All in all, it was just a really nice, chilled out day. My other half has been a bit suspicious of paleo as he presumed it was a fad diet and was reluctant to try it - probably because my intolerances mean we've had to cut out so much already. But this day really changed his mind - everybody looked so happy and healthy and strong, all the stallholders were lovely, and the atmosphere was very accepting and welcoming. So, since we got home that Saturday, we have hopped on the paleo bandwagon and are cutting out grains and the last of the few processed items we were still eating. The change over the last couple of weeks has been astounding actually, we both feel better than ever. So, expect to see a lot more paleo recipes on this blog!

Low-FODMAP Pesto

Wow, it has been HOT here in Berlin. Highs of 39°C and long days of sunshine have had most Berliners heading out to the parks and enjoying the weather, but I’ve been cowering near the fan and drinking iced water! I cannot deal with the heat at all, and managed to get the beginnings of heat exhaustion on my 15-minute walk to the swimming pool yesterday. Thankfully I was on my way to the pool, so that one sorted itself out. Still, I’m refusing to turn the oven on and we’re sticking mostly to salads in an attempt to cool down. I whipped up some pesto on Saturday to pep up a simple tomato salad, and it has since been used in 4 meals! Turns out I was really missing pesto.

 My pre-FODMAP go-to pesto recipe used 4 garlic cloves, which was delicious, but I like how the fragrant basil really comes through in this low-FODMAP recipe as it’s not being overpowered by the garlic. You can really taste the other individual ingredients. I also used sunflower seeds to replace some of the pine nuts because this is something I started doing when I was a poor student and couldn’t afford pine nuts, but it’s also a great tip for nut allergy sufferers -  just replace the 4 tablespoons of pine nuts with more sunflower seeds and it’s nut-free. Also, aged cheeses like parmesan and grana padano are lactose-free!

I bought a basil plant and just used the whole thing, but it is kind of hard to measure as it’s very springy. I fit it all into one cup, just to check, mostly because I thought I couldn’t just use “one plant” as a measurement.

Ingredients:
1 cup fresh basil
1 cup olive oil
4 tablespoons pine nuts
6 tablespoons sunflower seeds
1/2 cup finely grated parmesan or grana padano
2 teaspoons lemon juice
salt and pepper

Method:

Put the basil plant (stalks and all) into the food processor with the olive oil, sunflower seeds and cheese. Add the lemon juice along with 2 tablespoons of the pine nuts and set the rest aside for later. Blend until it forms quite a smooth paste and season to taste with salt and black pepper (you can just leave the pepper out if you need to avoid it). At this point, I roughly smash up the remaining pine nuts with a pestle and mortar and mix them through. You can also keep some whole pine nuts and full basil leaves aside to garnish your dishes with.

We enjoyed this with some rice pasta, over a simple tomato salad, and served over a fillet of pollock with a side of potatoes and a green salad. Enjoy!

Welcome!

Welcome to my very post as the low-fructose foodie!

I was diagnosed with fructose malabsorption a year ago and transitioned to the low-FODMAP diet shortly after. I know it can be daunting to have to avoid so many different foods, and I hope my recipes can help some fellow sufferers.

All my recipes are gluten-free and suitable for most people following a low-fructose diet as well as the low-FODMAP diet. Of course, these intolerances are different from person to person, so I can't guarantee that you won't react to something that I don't react to. The wonderful world of food intolerances is not an exact science! If you have any other allergies or intolerances to work around, just let me know in the comments and I will do my best to find a solution - and recipe requests are always welcome :)