delicious, healthy recipes for everyone
When I first had students come for the suppers we hosted back in the 1980s, they repeatedly said that I should write a cookbook – and when I said that I would, they chased me up about it. So, while my dietary needs are quite specific, over the years I’ve come to realise that the things I like to cook and eat are much appreciated by anyone who loves good food. My recipes are good for vegetarians, and especially those looking to avoid gluten and (to some degree) lactose. You may not suffer from intolerances as I do, but this way of eating is healthier for all of us – as well as being better for the planet.
My recipes avoid:
– any grains that come from plants in the grass family (including wheat, barley, rice, oats, rye and maize) and any of their derivatives, such as wheat pasta, couscous polenta, cornflour and semolina.
– cane sugar, which is also a member of the grass family, and any of its derivatives (golden syrup, molasses)
– certain dairy products: when my recipes state milk, you can use whatever you prefer, but use goats’ or sheeps’ milk. Cheeses such as Parmesan, Gruyère, Roquefort and Comté are made from raw unpasteurised cows’ milk, which I find I can tolerate occasionally in small quantities. (In my book, all of the dairy-free recipes are underlined in the index.)
– meat and fish As I embrace the vigour and joy that for me comes from a plant-based diet, I eat no meat.
about me
Hello! I’m Lucy Robinson, author of The Grain-Free Vegetarian. I’ve been cooking and eating vegetable-led, grain-free meals for over forty years. I enjoy using seasonal, organic produce from local growers, as well as growing some things myself.
I’m a musician and musicologist by profession, but cookery has always been a countermelody in my life. I’ve been collecting local recipes since my teens, and am a passionate member of Slow Food, the global grassroots movement that links the appreciation of good food with a responsibility to community and the environment.
I’m a life-long Francophile, the result of many childhood holidays in the Dordogne and Lot, where our evening meal was the focal point of the day. I now divide my time between my Cardiff home and our house in the tiny village of Marnaves, in the Tarn, South-West France. Both places are a haven for fabulous vegetables and good food in general.
why grain-free?
The grain-free aspect of my recipes originally stemmed from a diagnosis of a severe intolerances to grains, as well as to meat, and also to the petrochemicals that are used in intensive farming and the additives used to preserve food. At the time, the idea of trying to avoid these things seemed rather daunting, and a radical change to my eating habits. But, having felt seriously depressed and exhausted for nearly a decade through my twenties, I was keen to give it a try, and just six days later I felt as sharp and lively as a five-year-old. This new way of eating made an incredible difference to my health and well-being. I discovered a greater appreciation of the food on my plate and of the wonderful energy it gave me.
Decades later, people everywhere are finding their way to eating in a similar way: with a strong focus on plants, grown locally without additives, pesticides and over-processing. The latest research, notably Zoe Science and Nutrition, tells us that our health is hugely dependent on feeding our gut microbiome a widely-varied diet – which is very much in tune with how I eat.
Through my book and this website, I hope to share my recipes and ideas about the way we cook, eat, produce and think about food.
my values
I’m very conscious of what is on my plate, and how it affects me and the planet. To this end, I seek out fresh seasonal produce that has been grown locally whenever possible. A favourite supplier is Pawel and Wioletta, who grow sensational organic vegetables and fruit all year round on their farm near Abergavenny. Pawel promises ‘24-hour freshness’, meaning that the produce they deliver was harvested no more than 1 day before (often, in the heat of summer, at 3am on the day of delivery). As he explains: ‘The moment that a vegetable comes out of the ground, it starts to lose its quality and its nutritional value.’
I also grow a wide variety of veg, fruit and herbs in our back garden, happily intermingled with my favourite old-fashioned roses, scabious, lavender and honeysuckle – a bonus for the biodiversity. At the bottom of the garden we have a compost heap for recycling our food scraps, and as we live close to the sea I also gather seaweed to enrich the soil and create seaweed walls around my tender seedlings, to protect them from the slugs and snails.
Sharing delicious food with my family, fellow musicians, students and friends is one of my great joys, and an endless source of inspiration. Indeed, when we were photographing the pictures for my book, we sustained ourselves by eating all the recipes we shot.