Carluke Chef wins top award

CARLUKE chef Peter McKenzie has been awarded the title of Coeliac UK’s Gluten-free Chef of the Year.


Mr McKenzie, head chef for South Lanarkshire Council, received the award from two-Michelin-starred chef Raymond Blanc at a special presentation in his award-winning restaurant and hotel, Le Manoir aux Quat’ Saisons in Oxfordshire.


This year’s competition, which was run in association with the Institute of Hospitality, had two categories – Gluten-free Chef of the Year for professional chefs and Up-and-Coming Gluten-free Chef of the Year for catering students.


The competition, to design a three-course gluten-free meal, was launched earlier this year to raise awareness and highlight the need for increased provision of gluten-free menu options for the 1 in 100 people in the UK with coeliac disease.


Mr McKenzie wins a one week placement at Gleneagles with two-Michelin-star chef Andrew Fairlie, a trophy from Coeliac UK and a signed copy of Raymond Blanc’s latest cookery book.


The standard of entry was extremely high but it was decided that Peter’s entry stood out above all others, with a menu of fillet of red mullet, breast of pheasant and vanilla and basil panacotta.


Mr McKenzie has worked at many hotels across Scotland and England but for the past three years has been based at South Lanarkshire Council headquarters, Almada Street, Hamilton, where he is responsible for three kitchens at the council headquarters catering for everything from breakfasts to buffets and banquets.


He said: “I am trying to put an end to the myth that local authority catering is just pies, chips and peas. I entered this competition not only to get recognition for the council, but also help raise awareness for special dietary requirements. I strongly believe that people with coeliac disease should be able to enjoy tasty food without having to feel it is a burden to ask for gluten-free options.”


Raymond Blanc supported the recipe competition and judged the entries, saying: “I was really impressed by the quality and attention to detail displayed in the entries for this competition and congratulations to all the winners. Although more common than many people realise, the condition is not taken seriously enough by far too many chefs. A wide range of gluten-free sweet and savoury recipes can be created by anyone and we all need a few really good gluten-free recipes in our repertoire. Each of my businesses has for a long time been catering for people with coeliac disease.”



Source: Hamilton Advertiser

Jessica applauded for coeliac discovery

Jessica Biesiekierski's research has unlocked more secrets of gluten and coealiac disease.


A YOUNG researcher is sending rumbles through the world of gastroenterology.


Jessica Biesiekierski has spent months behind a microscope in the Box Hill Hospital researching the impact of gluten on people without coeliac disease.


Ms Biesiekierski said previously there was no testing to see if gluten caused stomach pain, bloating or other intestinal symptoms in people who did not have coeliac disease.


“But there was a strong community opinion that it does,” Ms Biesiekierski said.


Those murmurings have proven correct.


Ms Biesiekierski put 34 people without coeliac disease on either gluten or gluten-free diets. Neither the participants nor the researcher knew which diet a person was on.


She found that the people with gluten in their diet complained of stomach pains and other symptoms while those without gluten did not.


For her research Ms Biesiekierski won the prestigious 2009 Australian Gastroenterology Douglas Piper Young Investigator Award.


“The award was a validation into the work we were doing,” she said.


“I have grown so close to the study group, and to know I will be able to help them is incredibly rewarding.”


Ms Biesiekierski is in her first year of a Monash University PhD and this was her first completed study.


The 23-year-old researcher has presented her paper to numerous professional bodies filled with crowds of eminent and, at times, sceptical gastroenterology researchers.


“Some of the more experienced doctors have been told all their careers that gluten causes stomach pain only in people with coeliac disease and then they are confronted with the young blonde thing telling them otherwise,” Ms Biesiekierski said.