For some people, being told they are gluten intolerant sounds like a life sentence but for writer, baker and entrepreneur Rowie Dillon, it was the start of a new adventure.
Not satisfied with eating flavourless, cardboard-like food for the rest of her life, Sydney-based Rowie (whose family now lives in Brisbane and on the Gold Coast) decided that there had to be a way to make gluten-free food that people wanted to eat. And so, 10 years ago, Rowie’s Cakes was born and mothers of children with allergies were able to ensure that their child didn’t have to miss out on the joys of having a birthday cake that both they and their friends wanted to eat. And gluten-free QANTAS passengers didn’t have to pack an apple and hope.
Since then, she has been working on all sorts of recipes (some of her products are now available in supermarkets), testing, tasting and inventing or reinventing recipes.
The result is not only a growing business, but a new book – Indulge which she took a group of interested readers through – chapter by chapter – at Boardwalk Books at Kingscliff last week. She answered questions as she tried her own creations cooked by the Boardwalk staff and admitted it was the first time she’d tasted her food created by home cooks. Book were signed and tips were passed on, both by Rowie and her readers, and it was generally agreed that gluten- or dairy-free doesn’t mean no pizzas, pasta, hamburgers or birthday cakes and Rowie probably is on her way to her dream of being the “Gluten-free Sara Lee”.
