Monday, October 7, 2013

Wheat Prejudice



It occurs to me that even though I am gluten-free and happily embrace the gluten-free lifestyle, I have still looked at the world through wheat-prejudiced eyes.  Having grown up with a constant supply of wheat products, I have been tainted.  My eyes look for a certain color in baked goods.  My nose anticipates a certain wheaty-yeasty odor.  My mouth searches for the wheaty-sweet flavor.  My ears twitch at the sound of the sigh a wheat dough makes when being punched down.  My hands reach for the velvety and stretchy smoothness of wheat products.

I wasn’t even aware of this for the longest time.  All of my baking experience--all of my life!--was centered around wheat.  Because of this, I never even considered there were other possibilities for food preparation.  It’s not that I chose to avoid other possibilities.  I simply didn’t even know they existed.  What a small world I lived in.

Then I was forced into a strange new place without wheat and had to fend for myself.  But how to do this when I brought all of my subconscious wheat prejudices with me? 

It begins with the beginning.  Everyone who goes gluten-free begins at this point.  We search out other grains.  We turn our noses up to many of them because they don’t smell like they’re “supposed” to.  Our eyes are assaulted with bizarre colors.  Our hands feel strange and sometimes gritty or lumpy textures.  Our ears search in vain for the sizzle or sigh of what they have known.  Our mouths turn down sadly seeking that sweet (and addictive!) flavor they cannot find.

That’s how it starts.  We find other things and get disappointed.  Then we get over it and move on to the next phase.

“We will make these flours behave the way we want them to!”  We force them to do our will.  We add xanthan gum or guar gum or chia slurries to make them stretchy.  We often add unnecessary yeast to make them mimic a reminiscent flavor.  We grind them and beat them mercilessly to make them more pleasing to the eyes and hands.  “You will be wheat,” we say, “and you will like it!!”

And off we go, baking until our hearts are content.  We start humbly and then get more skillful and daring.  We grab our old wheat recipes and say, “Yes!  We can still do this!”  Sure enough, as time goes by, we produce some pretty wonderful things.  Not quite what we remembered, but still delicious.  We proclaim ourselves the victors.  And in a way we are the victors.  We have taken a sad state of affairs--not being able to eat what the entire nation eats and what our society is built upon--and made it into something that rivals (and occasionally surpasses) the grain we cannot have.  We proclaim to the world, “I am normal (again).”

That’s the second step.  It’s a good step because it builds confidence and releases anxiety, but it’s only a step.  Many people stop here.  And why not?  If you’re happy with what you can make or buy, if it pleases you and excites your senses, why shouldn’t you stop right here?  The answer is that it is perfectly fine and wonderful to stop right here.

Unless you’re haunted, like me.  The day I realized that I had brought my wheat prejudices with me into every culinary attempt I made was a real eye opener.  I realized that while I had been so busy forcing and beating the other grains, I couldn’t hear what they had to tell me over the din of my own wheat-crazed fury.  Sadly, I didn’t even know they were talking to me.  Now that’s prejudice.

But what if we lived in a world where wheat had never entered?  What if we lived in a world without wheat prejudice, a world where we explored each new grain or bean completely, coaxing out its own unique qualities?  What would this feel like?  What sort of culinary feats could we attempt by discovering what other grains had to offer without expecting them to behave in a manner inconsistent with their nature?

The answer is all around us, hidden as usual in plain sight.  There are so many societies that have already lived like this, developing their own unique gastronomic experiences.  But they are fading--fading because they, too, have been inundated and hypnotized by cheap and addictive wheat imports and a dominant wheat culture that tells them what is best for them (and isn’t).

Our job then is to resurrect what has been lost and preserve what is still practiced by these societies.  Look to India for their dosas and idlis made with fermented rice and urad dal batter and also their papads.  Look to Ethiopia for their sponge-like injera.  Look to China for their cellophane noodles made from bean starch.  And so on and so on.  There are so many wondrous foods made from as many wondrous grains and beans, just waiting to be rediscovered.  However, we must rediscover these delicacies without the prejudiced “wheat eye” being cast upon them.

We must take in the new aromas and textures of these other products.  We must slide them along our tongues like we would any new food offered to us without expectation, just an inquisitive nature.  We must watch and hear how they react to different cooking and baking processes as we would with eyes and ears seeing a new Broadway play for the first time.  What wonderful memories will be bestowed upon us?  What will become our new cherished traditions?  This and much more lies before us as we head out on our unexpected journey, finally unburdened by the heavy mantle of wheat.

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