Hampshire Life: February 2019 (^) 21
F
rom Masterchef winner
in 2016 to guest presenter
at events, corporate and
pop up chef and now
writer, it’s been a whirlwind few
years for Four Marks’ foodie, Jane
Devonshire.
Propelled into the spotlight
following Masterchef, she
has worked with a plethora of
Michelin-starred chefs such as
Michael O’Hare, Marcus Wareing,
Michel Roux Jnr and Atul
Kotchar to name a few, as well as
appearing on numerous TV and
radio programmes including BBC
Breakfast, Loose Women, South
Today and Woman’s Hour.
“Winning Masterchef was a
complete surprise. I decided that
I wanted to experience as many
things as I could. I wanted to
throw myself into everything,”
Jane shares.
At the end of that first year,
she took a couple of months off
to work out what she might do
next. What followed was the
realisation that she had found
a new love. Travelling around
the country cooking and doing
demonstrations, she discovered
a passion for presenting and
chatting to people.
“I love the creative side –
teaching, writing, developing
recipes,” she discloses. “I spend
hours in my kitchen just working
on new dishes, which is what
I’ve always done I suppose. But
talking to people about food and
presenting to them has been what
I’ve really enjoyed the most.”
Capitalising on her
experiences, she began working
on a project which would involve
something close to her heart –
gluten free cooking. With the
inspiration stemming from her
own gluten free journey which
began over fourteen years ago
with her youngest son Ben, Jane
set out to write her first book.
“Ben was so ill. He just used to
scream before he was diagnosed,”
explains Jane. “I just didn’t know
how to help him. Every time we
went to the doctor, I think they
thought I was just struggling to
manage my four kids. The key
was moving to Hampshire,” she
recalls. “A doctor here really
listened to what we were saying
and within three months, Ben
was diagnosed.”
Every meal became a
battleground in the early days.
Discovering that Ben, aged two,
had coeliac disease, a lifelong
auto-immune disease caused by
a reaction to gluten, there was
suddenly a light at the end of the
tunnel. Coeliac disease affects 1
in 100 people and if left untreated
can result in complications such
as anaemia, osteoporosis as well
as serious neurological conditions
and an increased risk of small
bowel cancer and intestinal
lymphoma.
“Our life completely changed
for the better. I was just so
relieved. I could do something.
I could feed him and make him
better.”
Getting a diagnosis was just
the start though. Jane remembers
the challenges of educating both
herself and Ben, changing the
way she cooked and making sure
that he knew not to accidentally
eat anything he shouldn’t.
“As a mum, you don’t want to
make food a problem for them.
It was a lot about tempting Ben
to eat, trying new things and
getting him involved. I went
back to basics with everything.
I bought gluten free flour and
started from there.”
It was remembering those
difficult times which encouraged
Jane to write her book Hassle
Free Gluten Free in the first place.
What better way to utilise her
culinary skills than to create a
cookbook dedicated to cooking
gluten free food that all the
family could enjoy?
“I wanted to create a no-
nonsense cookbook. If I’d have
been able to cook things that
Ben could actually eat with just
a little tweaking of a recipe, it
would have been so much easier
for all of us. That’s what I wanted
to achieve with my book – to be
a go-to for all those people in
the same boat I was. It’s about
sharing tips and tricks I’ve
learned over fourteen years of
cooking gluten free food,” adds
Jane.
A chance meeting with Annette
Woolman from Coeliac UK at BBC
Good Food Show saw Jane’s book
evolving further. Working with
the charity, every recipe in Hassle
Free Gluten Free has been tested
and endorsed by Coeliac UK, with
proceeds from book sales going
towards helping to support others
who need to live without gluten,
due to coeliac disease or other
medical conditions.
INTERVIEW
ABOVE: Jane’s
gluten free
Apricot and
Almond Cake
Tatin recipe can
be found online
at hampshire-life.
co.uk
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