When my friends from The States were over for the first time, I insisted they have a traditional English experience so took them to the best chippy in town - The Golden Hind in Marylebone.
They were horrified … HORRIFIED by the carb overload of a chip buttie. Bloody wimps.
Most people have a wheat intolerance? Really? The majority of the population? I’d love to know where you get those figures from. Allergies and intolerances are completely different things, by the way - the one is not an extreme version of the other.
Human beings have developed the capacity to consume milk products and alcohol (the latter being essentially a poison) in no more time than we’ve been eating wheat. So, even if we’re not designed to eat it (which I would doubt), we’ve had plenty of time to adapt to doing so.
And yes, I’ve felt bloated after a very large bowl of pasta, but no more so than I would do after a large plate of rice or potatoes. It’s called overeating.
Incidentally, if your wife is sensitive to wheat but would like to eat bread, she may be OK with bread made using the traditional method (in which the bread is allowed to rise twice - the mass-production Chorleywood method cuts out the second rising). Sourdhough would certainly be worth a try.
I dont have the exact links - The Ayatollah mentioned it when looking into the whole wheat issue - she is an OCD reseacher. Having said that, once I started to reduce my wheat intake, I found that I have become less tolerent to it - bloating, wind, energy crash about and hour after a wheat loaded meal.
The wife has become so sensitive to it that if she ate a meal prepared with an oxo cube (contains wheat) she would fall asleep at the table within 5 to 10 minutes - has made for some amusing meals out and some shocked friends.
Actually the UK supermarkets have really woken up to gluten intolerence so it is quite easy to buy gluten free products. M&S even do pork pies and scotch eggs.
Had a chicken and ham hock sandwich, with mayo the other day, it was amazing, the flavour it had was just fantastic… Was thirsty for the rest of the day though!