yearly bread

One of the many things that I haven't been able to enjoy in the more than three years since I was diagnosed as gluten-intolerant, is the pleasure of eating a slice of fresh, hot toast for breakfast.

Sure, you can buy gluten-free 'bread' fairly commonly these days, but the only thing that stuff has in common with true bread is a vaguely similar silhouette. The first time I tried it, I was appalled... not only did it taste nothing like any bread that I had ever tasted in my life, but the texture was so different that it felt almost alien. No soft, spongy feeling, but a hard, crumbly concoction, that even toasting couldn't make palatable.

This morning, I attended a breakfast meeting at a local cafe near work, and noticed that they had a gluten-free option on their brekky menu. Watching my colleagues tuck into their toast and crumpets, and with memories of past gluten-free toast atrocities beginning to recede from my memory, I decided to take a chance and order the gluten-free toast, with some honey.

When it arrived, it looked more like real toast than previous items that I'd tried; enough so that I almost expected that I would enjoy it when I ate it. Imagine my surprise... and delight!... when I took that first bite and realised that... it actually did taste good! Not just good, but great!

Yes, nice, almost authentic-tasting, gluten-free toast! I never thought I'd be able to say that, ever. It was so wonderful; I can't wait to go back for more... and it won't take three more years this time.

... I wonder if it would be too much to hope that they might do a fruit loaf variety?