Today I am happy to introduce you Céline Lebrun, a talented French chef who recently discovered to be gluten intolerant and had to change her daily diet.
Céline took this as an opportunity to challenge herself and learn new things.
Her skills as a professional chef gave her the wings she needed and today she has plenty of projects in the pipeline to create new gluten free foods and make us, gluten free eaters, happier and happier !
Let’s discover more of Céline in this lovely interview.
Chiara: Why gluten free?
Céline: I am gluten intolerant; I discovered it one year ago. I ran many tests and saw several doctors. At the time I was suffering of inflammations and terrible headaches. The moment I stopped eating gluten, I started to feel way better. Since then I don’t have any headaches or inflammations any more.
At a certain point I ate gluten again just to check if I had celiac disease; I did new blood tests and I don’t have it. However I still don’t eat gluten today: I think that each one of us has to learn to listen to his/her body; I know that gluten is no longer good for me and I feel much better when I eat gluten free, more energy, less bloating…the whole package!
Chiara: Since I have been following you on Instagram, I have discovered that you are a professional chef!
Céline: Yes, I studied at school to become one and then I have worked in several gourmet restaurants in London and in Paris for over 10 years.
Chiara: Why did you choose this job?
Céline: I think that becoming a chef is something that you do only for passion, as it is very hard to work in a restaurant in general.
I loved cooking since I was little: my family and I, we lived in the countryside and I remember that when I was 11 years old, I used to go to my grand-mother almost everyday and asked her what we were going to cook. Both my grandmother and my mother are excellent cooks. They taught me a lot. I was raised among great, fresh products coming from our yard and it was great!
Chiara: As you are a professional chef, is it somehow easier to cook gluten free for you?
Céline: The advantage of being a professional chef is that you know many ingredients very well and this helps. Also, my family is half French and half Mauritius and there people cook mostly gluten free. In London I worked in an Asian restaurant and there again lots of the food we cooked was naturally gluten free. That said, in order to succeed gluten free recipes, you need to try them over and over in order to learn how certain flours work and what results you can achieve with them.
Chiara: What do you miss the most in your gluten free diet?
Céline: French viennoiseries! It is very difficult to make a good gluten free croissant or pain au chocolat.
Chiara: Which gluten free recipe gave you more satisfaction when you actually succeeded it?
Céline: My burger buns, so moist and so good!
Chiara: As you live in Paris, which is your favourite gluten free restaurant?
Céline: It’s a Vietnamese gourmet restaurant called Indochine and located in the 15th arrodissement. I love everything on the menu and you have to book it in advance, as it is very sought after. The owner is very concerned by gluten free and he does his best to avoid cross contamination with gluten.
Chiara: Which is your favourite Parisian pastry shop?
Céline: Sitron, everything is so good, it looks like eating some Pierre Hermé. I also like Helmut Newcake and Mon Eclair. They recently launched a new range of gluten free cookies and madeleines.
Chiara: Gluten free is…
Céline: A new way lifestyle, an everyday challenge and thanks to my experience I hope to help other people who are going through the same things as I was.
pS to discover the delicious banana bread recipe that Céline shared with Baci di Dama, click here.
