Once upon a time, a little boy and a little girl lived in a gingerbread house on the edge of the forest. And their mother filled the house with the smells of freshly baked breads and sweets because such treats gave the children great joy. Yet as the days went on, the mother found that her children were not as healthy as they might be, though she gave them all they could ever need. In the night they cried out in pain and fear as some unknown curse twisted their bellies and joints into knots and chased them through their dreams. Each morning brought new worries. Sunken eyes and sallow skin belied their lively young spirits. Welts rose up bright red and swollen on arms and backs. A great weariness filled their days as weight began to fall away however much she tried to fatten them up.
With great determination the mother set out to discover what caused her children's suffering. A wise man revealed that the very same wholesome breads she baked with such care were at the root of their discomfort. Embarrassment and relief mingled together in the mother's mind. Wheat. Gluten. At last an answer, but the scent of rising dough faded quickly from her home, and she was saddened that she could no longer share her craft with her little ones, that she could no longer soothe bad days with milk and cookies. Slowly the children got better, emerging from the cloud that had seemed to follow them and becoming themselves
once more. She consoled them at birthday parties, and they ate the pale, dry substitutes of foods they once loved with gratitude and tried not to complain.
Still the woman could not give up. She truly felt that everyone deserves to share in the magic of a rich cupcake on their birthday, winter soups on rainy nights with hot rolls and butter, tea parties with biscuits, funnel cakes on the 4th of July, pumpkin pie in November and gingerbread in December. When families and friends come together, sharing the traditional foods that bind them together, it is hard not to take part. So she began again, with new ingredients and new recipes, to make all her family's favorites and to share them with everyone she knew. She worked on her recipes day and night for over four years, until they were perfect, and no one could even tell that they were made without wheat, and people would request their own favorites. Soon she saw she must find a way to bring this comfort to everyone, to show other people cursed by this illness and other allergies that they don't have to sacrifice, that they can come to the table and break bread, just like everyone else...
...the story has just begun. Find out what happens next and help make the dream a reality.
A Fairy Tale come True...
