SPOTLIGHT OF THE MONTH: ROSIE BRADNRETH-POYNTER

This Months Spotlight focus is the lovely Rosie Brandreth-Poynter ❤️

Rosie won The Great British Bake Off in 2020 and she shares lots of amazing nut free and free from bakes on her Instagram (@rosiebrandreth), there are so many fun recipes and they look delicious. As someone who has multiple allergies it’s great to see exciting new recipes being made and shown that I can try. 

1.What are you allergic / intolerant to?

I’m allergic to all nuts (severe anaphylaxis). I’m lucky because airborne particles don’t seem to affect me – so I was able to be in the bake off tent with others using nuts in their bakes. I’m mildly allergic to apples and pineapple (raw). 

2.What is your favourite meal that you can safely eat? 

I always order super simple food when I’m out as it makes me feel safer – so often a tomato based pasta dish or similar. I love (vegetarian) sushi and that’s my go to ‘pre packaged’ lunch to buy when out and about.

3.Why did you set up your blog / Instagram page and what do you hope to achieve?

My Instagram is mainly a place to post photos of my bakes. I have my website too for posting recipes (I really need to get back to posting regularly on there!). I create a lot of free from recipes for those with allergies, nut free macarons and various baking recipes free from the top 14 allergens. 

4.What is your favourite piece of advice for people that have allergies? 

My favourite bit of advice for people with allergies is to be careful but don’t let your allergy stop you from doing  what you want to do. If you explain your allergy to others, rather than trying to hide it, you’ll be surprised how much is possible. I never believed I’d be able to go on the Bake Off, but I was upfront about my allergy from the start and the amazing team made changes to accommodate me. Also if you’re travelling somewhere where food might be tricky – pack instant noodles! I did a riding holiday on a remote island, living off instant noodles in my hotel room – but it meant I could go!

5.We are people behind our allergies, what would you say is the one most interesting non allergy related fact about you? 

The most interesting non allergy fact about me? As well as baking, I work as an emergency night time vet. This means I can afford to keep (and have time off to actually ride…) my two beautiful horses.

Thank you to Rosie for the wonderful answers. It is so nice to see that there are so many more exciting recipes being made that cater for the allergy community which gives us the opportunity to create fun bakes.