Customer Reviews

Sweet Alternative: More Than 100 Recipes Without Gluten, Dairy and Soy

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YOU DO NOT NEED TO HAVE FOOD ALLERGIES TO ENJOY THESE RECIPES!!!

But for someone with allergies, it definitely makes the book that much more amazing:

About a year ago, I found out that I was allergic to gluten and soy. I have always loved food, but it was not until I was forced to restrict my diet that I realized how disabling it feels to have food allergies. I started getting obsessed with all the foods I could not eat.

After doing much research, I found books and websites with recipes, but they were not as refined as I had hoped. They were a nice start, good substitutes. But that was the problem: they were substitutes! When I would try out the recipes, my friends would insist on trying them. Who isn't tempted by fresh baked desserts? But I hated having to give them a disclaimer. Then to hear that same response: "I guess you have to get used to them."

When I kept running into people with similar allergies and frustrations, I made a decision: I quit my career and moved to Paris to learn the techniques of baking. I would then apply this basis to what I read in my free time about the different ingredients I could eat. Then one day while at the english bookstore in Paris, I was perusing the cooking section and picked up this book just based on it's beautiful cover. You can imagine my excitement when I found it catered to my diet!!

In a few weeks I have tried nearly every recipe. Finally simple-to-make, yet impressive desserts that everyone can enjoy, and I am not embarassed to share! And the best part is that people don't suspect they are gluten, soy, and dairy free. ------ Most of the people I know here in Paris are either fellow cuisine & pastry students, chefs, or food afficionados. So my panel of judges is quite hard to please. You can trust that they know great food...

But on behalf of those of us with allergies, I think I can say thank goodness for people like Ariana....it's not just about making wonderfully delicious desserts - it's also about making us feel normal again.

Now if only there was a similar book on cuisine...

I am not super talented in the kitchen , just a mom trying to feed two little food sensitive children and not let them be deprived of desserts, who got tired of Pamela's brownie mix and was ready for a new challenge.
This is a very well researched and written cookbook and the only gluten free, dairy free and soy book that I have heard of.
I have tried some of the prepackaged flour mixes to make things like pancakes and muffins and not had great results. Recipes that I found online were not that great either.
This book includes a good variety of recipes that have, so far, yielded some very tasty results. There were some ingredients that I had difficulty finding or could not find at all. For instance, vanilla pods were expensive and not easy to come by. I am still unable to locate coconut butter which would be great since soy free margarines are impossible to find. Some of the suggested ingredients are available through online sources that are listed in the books resources.
I found the introduction and definitions of ingredients to be very helpful and the pictures are an inspiration. I leave this book on my cookbook stand because it is so gorgeous and whenever I get a minute or two we get right to making flan and cookies. These are good looking cookies that I am proud to share with everyone. People are very ready to reject them as sub-standard when they hear that they have no wheat or dairy and they can't because they're too good. I look forward to the challenge of the more difficult recipes and to mixing her flour mixture to try in other recipes.
Worth every penny for the smiles they put on the kids faces.

This is a fantastic book for anyone that is milk/lactose, wheat/gluten and soya intolerant or allergic. It is wonderful to eat lovely desserts again and to be able to offer something to guests that I can eat too!

The best thing for me was discovering that there is actually chocolate I can eat - I had resigned myself to never eating chocolate again!

I really can't rate this book highly enough. Anyone that is thinking of buying it - you won't regret it. Money very well spent in my opinion!

I have been enjoying "Sweet Alternative". The Mock Oatmeal Cookies are amazing. Thanks for your insight and creativity in the foods you present in your book. I really like your approach including the raw foods combined with traditional foods, it's a good mix. I have influenced my friends to purchase your book with little effort just by giving them cookies.

As a working chef, I am often skeptical of cookbooks, especially ones which are marketed as "_____ Free." The market is so hungry for these works that any fool with a decent photographer can put together something which looks good enough to sell. Often the result of such efforts is first-wave, 1970s era trail-mix hippie cakes that you CAN eat for health reasons but WOULD NOT choose to eat for any other reason. I mean recipes with no refinement and a lot of margarine and soy-milk.

Ms. Bundy is a French-trained professional with a real knowledge of culinary technique AND a chef's appreciation for what is good and delicious. She uses ingredients cleverly and focuses on healthy fats and nuts to provide richness. When offering you one of these desserts in my home, I would not say "here's something gluten-free" but rather "here's something you'll love." As a wheat-allergic person myself, I am grateful for this book.

Sweet Alternative: More Than 100 Recipes Without Gluten, Dairy And Soy by Ariana Bundy, and enhanced with full color photographs from Lisa Linder, is mouth-watering collection of recipes for delightfully tasty, but gluten, dairy, and soy free dishes. The "kitchen cook friendly" recipes range from Flower Power; Blue Agave Tequila Sorbet; and 'Raw' Honey Florentines, to Konnyaku and Lime Noodle Granita; Japanese Green Tea; and Luscious Fruit Tart, Sweet Alternative is an expansive and innovative showcase collection of decorative, artistic, fulfilling, exotic, and flavorful foods. Sweet Alternative is very strongly recommended to all consumers with a desire to cut-back or restrict their gluten, dairy, and soy intake as a healthy alternative for its uncompromisingly lush and desirable presentation.

I guess as a vegan I automatically assume that eggs go into the dairy camp. Don't assume other people think the same way. This book is laden with eggs. *sigh* I guess when looking through some of the Amazon excerpts of the book it uses the word vegan a few times...I was totally deceived. Hopefully I'll be able to salvage some of the recipes with vegan alternatives. There are several that are vegan, though.

I bought this when my daughter was diagnosed with a milk and soy protein allergy. I haven't made a single recipe from it, though, because the ingredients are all hard to find, even at Whole Foods.