Food for a happy gut
“This book offers you over a hundred opportunities to expand your repertoire and feed your microbes interesting foods that allow them to flourish”
From cover to cover, Naomi Devlin has written a recipe book that does exactly what it says on the tin. She has created a list of ingredients that are intended to calm, nourish and heal. Her deep personal connection to gut health is evident throughout, as the book has been organised in a clear, practical manner. No bells and whistles here.
What stands out for me is her use of ferments in hearty dishes that are quintessentially British. Each recipe is straightforward but chock a block full of flavour. I keep this book firmly in the kitchen, knowing that one of the 100 recipes will be suited to any occasion.
How did you come up with the idea to create your book?
I've been thinking about guts and food for years and working both with clients and to improve my own gut health. People just kept asking me to recommend books that would help them eat to improve their gut health, but everything out there was focussed on clean eating or faddy diets. I set out to write a proper recipe book, full of delicious approachable food and without that quasi religious aspect that clean eating can have.
How did you approach writing this book?
I thought about what people need in order to help themselves. Firstly they need to know how to calm things down in a sensitive gut and then what to add to their diet to improve their gut microbiome. The final chapter would be all the medicinal foods that people can add to their diet whatever stage they are at - ferments, teas, anti-inflammatory sprinkles and dressings. Most of all I set about writing a set of recipes that I really wanted to eat.
How did you gather your research for this book?
Client experiences, my own experience, students on my courses, scholarly articles, food producers, podcasts, books written by fermenters, other nutritionists, microbial scientists and angry chefs (actually, just one angry chef), twitter... Research means spreading the net wide and absorbing as much information as you can, so that it can be distilled into meaningful work.
Where is your favourite place to write?
Somewhere sunny - Spain would be good!
What do you think makes your book stand out from other gut health books?
Food For A Happy Gut is written for people who love food, want to find out about fermentation and like to eat seasonally. The recipes are well tested and not full of chia seeds, coconut and other niche ingredients, because we are surrounded by local food that is great for our gut. Improving your gut health is something that we all can and should do and this book is aimed at everyone. It contains advice, but it is not a plan to follow and won't make you feel like you're on a special diet. You'll just really enjoy your meals.
Recipe from 'Food for a happy gut' - Aubergine slippers with coriander yoghurt and black sesame crumb.