NONGLUTEN #000: What is NONGLUTEN?

Welcome to my world of obsessive gf research

Hi and welcome to NONGLUTEN!

I’m a New York-based food and travel writer, with bylines in the Washington Post, the Boston Globe, the New York Times, TASTE, Saveur, Punch, Eater Boston, and more. And I’m the co-author of Taste In Music: Eating On Tour with Indie Musicians (Chronicle, 2024). I’ve been writing about food professionally for over 15 years—but I have a new beat.

With this project, I am building the resource that I wish existed when my wife was diagnosed with celiac disease in Spring 2024—and still wish existed. We both work in or adjacent to food, and because we care so much about where we eat, what we cook, and every other minuscule food decision in our life, I put in a freakish amount of research to ensure that we don’t have to sacrifice our legendary good taste or food-world bona fides now that she’s celiac.

It’s been going well! So well, actually, that I felt my obsessive research might be useful to others. At NONGLUTEN, you’ll find restaurant capsules, product notes, and travel guides, plus interviews with chefs, cookbook authors, entrepreneurs, academics, and more. Maybe the occasional endorsement of someone else’s recipe. My hope is that it all reaches an open-minded audience of readers from across the entire gluten-eating spectrum.

The name “NONGLUTEN” comes from my mother-in-law. It’s what she says instead of “gluten-free,” and I think it’s kind of brilliant—cause the term “gluten-free” does have a bit of baggage. NONGLUTEN is a fresh start. A world of possibility. Stubbornly neither cool nor uncool. Awful for SEO. But not for long.

For a bit more background, you can read this essay I wrote for TASTE last year.

For more info about me, and to read other past articles, you can visit my website.

Any tips or questions, feel free to get in touch: hinongluten@gmail.com

Thank you for reading!

WHAT DO SUBSCRIBERS GET?

Each edition of NONGLUTEN will feature three restaurant capsule reviews, three product notes, and a long-form interview with someone who has an interesting perspective on gluten-free topics. Five or six times a year, I’ll release a travel guide. Occasionally, there may be a special bulletin. And everything will be archived. For now I am planning to publish once every two weeks.

Everything is free while I get things going, but I will start rolling out a paywall after a couple months or so.

IS THERE A REGIONAL FOCUS?

Because I’m based in New York, there will be New York slant to the restaurant coverage (and to the project in general), but I’ll cover other cities, too. My wife and I travel a lot both domestically and internationally, and I’ll report on anywhere we go.

I very rarely buy gluten-free products online, so most of the things I write about will have been purchased IRL in New York, Boston (my hometown), or somewhere else I’ve traveled. But I will provide links for the easiest place to shop online when possible, and note where I’ve gotten things in person.

The interviews will have a wide national and international scope.

Travel guides will only be for international destinations. And any US city other than New York will be covered in the “a few restaurants” format.

WHY AREN’T THERE RECIPES?

There are lots and lots of talented recipe developers serving the gluten-free community, and my particular skill set—even though I do write recipes, too—feels better suited to covering restaurants, highlighting products, and interviewing people. But there will be links to and endorsements of other peoples’ recipes in the product reviews.

WHERE ARE ALL THE NEGATIVE REVIEWS AND TOXIC VIBES THAT I SO ENJOY?

NONGLUTEN exists to promote a positive and optimistic view of gluten-free eating. Any perceived negativity will be immediately followed by something lighthearted and/or positive.

I STILL DON’T UNDERSTAND WHY YOU ARE DOING THIS IF YOU CAN EAT GLUTEN AND YOUR WIFE IS THE ONE WITH CELIAC

Some of the best gluten-free bakeries, gluten-free restaurants, and even gluten-free food brands were started not by gluten-free people themselves, but by their partners, siblings, friends, or others who care about them. Since I’m a food journalist, this is my version of that.

But Lauren’s involved, too—apart from being on the NONGLUTEN advisory board, she’s responsible for the entire visual identity of the project, including all the amazing illustrations. You can see more of her work here.

OKAY, I UNDERSTAND NOW. I CHERISH YOU AND YOUR WIFE’S LOVE, AND WISH YOU LUCK WITH YOUR NEWSLETTER

Thanks so much, I hope you like it!