The rise of the “Paleo Diet’ and the fall of the humble bread machine

Ok I’m going to talk about food in particular grains today. Its not something I normally do (talk about food that is) but well..I feel compelled and I’ll tell you why.

Image: Marion Kochbuch

Have you noticed how lately everyone seems to be on a gluten free or at the very least a grain free / reduced diet?? Suddenly it’s become in vogue. Ive spoken to one mum this month who said her family were on a gluten reduced diet. When I asked her why she said it made them feel less bloated plus it was healthier. It now seems to be tres hip to eat nothing but a chunk of meat and some vegetables with not a grain or slice of bread in sight for each meal.

This morning, courtesy of Sarah Wilson, in the The Good Weekend I discovered a name for it. The Paelo Diet. Apparently it can make you lose weight and is all very…caveman. (Unfortunately I can’t give you a link folks as its not online so you’ll have to go to your newspapers to read the article).

Now I think the main culprit for the surgence of this diet is the growth of bread machines. It sounds hair brained but let me explain.

For the last month our family has been on a massively reduced grain diet. It is directly correlated to the time we purchase a bread machine.

You see we bought a bread machine with the idea it would save us buckets of money in bread purchasing (seeing as how we were chowing through about 4 loaves a week) plus we’d know exactly what we were eating(no preservatives etc etc). Of course fact is Mr Significant is unable to make the bread (his loaves keep turning out either too soggy or else covered in unmixed flour…I’m suspicious this is a deliberate tactic…) so the task has been relegated to me. But problem is I keep forgetting to put bread on at night so we wake up to no bread and surprise surprise our bread consumption has dramatically dropped. The last time the kids saw a loaf never mind ate one was around three weeks ago. Their lunch boxes are now chickpeas, grated carrot and tuna or soup or just some chicken with cucumber and tomatoes. As I said no bread.

The other reason for the reduced grain diet is my youngest is allergic to wheat so her diet has necessitated gradual changes to the family diet (else we end up with the nightmare task of cooking two meals -simultaneously- accompanied by the howling of hungry kids whining “I’m hungry”).

I’d love to see a graph comparing sales of bread machines as its relates to the number of people adopting grain free / reduced diets. I’m thinking there has to be a correlation. I’m sure Sarah Wilson would agree!  What do you think?!