jenn oliver

 I am an American Ph.D. scientist living with my gluten free husband and baby girl in Switzerland. I grew up in southern New England with memories full of camping and hiking amidst a rainbow of color on the autumn hillsides, mountains of sparkly snowflakes in winter, and weekends walking along rocky beach coastlines in the summer. I moved to the Midwest for school, and there met my husband who changed my cooking life forever as I set out to make great tasting food that he could enjoy. My inquisitive nature quickly took over, and I found myself applying scientific principles to better understand alternative ingredients and cooking processes in order to create more successful dishes.

At first I didn’t want to make it a big deal that food was gluten free. However, I soon learned that cooking gluten free is indeed a big deal. Gluten free will always be a part of my husband’s life and thus, our family. That said, I never view it a handicap but rather a source of pride – discovering the main concepts behind making gluten free food has been surprisingly freeing. Always I am still learning, but the more experienced I become, the more my creativity is able to come out and I am able to play and experiment. I strongly feel that gluten free cooking is not something to be afraid of – instead, it is how you learn about yourself and share your own culture with others. Food is central to life, and beyond the calories are memories, emotions, and meaningful experiences to be cherished. Our gluten free life taught me to be a better cook, a creative thinker, and most importantly, how much fun it is to cook and share together with those we love. 

I am also an avid food and landscape photographer. Completely self-taught, my passion is in photographing beauty at the table as well as in the world around me. I love to travel and hike, and capture how I see things through the eye of the lens. Photography taught me how to recognize beauty – how to admire snow-capped mountains vying for sun-lit reflections on their glaciers as they each profess to be the proudest of the Alps. It taught me to laugh with joy when I see the French toast at the kitchen table bathed in morning light as it soaks up the maple syrup and reminds me of childhood memories goofing around with my little sister. I love photography because light can articulate a story sometimes better than words set a scene on a page, and I love finding ways to use that light to express my own interpretations of beauty. Photography is a tool to explore beauty, from landscapes to stills to the little details that cause us all to pause and appreciate the scenes that help make our lives more complete.

Jenn is the author of the gluten free cooking blog, Jenn Cuisine. Jenn is a contributor to The Rambling Epicure where she writes about food chemistry and contributes photography. She also helps run the Gluten Free Ratio Rally, a monthly blogging recipe development event based on baking by weight and ratios. On Google+, she is a curator for the weekly food photography event, #foodfriday.

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