The story begins with a personal (and unscientific) anecdote about gluten. Several years ago, in Taipei, Taiwan, I was convulsed with severe abdominal cramps after several days of eating (too much of) the delicious steamed wheat-flour buns and wheat noodles there. As I have had previously issues with commercial breads, I suspected a link to gluten and a quick switch to eating rice-based foods resolved the problem, seemingly confirming the suspicions. So I cut down on all gluten for a while after Taiwan – which was a pretty flawed decision, and the reasons why will be clear later.

What is gluten anyway?