Article & Photo By Graham Lanktree Metro Ottawa

Darren Potvin started gluten-free baker FUK Flour in January out of frustration at the limited choices for healthy gluten-free foods in grocery stores.

It has a strange name, but the FUK Flour bakery and blog created by Manotick’s Darren Potvin has a noble cause.

“It’s been my dream to open the bakery for the past eight years since I found about my sensitivity to gluten,” he said. “I leave it to people to interpret the name, but they never forget it and I haven’t had any complaints.”

Potvin started the flour-free online only bakery this January out of frustration that there aren’t many options on grocery store shelves for people like him who have allergies to wheat flour or celiac disease, which reacts to the gluten protein found in wheat causing bowel inflammation.

Potvin said the company name is an acronym for “For Ur Knowledge” and to raise awareness about how bad celiac disease is.

“My friend’s mother passed away from celiac this past year,” he said. “She lived in a remote community and was eating mostly potato chips because she couldn’t get access to gluten-free foods and ingredients.”

Soon, Potvin said, he will be offering up his baked goodies such as scrumptious crumble date squares and miniquiches at a new gluten-free cafe set to open in Westborough.

“I’ve noticed a difference in the past two years, especially in local grocery stores, that more gluten-free products are appearing,” he said, “but a lot of them have more sugar and fat than usual. So what I’m trying to do is offer healthier choices.”

With his Italian heritage, Potvin said, he ate a lot of pasta and bread as a child and has taken a few of his mom’s recipes and “de-glutenized” them.

“The thing about a lot of my products,” he said, “is that you can’t tell they’re gluten-free.”

Our dreams (Kathy Smart & Darren Potvin) is to spread knowledge and awareness to people about gluten and make gluten free food  healthy and taste great.

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