Vida Sin Gluten: The Shoreditch bakery giving us cake we can eat, too
It’s a cold November day. In the window of Vida Bakery, there are pride garlands and a rainbow cake with a fat slice taken out of it. Inside, the café advertises coffee with ‘plant milk only — oat CONTAINS GLUTEN’. A cockapoo lazes about. Pillows puffed against an exposed brick wall wait for you to sit down. Shit, aren’t you sick of hipsters and their obnoxious diets?
Shoreditch’s Brick Lane, where Vida Bakery sits, might seem a perfect home for what is often labelled as ‘fussy eaters’. The gentrification of Shoreditch in east London has, not unfairly, been a source of ire for years. Protests have been rife since at least 2015, best exemplified by the Cereal Killer Café controversy, known for selling £4 bowls of imported cereals while long-term locals were priced out of their home. As a place to buy gluten-free and vegan cakes — including the sexy, photogenic red velvet or queer icon the rainbow cake — Vida Bakery might seem home to the next fad to sweep the sleepy trend followers of London city. But listen to people who follow the diet and they’ll give you a very different story.
The year is 3000 BCE, and it’s the height of the bronze age. You’ve hopped on trend with all the other peasants: something called spelt is causing a stir. Everyone else says it’s hearty, healthy food for a peasant populous. So why does it make you feel so crappy? Ten thousand years later, and doctors have finally sussed your stomach problems — you’re 1 in every 100 people whose stomach hasn’t evolved to process a grain like gluten.
Even if they’re ‘free-from’, these cakes are about inclusion, not exclusion.
There are three main reasons why your stomach doesn’t like gluten, according to the NHS. You might have a gluten intolerance, which causes painful bloating and rashes. Then there’s a wheat allergy, and like any allergy, that can cause an anaphylactic reaction. The most popular is coeliac disease, which can cause IBS, extreme fatigue, and even nerve damage. Beth, 23, is a wheat and dairy allergy sufferer. She says that anyone who calls her allergies fussy eating can ‘enjoy listening to her throw up and complain about how much (her) tummy hurts’.
Beth also runs the Instagram @accidentallygf, one of the many dietary related Instagram pages you’ll see in Vida Bakery’s tagged posts. Allergy Instagram is similar to other Instagram communities in that it’s full of positivity, support, and recommendations. Beth uses hers to support niche businesses that give people like her more choice — she’s no longer driving twenty minutes to the only health shop for food that doesn’t irritate her IBS. Besides, red velvet cake might be a trend, but the ability to eat and go to the loo isn’t.
What does gluten-free mean to cake making? Gluten is glue for carbs, so imagine making paper mache with no glue and hoping the end product sticks together. It’s why gluten-free bread is notoriously close to cardboard, and why you’ll never see a gluten-free croissant. But Vida Bakery manages to somehow (it’s a secret) keep the velvety softness of traditional moist cake in their free-from cakes. Their cream cheese icing never strays too far into cream or cheese, meaning it’s despairingly moreish. I’ve always thought they might add a secret spice close to cinnamon or chai, but they wander into an alternative sweetness I’ve never tasted in another cake.
The reality of coeliac disease is painful, but places like Vida Bakery exist to make life less so for allergy sufferers. Dani, who created Vida alongside her friend Vanessa, says that she started baking when she realised how hard it was to find good gluten-free cakes that were also vegan. Even if Dani’s choice to be vegan is her own, it’s the fact she, and others like her, can happily have that choice that makes a difference. Whether they’re posting with crates of cookies for people all over the UK (you can order online!) or with their vulva shaped cupcakes (in every size and shade), the positivity behind Vida Bakery is shining. Even if they’re ‘free-from’, these cakes are about inclusion, not exclusion.
Vida means ‘life’ in Spanish. When gluten equals a foggy head, extreme fatigue, and IBS, delicious and accessible gluten-free options can mean getting your life back. While I won’t defend the rise of overpriced food in gentrified areas (I get to eat a £15 chicken burger in yet another shipping container? Thank god!) Vida Bakery is about so much more than cake. It’s about being able to have your cake and keep your nerve endings, too.
