Gluten-Free Feasts

Melanie Persson (aka The Very Hungry Coeliac) was on MasterChef Australia 2022 and was the first contestant to compete as a gluten-free cook. Since being diagnosed with coeliac disease in 2016, she has worked hard to develop recipes that she used to love, sharing them with the community she's built on Instagram. These are strongly influenced by her experiences living in the UK, Australia, Japan and Italy, as well as her Swedish heritage. Mel is passionate about helping people on gluten-free diets rediscover their joy for food and cooking. Whenever she isn’t cooking and sharing recipes, she is working on her research as a PhD candidate in the field of children’s literature. Her first book, The Very Hungry Coeliac, was published in 2025.

‘A book that brings people together and banishes the myth that gluten-free food can be anything less than glorious.’ – Becky Excell