Jannell Lo’s playful modern take on gluten-free Asian cooking.
In a small café in North Vancouver, Jannell Lo sits patiently with her hand resting gently on her pregnant belly. She smiles as she waits, not at all bothered or distracted by the loud background music. There is something peaceful about her expression, hopeful even. If she’s nervous about the interview, it doesn’t show. She appears ready and prepared. Not only is she about to celebrate the launch of her first cookbook, but she’s also expecting her first child in a few weeks.
In the acknowledgements to her book, My Best Friend is Gluten-Free: 100+ Asian Inspired Recipes for Bringing People Together, Lo describes the process of completing the manuscript as “preparing to release her book baby into the world.” When asked if working on her “book baby” helped her prepare for impending motherhood, she laughs.
“I have no idea,” Lo says. “Totally different babies. It took longer to birth the book than it did to birth a human being. I’m so ready for the book to be released. I can’t wait for people to have it in their hands and to cook from it and share meals with others that they might not have been able to before, especially if loved ones have gluten allergies.”
This book has been a pure labour of love for Lo, whose husband, Reid Witzel, is celiac. It’s less about teaching people about celiac disease or how to navigate gluten-free cooking, and more about Lo wanting everyone to embrace a “new world of culinary possibilities.” Just as she has discovered while sharing her Asian food culture with Witzel.
Lo grew up in a family where food expressed love, and she was determined to share her love for Witzel through her family’s food. However, navigating the world of gluten-free cooking together proved quite a challenge, especially since gluten is often hidden in Asian products such as soy sauce, tamari, miso paste, gochujang, rice vinegar and noodles.
Instead of seeing this as a roadblock, Lo — who is a trained chef — saw it as an opportunity to experiment with gluten-free foods, creating surprising flavour combinations. It helped her develop her unique style of cooking while embracing family traditions, her Canadian upbringing and Witzel’s food restrictions.
“My cooking style, I figured out, was my third culture identity,” Lo says. “It refers to the fact that my parents grew up in China and Hong Kong. I grew up with a combination of both. So, third culture identity for me would be Chinese Canadian, not being one or the other. Finding what I resonate with from both sides.”
Through this process, it occurred to Lo that there must be others like her and Witzel who were trying to cook good, gluten-free food. This was when she decided to start writing a food blog in 2016 called My BF is GF(My Best Friend is Gluten-Free). Initially, it was a hobby and a side project, somewhere to document what they were cooking together. Over time, the blog also became a place for her to share her journey as a chef.
“It was just a fun place where I could explore flavour combinations,” Lo says. “I didn’t really know where I stood for a really long time, until I cooked my own food. And that is where I was able to lean into things that make me, me.”
And now, with her first cookbook, Lo hopes to continue changing the narrative around gluten-free cooking with East and Southeast Asian-inspired recipes that are full of flavour, light, easy to make, multifaceted, incredibly satisfying and a bit unexpected. Her Shanghai Stir-Fried Gnocchi and Miso Tahini Cookies are great examples of her flair for unique, crave-worthy flavours.
Her voice throughout the book is clear but gentle, expertly guiding readers through the intricacies of Asian cuisine, with the added complexity of gluten-free cooking. But she also wants readers to have fun with the process and has included QR codes at the beginning of each chapter that link to her personally curated playlist.
“I always have music on when cooking, and I play the cookbook playlist a lot,” says Lo, who describes her music as funky, soulful and chill. “I put my whole self into the book.”
However, Lo is the first to admit that her cooking has been influenced by many who have come before her. As a result, it is important for her to give credit where credit is due. Each recipe includes a note that acknowledges how she was inspired to create the dish. She truly believes that being authentic doesn’t mean you can’t create your own fusion cuisine informed by many different influences.
“I craved a space where I could be unabashedly Jannell, revealing the layers that make up who I am,” Lo says. “This desire drove me to find a deeper connection to my identity through cooking my own food, blending the influences of my upbringing with the skills I honed in professional kitchens.”
With each recipe, Lo opens up a world of culinary possibilities for those with gluten allergies. But the beauty of her approach is that these recipes are easily adaptable for those who are not gluten-intolerant. Either way, it doesn’t matter. The resulting dishes are consistently satisfying without compromising flavour or texture, using ingredients that are easy to find or offering unfussy substitutions.
Simplicity is a common theme throughout the book, but it’s important to read the first few chapters before diving into the recipes. Lo takes the time to explain important pantry items and equipment, beautifully illustrated by Joannza Lo and Nancy Pappas. She also has a chapter on what she calls her “building blocks” that are essential to recipes throughout the book, adding layers of flavour without being overly complicated. These include stocks, sides, sauces and dressings. Some recipes like the Sesame Chili Mayo and the Chili Miso Sauce are game-changing flavour bombs.
Also woven throughout the book are heartfelt stories and photographs of Lo, her family and her husband. My Best Friend is Gluten-Free genuinely captures Lo and all that matters to her. It’s distinctively her voice that you hear on every page, her passion that you taste in each recipe, her expertly plated food that you see (styled by her sister Janet Lo), and it’s her music that you dance to as you listen to her playlist. In her own way, she is having a personal conversation with each and every reader.
As to what is next for Lo? She is busy being a new mom with her son, Wesley, and enjoying that her “book baby” is also out in the world. She does have a few new book ideas, but she will enjoy time with her babies before diving back into the long and challenging process of writing another cookbook.
