Most students do not usually stop to think before eating wheat and gluten products. If they want hot dogs, they grab buns along with them. A sandwich is clearly incomplete without two slices of bread.
However, there exists a small group of people who struggle with these eating choices every day because they have Celiac disease, meaning they are allergic to gluten. In the film “Generation Gluten-Free,” Susan Cohen, BC ’08, follows the lives of a small group of New York City Celiac patients who have formed a new gluten-free generation. They have survived with the help of small-but-strong support networks that reach as far as the Westchester suburbs.
Cohen—a Celiac patient herself—uses her film to showcase the current widespread awareness of the disease among the food community. Yet she herself faced many more difficulties growing up with the disease—as recently as 2000, resources were very limited and Celiac patients had to specifically request gluten-free foods.
“There were not as many books on Celiac, resources on the Internet were much slimmer, very few restaurants had separate gluten-free menus, and a lot of mainstream companies were not on the gluten-free bandwagon yet,” Cohen said.
Slowly, support groups gained steam, and Cohen was introduced to the Westchester Celiac Sprue Support Group, where she was fortunate enough to learn about the disease from many knowledgeable Celiacs.
As a result of her experiences, Cohen has the first-hand knowledge to document the hardships of Celiac patients, and how they try to live normal lives in a country where wheat products are virtually all around them. She shows that many people are willing to make things better for this new generation.
For example, Joseph Pace, owner of the New York City restaurant Risotteria, challenges himself with the daunting task of running a gluten-free eatery. Through taste experiments with pizza crusts, beer, and fudge cookies, he was able to perfect delicious foodstuffs that Celiac patients could enjoy. Many other restaurant owners advertise their gluten-free products to the Celiac community throughout the city, clearly proud to serve these special foods.
Other people mentioned in the film, such as Beth Hillson and the Rosenthal family, faced enormous obstacles due to the disease, including doctor misdiagnoses, absurd diets, and relapses. Hillson’s Celiac disease actually returned once it had been deemed “removed.”
Cohen wanted to share the stories of each Celiac patient and the dynamics of the developing Celiac community. “I realized that ‘Generation Gluten-Free’ can also be used as a tool of awareness and education without being overbearing … as the film is very casual, upbeat, and fun,” she said.
Since Cohen was young, she wanted to be a filmmaker, particularly a screenwriter, and once she reached the Columbia campus, she immediately pursued film. She believes that the courses offered at Barnard and Columbia allowed her to pursue documentaries. “Documentaries are a very special form of storytelling. They have the ability to bring you inside a world you may never have experienced, had the filmmaker not pursued this topic,” she said.
Cohen hopes that by documenting the lives of Celiacs in such a way, more eateries will embrace the gluten-free generation.
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