bubble girl

  • By Tami Lange
  • November 11, 2013
  • 437
                        
There was a time in Kait Turshen’s life when she ate little more than blueberries and plain hamburger. Everything else, she said, seemed to make her feel sick: corn, wheat, chicken, eggs, nuts, beans, soy. What started as a mild reaction to soy while a college student had turned into a food fiasco for Turshen, a Wooster native and graduate of Wooster High School and The College of Wooster. While she headed to New York City after graduation to pursue a career in the fashion industry, Turshen admitted her work hours often were spent thinking about food. Still, she attributed her stomach problems to the stress of her job. “I was always walking around like a zombie,” she said, “not feeling like myself.” Eventually, the digestive problems turned into a full-blown health crisis, twice landing Turshen in the emergency room. After that, she said, she sought help from an allergist. Aside from a list of environmental allergens, Turshen also found she had more than 20 food allergies, everything from black beans to mango. “That explained a lot,” she said, “like why I felt sick most of my 20s.” At the same time, Turshen said, she knew severely limiting her diet wasn’t good for her either. She was constantly fatigued from the lack of “a balanced, healthy diet,” she said. While she had been a vegetarian in high school, Turshen said her allergies really forced her to take a good look at how and what she was eating. “We had to get really good at reading labels,” said Erin Buchholz, Turshen’s sister. Eventually, Turshen found relief – and good health – in eating an allergen-free, gluten-free vegan diet. When she came home to visit, she found herself being extremely careful to not co-mingle what she was eating with what her family had chosen. If barbecue sauce was used on the grill, she wrapped her food in foil to avoid the contamination. Her mother, Julia Gigax, said the kitchen was always freshly scrubbed, especially the surfaces where food was prepared. It got to the point, Turshen said, that her mother started calling her “bubble girl” – albeit fondly. The nickname was just the beginning of what has become not only a new lifestyle, but also a new career for Turshen. Finding fashion was not her passion – “I liked it, but I didn’t love it. I gave it eight good years,” she said – but the pursuit of good food was, she launched Bubble Girl Bakes. The business was born out of a desire to make good food that was allergen-free, gluten-free and vegan. While still traveling for her former job, Turshen said she found herself stuck in a small airport while awaiting a delayed flight. Scanning the vendor booths for something to eat, she found literally the only thing she could stomach was mustard. “After a while,” Turshen said, “you find you want a cookie or a piece of bread.” Still, the recipes she found had dozens of ingredients, including multiple types of flours that avoided glutens. A lot of products already of the store shelves were no better, she said, adding, “the few things I did find tasted like Styrofoam.” So, she decided to find a way to cut down on lists of flours and, instead, pre-combine them into one, easy-to-use product. After much trial and error, BG Bakes Gluten-Free, Allergy-Friendly All-Purpose Flour was ready to hit the shelves. And, Turshen and Buchholz agree, foods made with it taste just as a good as any, including their mother’s family-famous chocolate cookies. Turshen, who got married in August, said her father-in-law, a designer, came up with the packaging and art. Her sister is working on sales and marketing and Turshen is using marketing and distribution ideas she used in the fashion world to introduce her first product to the public. Locally, she said, the flour is available at Wooster Natural Foods in downtown Wooster. She handles production herself, using a kitchen in Long Island that not only is contaminant free, but green as well. “It’s really fulfilling for me to be doing all of this,” she said, adding that she already has plans for pancake mixes and brownie mixes. “I have big dreams of doing multiple things.” The flour also is available through her bubblegirlbakes.com website and on amazon.com. Not only is Turshen feeling good about her new career, she is back to just feeling good, period. She wants other people to feel the same. Heathier eating, whether you have allergies or not, is bound to make for better living, Turshen said. “I think a lot of people become comfortable not feeling 100 percent,” she said. But she feels great, and doesn’t feel like she’s missing out on good food. “I’m just a real-life person,” Turshen said, “with real-life experience.”


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