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Spelt is an old, old food - a type of wheat that has changed very little since the Romans used it to make bread. Despite being grown for centuries, it fell out of favour around the time of the Industrial Revolution, because its tough husk meant milling it was labour-intensive.

Now, however, it's undergoing a renaissance. This is partly because it's much more nutritious than modern wheats, being richer in vitamins, minerals, complex carbohydrates, protein and fibre. The second reason for spelt's new popularity is that it can often be eaten, with no ill effects, by people who normally avoid wheat. Let's be clear: if you have coeliac disease - an intolerance to gluten, the protein in wheat - you should not eat spelt, as it is high in gluten. However, if you are one of the many who find they feel better when they restrict the amount of common wheat in their diets, spelt is a godsend.

'It's lovely stuff,' says naturopath and nutritional consultant Michael van Straten. 'I've been recommending it to patients for years, especially to people who have IBS or digestive problems, or who believe they're allergic to wheat.'

True, wheat allergy is rare, van Straten says, but adverse reactions to wheat are not. One theory is that the gluten in modern types of wheat is relatively tough. Spelt gluten, on the other hand, is more fragile and easier to digest.

Even if you have no problem with wheat, spelt remains a lovely ingredient because it hasn't been mucked about with. Modern wheat has been bred for the quantity, not the quality, of its yield, and is ruthlessly processed, destroying flavour and nutrients. There's a whole different ethos behind spelt. Often farmed organically, it's easy to find in a wholewheat, stone-ground form with all the goodness intact. Added to which, I like the idea of cooking with something that once sustained gladiators.

Spelt has a really good, nutty flavour, without being strident, and makes delicious bread. It also produces decent pastry and well-risen cakes, and works well as a sauce thickener. It adds depth of colour, an earthy taste and altogether more oomph to anything you use it in.

Doves Farm supplies a very good, organic spelt flour, available from Holland & Barrett, some branches of Tesco and Sainsbury's, and by mail order from Health food shops will stock other brands, as well as ready-made spelt pasta and bread. But wherever you buy it, choose organic, stone-ground spelt - after all, if you're going to sample this truly wholesome foodstuff, why not go the whole hog?

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