foodallergens.co.uk began with a question Maryam Rashid was asking in her Product Design studio at Glasgow School of Art: why is it still so hard, in 2025, to eat safely when you have coeliac disease?
Her project — The Coeliac Collective — set out to understand the problem. What we built is the answer.
“I am really interested in service, systems design and research. I enjoy engaging and immersing myself in different communities, gathering lived experiences and creating research tools.”
Maryam's practice at GSA centred on understanding how systems affect people — and how design could change those systems. The Coeliac Collective was her most personal and ambitious project: a deep investigation into a condition that affects millions but remains poorly understood and routinely dismissed.
She was motivated by a simple observation: coeliac disease is a serious chronic autoimmune condition — the only treatment is a strict, lifelong gluten-free diet — yet it is widely treated as a fussy preference or a diet trend.
Her primary research brought that reality into sharp focus.
“The amount of jokes made at my expense. I could never stop eating gluten — I'd rather die than not have bread.”
— Primary research participant
Maryam's project focused on the psychosocial impact of coeliac disease — the social isolation, the anxiety of eating out, the stigma of being seen as difficult — while taking a speculative design approach to how systems would need to adapt if coeliac disease continued to rise.
The Coeliac Collective imagined a collective approach — moving coeliac disease from something carried alone to something supported by the whole food system.
An interactive card game simulating the experience of choosing a safe meal with coeliac disease. Inspired directly by the complexity and dullness of the allergen binder handed to diners in restaurants. Players navigate menus, make decisions under pressure and experience cross-contamination scenarios — helping people without the condition understand the daily reality.
Education & empathyWorking with food businesses to develop coeliac-safe menu options through staff training and encouraging the integration of naturally gluten-free ingredients. The goal was to show restaurants that catering for coeliac disease is both achievable and commercially worthwhile — the £100m opportunity hiding in their menus.
Industry changeWeekly meetups for people living with coeliac disease — a space to share struggles, give feedback on gluten-free food, and tell businesses what they miss and what they need. A Coeliac Disease Wishlist that gave the community a voice in shaping what the food industry develops next.
Community & voiceThe Guess the Gluten Game was conceived as an educational tool — but in designing it, Maryam landed on the central problem: the allergen binder. That thick folder, handed to diners as an afterthought, was the food industry's attempt at compliance. It was inaccessible, intimidating and, for someone already anxious about eating out, deeply unwelcoming.
The game asked players to navigate it under pressure. Most found it overwhelming. That was the point — and the opportunity.
“Inspired by the complexity and dullness of the allergen binder that's normally given when eating out, players must navigate information, make decisions under pressure and interpret potential risks.”
— The Coeliac Collective project notes
Intended systemic impact
The Coeliac Collective was a student project that took a speculative design approach — imagining what a better system could look like. What it revealed was a practical gap: food businesses needed a simple, accessible way to share allergen information. Customers needed a simple, accessible way to check it.
foodallergens.co.uk is that gap, filled. A QR code on every table. A full allergen menu on every phone. No binder. No waiting. No risk.