When Matt Cabana met the woman who he would one day marry, he briefly worried their relationship might be doomed. The woman of his dreams had one critical flaw: She was gluten free. “When I met her eight years ago, I had never had a gluten free item in my life. Right after I tried one, I knew why,” recalls Cabana who, in a suprising turn of events, is now the owner of a gluten free bakery in Charlotte NC.
Food had always played an important role in Cabana’s life. And not just food, but the highest offender of the gluten-free: pasta. Cabana’s Italian-American family passed time together in the kitchen, bonding over shared meals and messy countertops. For Cabana, those years of cooking and baking and eating solidified food and its preparation as a conduit for quality family time, as well as a means of offering care. “Making food is an act of service and a gift,” says Cabana. “When you give someone something that you spent time and effort in, that’s a gift that really means a lot. It can make even just a moment of their day brighter.”
So, how did Matt Cabana go from possessing a healthy (and valid) amount of skepticism of gluten-free food to becoming owner of The Accidental Baker, a gluten free bakery in Charlotte NC? It boils down to love and egalitarianism.
Behind the Breads at This Gluten Free Bakery in Charlotte NC
Cabana hoped that his gluten-free girlfriend and her gluten-free family were going to be part of his life forever. He didn’t want bad gluten-free food to be part of his life forever, too. Nor did he feel that bad gluten-free food should be part of his wife’s life forever. Or anyone’s else for that matter. “My goal when starting this was not to make food that ‘tasted good for being gluten free.’ It was to make food that was just good, period!” Because, as The Accidental Baker’s motto puts it, “everyone deserves good sh*$.”
Cabana began experimenting with gluten-free recipes when cooking for his wife and her family. He started specializing in baked goods. Then, he expanded the range of people he baked for to include his wife’s coworkers, many of whom were also gluten free. When, in September of 2023, Cabana was let go from his corporate job, he spent even more time in the kitchen. At the encouragement of the friends and family who had been his eager culinary guinea pigs for years, he leaned into baking as a profession as well as a passion.
One Part Healthy Skepticism, Two Parts Delicious Desserts
Now, The Accidental Baker is a full-fledged business. Cabana rises early (typically 5-6am but sometimes as early as 3am). He bakes out of the Sweet Spots kitchen in Oakhurst. There, he fulfills orders placed online. Plus, he preps for his pop-up, which opens at Metropolitan every Saturday and Sunday from 9am-12pm.
His baked goods have become so tasty that new customers routinely reach out to ask, “Are you sure you didn’t feed me gluten?” Bagels, croissants, sourdough loaves, and chocolate chip cookies are Cabana’s star players. They are also the treats most often mistaken for containing gluten.
Ultimately, when asked how he might respond to someone expressing skepticism about gluten-free baked goods, Cabana is both honest and pragmatic: “I would say that I have done all of the worrying and doubting for them so they don’t have to.”
Sample this gluten free bakery in Charlotte NC by placing an order online or by visiting the bakery’s weekend morning popup at Metropolitan.
theaccidentalbakerclt.com
@the_accidental_bakr
