How a frustrating spice cabinet became stellaVie

The first thing I did was buy every "garlic-free" spice blend I could find. There were more than I expected — premium brands, low FODMAP certified ranges, allergy-friendly lines marketed for people with exactly my situation. What I discovered was that almost all of them tasted bland. Some of them turned out to contain "natural garlic flavouring" or garlic-infused oil — technically allowed under their labelling but biochemically identical to my problem. Others were genuinely garlic-free but had simply taken garlic out without rebuilding the depth, resulting in flat blends that depended on salt to mask the gap. The honest exceptions were brands that had clearly thought about this carefully — usually small-batch, often expensive, and not easy to find. But most of what was marketed to me as "the solution" was a disappointment.

I started making my own blends. Not because I wanted to start a company — because I wanted dinner to taste good again. It took months of testing. I learned that carrot powder, properly dried and ground, gives a natural sweetness that compensates for the caramelisation onion would normally provide. I learned that sumac delivers a tartness that brightens dishes the way garlic's sulphurous note used to. I learned that Aleppo pepper gives a slow-building warmth that doesn't punish a sensitive stomach. I learned that mushroom powder and amchur — both unfamiliar to me before this — could carry significant umami weight. I learned that building flavour without garlic isn't a compromise. It's a different discipline. The blends I developed started showing up in our family meals. My husband noticed first — not because the food was different but because I'd stopped complaining about how cooking felt. Friends started asking what I was using. I started bottling and giving small jars away.

Two things converged. The first was that I kept meeting people in the same situation. Other women in their forties with IBS diagnoses. Friends with autoimmune conditions navigating elimination diets. Colleagues whose teenage children had food sensitivities they didn't quite understand yet. Every one of them had the same complaint about the existing products — bland, expensive, untrustworthy on labels. The second was that my own confidence in my blends had grown. After two years of cooking with them, I knew they worked. Not just for my body — for guests, for casual cooking, for the kinds of meals I used to make with garlic and onion. So I started stellaVie. Headquartered in Zürich. Built around blends that name every ingredient, use no garlic or onion, and don't pretend to be anything they aren't.

stellaVie is not a wellness brand. I don't make medical claims about my blends. I don't pretend they cure anything. I don't position them as therapy. What stellaVie is, is a culinary brand for people who happen to need to be careful with what they eat. The food comes first. The sensitivities are real and respected — but they're not the centre of the story. The centre of the story is flavour, pleasure, the table, and the kind of cooking that makes you forget you're managing anything.

The name comes from the French expression c'est la vie, usually translated as "such is life" with a shrug of resignation. stellaVie flips it. Where c'est la vie implies giving in to circumstance, stellaVie implies leaning in. The good in life — including the part where you cook dinner and feel good after.

Welcome.

— Candace, founder