The effect of adding bacterial cellulose (BC) to gelatin was investigated. Structural and morphological information from the resulting composite materials was obtained from powder X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy and 2D Raman imaging, revealing an in-homogeneous dispersion of BC within the gelatin matrix. The optical properties of the composite materials were investigated by UV-visible spectrophotometry. The results showed that by adding 10 wt.% BC to gelatin, visible transparency was reduced by similar to 35 % and UV opacity was increased by similar to 40 %, compared to gelatin. For the first time, the molecular interaction between gelatin and BC was investigated by Raman spectroscopy showing that it is a relevant tool to quantify the micromechanical interfacial interaction between gelatin and BC.