Monthly Archives: January 2012

As of last week, gluten-free labeling in the UK underwent a big shift.

The laws were decided a few years ago, and are set to coincide with the international Codex Alimentarius standards. What’s notable now is that the grace period is over: all food sold in the UK (England, Norhern Ireland, Scotland and Wales) is now officially bound to these standards. So, if you’re traveling through the UK or eating foods that were made/packaged there, this is news you’ll want to be aware of.

To me, the most exciting part of the regulations is that they apply not just to pre-packaged food, but also to restaurants, caterers, etc. And what are the regulations?

As always, read on:
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When I found out that Jovial Foods would be sending me a box of samples, I was pretty psyched.

I first learned about the company through a contest they ran, with maybe the best grand prize ever: a week in a villa outside Lucca, Italy, learning about pasta from Jovial’s artisans and taking cooking classes with the Gluten Free Girl and her husband, the Chef (note: the winners have been announced, but there are spaces open for other people to join the adventure).

Jovial Foods is one of those companies that hits all the right marks: their gluten-free products are

• certified gluten-free by the Gluten Intolerance Group
• made in Italy on traditional bronze dies
• packaged sustainably

Plus, I’d heard the pasta cooked up phenomenally. When I opened the package, there were gluten-free cookies in it along with the pasta.

My cup, it runneth over.
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Well, the holidays are incontestably over for this year. Some of you are no doubt breathing a sigh of relief: an empty (emptier) social calendar, fewer guests and less traveling, no more Christmas music at-all-times-everywhere….

But some of you, equally doubtlessly, have a case of the post-holiday blues — to which I’d like to suggest a cure of a different color: orange.

While the holiday season is over, clementine season is in full swing. These tiny little oranges, originally a Spanish cross between the mandarin and Seville breeds, are one of my favorite bright lights when I have a case of winter doldrums. Not only are they extremely high in vitamin C (just one can contain up to half a day’s RDA, according to Cooking Light), but they lend themselves to a variety of tasty, gluten-free recipes — if you can just resist eating them straight from the crate.
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mass spectrometry looks pretty neat, no?

Hot on the heels of last week’s gluten-free beer news, an interesting study on the gluten found in normal beer.

If you open your ears to the chatter, you’ll hear lots of different theories on gluten in beer. Some people will tell you that most “regular” beers are safe, because the gluten has been fermented away. Some people will tell you only light beers are safe. Others will tell you only those beers that are specifically labeled gluten-free and created from grains other than wheat/barley/rye/oat are safe.

What gives? Why is it so hard to get a straight answer, and — more to the point — what can we drink and what can’t we?

Read on, gentle reader, read on. Let me warn you, first, to manage your expectations: there’s no list of “safe” “regular” beers at the end of this post.
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