By Zach

Here we go, gluten-free eaters. There’s another company trying to make a rift and a ruckus in the gluten-sensitive community, and it’s name brand is Wegmans Food Markets. Alright alright, all joking aside, I just want to state as a disclaimer that this post is simply an informative news report about a new “gluten-free” line of foods at Wegmans. Wegman’s has informed Triumph Dining that all gluten-free mixes and gluten-free pastas are being produced in dedicated gluten free facilities. They also mentioned that “gluten-free ingredients are investigated and verified, including processing aids and incidental additives and manufacturing environment, processing, scheduling, and  also that good manufacturing practices are evaluated for the potential for cross contact/cross contamination with gluten.”

Since the Domino’s Pizza gluten-free crust didn’t go over very well with a lot of you, this may not please everyone either, but we feel compelled to bring you up to speed whether you love it or hate it.

Without further ado, Wegmans Food Market, a Northeastern grocery chain with about 80 stores, has just announced that in honor of National Celiac Disease Awareness Month they have introduced, what they’re calling, four new gluten-free favorites into their stores. One of these is their corn-based pastas, which supposedly have an appetizing texture and hardly tastes any different than regular pasta. As an added bonus, shoppers can download a dollar-off coupon for the pasta from the Wegmans’ website. All four family favorites are Wegmans’ own brand and include:

• Gluten-free spaghetti, fusilli, penne and elbows, in one-pound boxes that sell for $2.49.

• A vanilla cake mix and chocolate cake mix. Each mix makes one 8-inch round cake layer and sells for $3.49.

• A gluten-free sugar cookie mix, which sells for $3.49 and makes 22 cookies.

• A double chocolate brownie mix for $3.49 that makes one 8-inch square pan of brownies.

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Amid all the hubbub about Domino’s gluten-free (but not celiac-safe) pizza, another very exciting gluten-free offering seems to have gotten a bit lost.

If you’re in Minnesota and have a child, you can now go to Chuck E. Cheese’s and enjoy a celiac-safe gluten-free pizza and gluten-free chocolate cupcake. Hearteningly, Chuck E. Cheese’s is going to extreme effort to ensure that these menu options are safe and uncontaminated.

As the press release explains, “the personal cheese pizza, manufactured by USDA/FDA-approved, gluten-free facility Conte’s Pasta, will arrive to stores in frozen, pre-sealed packaging. The bake-in-bag pizza will remain sealed while cooked and delivered and until opened and served with a personal pizza cutter at families’ tables by the adult in charge.”

There are also single-serving, pre-sealed chocolate fudge cupcakes from Fabe’s All Natural Bakery. You can see both options in the video above, and both are made by GFCO-certified companies.

Kudos to Chuck E. Cheese’s for going above and beyond to ensure a safe experience for all gluten-free children (in Minnesota). As with other test markets, if this one goes well we can expect to see more Chuck E. Cheese locations around the country offering gluten-free pizza and  cupcakes.

Have you tried the pizza? How was it?

By Zach

Let’s see what’s on the gluten-free dinner table this evening: maybe it’ll be rice noodle spaghetti and meatballs, or maybe a zesty quinoa salad with chicken, or perhaps…a half veggie, half sausage gluten-free crusted pizza from Domino’s! Wouldn’t that be exhilarating? Well, now you can have your own whack at any kind of pie from Domino’s now that they have gone on the record to claim that their glutenless crust is “appropriate for those with mild gluten sensitivity,” however, it is not suggested for people with Celiac Disease – discouraging we know.

Before we get your hopes too high, yes, of course, there’s always some kind of catch or folly with such good news as this. I’m sure this progressive step for the pizza industry isn’t as piquant to those who don’t get to reap the benefits, rather it just keeps you a bit cynical and on the edge. The fact that Domino’s only recommends this new concoction to people with mild gluten sensitivity almost nullifies half the gluten intolerant demographic.

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By Lea

Hello everyone, Lea here. I’m glad to be back for my second blog post, this time to discuss some fabulous desserts. Shabtai Gourmet Gluten-Free Bakery kindly sent us some samples of their Ring Tings, Swiss Rolls and Black & White Cookies, and we enjoyed them to the last crumb (literally). They did not even last two days on the break room table. Shabtai is certainly doing something right.

All of Shabtai Gourmet’s products are gluten-free, lactose-free, soy-free, peanut-free, casein-free & dairy-free, and created in a completely allergen-free facility to boot. To use their words: “Shabtai has brought a fresh and exciting new approach to allergen free baking. Shabtai and his family owned bakery has grown over the years, yet has never lost its old world out of this world taste.” Not only are they free of all these allergens, they are also certified Kosher for Passover and Kosher Parve by the OK Kosher Supervision.

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WOW Baking Company turned me on to gluten-free morsels within one bite of trying their cookies. This is a bold statement, but one I am proudly willing to make. I was ordering coffee at a local shop in Seattle and had a sugary craving that refused to cease. After glancing over at the cookie selection and seeing the giant, fluffy WOW Cookies, I could not resist putting my taste buds to the test. This experiment would prove to permanently change my perception of gluten-free sweets (and cuisine, in general).

Using premium, all natural ingredients and baking their products in small batches, the Pacific Northwest-based company has re-defined the taste of a gluten-free treat. They pride themselves on always using real butter, vanilla, and organic cane juice and never using hydrogenated oils, refined sugars, artificial flavors or (of course) wheat and gluten. It seems as if they realized that the gluten-free community was sick and tired of saying, “This is really good for being gluten-free.” They aimed to discover a way to produce postprandial thoughts that left out the “for being gluten-free” and succeeded admirably as WOW products are just plain good (period).

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Exciting news from our friends at Hidden Valley!

Coming soon to a store near you, there’s going to be one fewer thing hiding in your shopping cart. According to this press release, those salad dressings and mixes which are gluten-free will be clearly labeled as such thanks to new packaging.

This isn’t a reformulation of any products – neither ingredients nor manufacturing practices are changing – but a, “stronger and clearer assurance to the growing number of people who are seeking gluten-free products.” While the new packaging will be rolled out shortly, you might not see it in your local store for a while. This is OK; any of their products that have traditionally been gluten-free (but unlabeled) will still be safe.

The new labels will include a yellow and green icon like the one in the image here.
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By Zach

What if we were to tell you that gluten-free is no longer just a rising demand in the food industry, but one that is tiptoeing its way into the $1 billion cosmetic industry as well? Well, its true. Just like nutrition enthusiasts demand more detailed descriptions about nutrition facts and ingredients, “A growing number of people are demanding the same thing of their cosmetics,” says Kristi Krueger of Local 10 news in Florida.

Gluten-free consumers are now requesting everything from lotions to lipstick to be labeled in a more easy-to-read fashion for their own health benefits. Although gluten-free makeup and skin care products certainly aren’t as much of a hot topic as gluten-free foods, there has certainly been measures taken to cater to customers who are sensitive to gluten-containing beauty products. Research in this area is still in its cocoon stage, but companies like Afterglow Cosmetics and Jane Iredale are definitely responding to their clientele’s wishes.

As one can understand, people who don’t want any kind of gluten in their food are just as likely to not want it anywhere on their skin. Some of the hottest beauty products today are those that are guaranteeing wheat-free and gluten-free products on the shelves. Lipstick is a huge concern for customers who are severely intolerant to gluten as lipstick has the likelihood of becoming ingested, in turn being dangerous to the individual. The same concept can be applied to toothpaste, gum or any other items that can ultimately be harmful if swallowed due to traces of gluten.

On the other hand, it should be noted, that not every skin irritation from beauty products like makeup and moisturizers are caused by gluten ingredients. Dr. Mark Nester, a dermatologist from Skin and Cancer Associates, suggests that other ingredients such as formaldehyde and silicone are also standard causes of rashes and break outs, as well as the common mistake of using expired cosmetics.

Of course, there’s always going to be those skeptical people out there that think the gluten-free phenomena is just going to be another way for a billion-dollar industry to take advantage of people’s hypochondria, but there really seems to be a serious need for people with gluten intolerance to feel fairly treated and not ostracized due to their genetics. So for all you advocates of gluten-free cosmetics and clearer labeling of ingredients, demand your gluten-free makeup and be proud of your own genetic makeup!

By Bridget (with the help of Liberty Morris)

It can sometimes seem that gluten is lurking in every food. From soy sauce to lime flavored tortilla chips, it’s hard to always be sure what constitutes a “safe” food. Sadly, Celiac’s have to be watchful of the mints and gums they reach for, as many of them contain malodextrin, a sugar enzymatically derived from starch, often from wheat. Apart from the gluten contents, most gums are wrought with artificial sweeteners, such as aspartame, which are potentially carcinogenic, or sugars that can lead to painful tooth-decay.

Fortunately for gluten-free gum lovers, Glee Gum is a flavor-filled chewing gum that is additive-free, lactose-free, and, most importantly, gluten-free! The gum is all-natural, meaning that there is minimal processing, no chemical pesticides or food additives, and free of artificial sugar substitutes! The gum offers tons of different flavors, from cinnamon and peppermint to bubble gum (which tastes like bazooka bubble gum!) and sugar-free lemon-lime! The gum is made with ingredients including cane sugar, rice syrup, and chicle, a naturally harvested material that gives gum its chewy texture, rather than synthetic materials that can contain gluten!

What makes this gum even more appealing is that it is 100% kid approved (which, as all gluten-free eaters know, that’s hard to come by!). Ten year old Liberty Morris, a best-selling children’s book author (Paris Goes to San Francisco), tried a variety of Glee Gum’s flavors and gave the stamp of satisfaction, celebrating the lemon-lime sugar-free Glee Gum as one of her favorites. Liberty was amazed by the mixture of the lemon and lime and said that the gum was “indescribably good”.

If you’ve been avoiding gum for fear of the gluten content, here are some reasons to chew on that might make you want to try out Glee Gum:

• Chewing gum while peeling and cutting onions can actually help you from tearing up
• Studies have found that when people chew gum they have an easier time concentrating, reducing muscle tension and increasing alertness!
• Chewing sugar-free gum burns about 11 calories an hour.
• To keep your ears from popping on an airplane, chew gum to stimulate your salivary glands (you’ll produce 250% more saliva!), causing you to swallow more and reducing pressure in your head.
• Researchers have found that chewing gum after you eat may help prevent heartburn!

By Zach

No matter what diet, eating habit, or culture someone studies, there’s usually some type of sweet that can either bring people together, compliment a nice meal or just satisfy one’s sweet tooth. Looking at treats in this light makes the craving for sugary substances almost seem innate, and just because one has been diagnosed with Celiac disease or obeys a gluten-free lifestyle doesn’t mean their mouth waters any less or their eyes don’t dilate when a succulent batch of cookies shows up on the table or cake is served at a special occasion.

It is in this realm of no-touching torment that bakeries like Illinois’ Deerfield Bakery have risen to the calling to provide gluten-free eaters the opportunity to indulge in their saliva-inducing desserts or eye-bulging treats. Deerfield Bakery’s gluten-free menu contains a piquant spectrum of saccharine goodies and wholesome grains that can certainly excite gluten-sensitive consumers.

“Day Dreams are the real deal,” as printed on their menu, “dreamy white chocolate chip and chocolate chips nestled in a brownie cookie.” Honest to goodness, they are the real deal. The melting of fresh chocolate combined with the soft cookie dough is truly a batch made in heaven. Mouth watering yet? Their Lemon Buttons are made with fresh lemons and drizzled with rich lemon icing. The cookie’s flavor has a great zing to it – not as pungent as most lemon bars, but still confidently zesty.

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I think I may have mentioned this one or twenty times in the past: I love it when people send me delicious things in the mail. Especially when I’ve forgotten that said delicious thing is on its way, and so one day a package just arrives with my name on it.

The most recent example? Baba Joon’s Chocolate Chewies. Yum. This photo of the bag doesn’t really do them justice, but also I ate them too quickly to get a decent photograph. Sorry folks.

So: what is a Baba Joon? What are Chocolate Chewies?