gluten free familyA mum's blog about gluten-free living in Australia

Anaphylaxis Australia recently asked restaurants in this country to move beyond their ‘fear’ of people with food allergies and “address the risk it posed to a growing number of Australians”.

It says six per cent of children, and four per cent of adults, live with a lethal allergy to common foods or ingredients such as shellfish and nuts, and most fatalities occur while they are dining out.

The organisation said the key was to incorporate food preparation processes that would not enable cross-contamination, and to train staff to ensure they were aware of the risks and transparency in the menu, and be familiar with procedures for dealing with allergic customers.

It struck me that while anaphylaxis prevention must undoubtedly be at the very top of a restrateurs priority list – many of these sorts of measures could also help coeliac sufferers who can also experience very severe responses to cross contamination of common cooking ingredients.

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found at Aldi

Price is always an issue when it comes to gluten free goods so it would be pretty great news if discount supermarket chain Aldi picked up some gluten free product lines in a serious way.

With this in mind I had a search around Aldi at Top Ryde last weekend but all I turned up were a couple of Freedom-brand cereals.

However the good news is that a friend of Lucy’s (my co-blogger) has had more luck. The products in the picture were found in an Aldi in Sydney’s inner west.

According to the person who found them, this gravy mix and tin of spagetti were the only gluten free products in the store – but the unique packaging of these products leads me to wonder if there may be more to come… Read the rest of this entry »

gluten free travel

I am jetting off to the UK this very weekend, so it seems timely that I should talk about travel for the gluten free.

The first time we flew long haul we naively booked a gluten free meal for me and my son. We were treated to a fruit platter at every single meal. Guess what was for pudding? Yes – more fruit!

It was starvation provoking torture. Fortunately for us – we can bend a little on occasions such as these – and now we just have the normal meal, and just eat around the gluten (eating only the rice on the plate and salads, just to get a bit of savoury on the palate).

Those needing to manage allergies and coeliac disease do not have this luxury owing to the every present threat of cross contamination. So what can you do?

My advice is to book the gluten free meal, and ask the airline what that meal will comprise. (Don’t forget to reconfirm your dietary needs just before the flight and if you are coeliac ensure treatment is included in your travel insurance). Read the rest of this entry »

It can be a complicated world out there for the gluten intolerant.

On top of not being able to eat wheat, many of us must avoid other stuff too, and the most common “poisons” seem to include soy, dairy and yeast.

Soy is one of the more controversial of these ingredients – and recently someone wrote in to chide us for ‘promoting’ soy products on our blog.

They claimed soy was far less healthy than the food business would have us believe.

Yet another wrote in to defend soy, saying that without it, many breads and pastries would be rendered inedible.

I must admit to being a fence sitter on this particular issue. I think people must make their own decisions when it comes to what they can and cannot tolerate.

As I personally don’t know for sure whether soy, yeast or dairy are healthy or unhealthy for the general population, I’ll have to stay on that fence for the time being. Read the rest of this entry »

Lemon meringue pie has always had a strange magnetic pull on me.

When I heard that it was one of the specialties of the house at gluten free bakery, Healthy Feast in Sydney’s Leichardt, a visit was inevitable.

So last weekend I strapped the bicycles to the back of the car – the plan was to have a gluten free picnic in the park followed by some hardcore pedalling – and off we went.

You can see what we bought in the picture. The lamingtons and lemon meringue pies were amazing. The former tasted just like the gluten-based variety and the latter even better. Read the rest of this entry »

Psssst, all you gluten free folks in Melbourne busily planning your day out at the Irrisistable Gluten Free show on October 2-3, we have some free double passes to give away (value of $40 – so a decent saving). [UPDATE: COMPETITION NOW CLOSED]

For the unitiated, the show is being held at the Melbourne Convention Centre and will feature loads of food stands, educational sessions and live gluten free cooking demos.

I think we have made it pretty clear how much we love gluten free food fests here on the GFF blog. They are where we catch up on all the hot new products and sample fairly large quantities of cake. We also try to sit in on the many interesting talks from nutrition and lifestyle experts.

Grownups will have to pay $20 for entry to the show and it will cost $15 for kids aged 12-16. Family tickets are also available for $50 – that is unless you enter our competition and win a free double pass.

All you have to do is email us at mail@glutenfreefamily.com.au with the name of the show in the subject bar. The first five replies will win a double pass each which we will post out to you.

Don’t be jealous Sydneysiders. On November 20 – 21  the Irresistible Gluten Free Food Show will take the floor at the Royal Hall of Industies, Moore Park. the Sydney Convention & Exhibition Centre in Darling Harbour.

LH

Worldwide studies are showing Coeliac disease is four times as prevalent than just 30 years ago – and it’s not just down to better diagnosis.

The numbers themselves don’t surprise me. What did surprise me was that researchers found the rise isn’t down to awareness and better diagnostic tools according to Medscape Today.

Many of the researchers are analysing samples taken from people many years ago using modern techniques and are finding a true underlying increase.

A study by Mayo Clinic researchers, for instance, found that the prevalence of coeliac – now at 1 in 100 – was not mirrored in a test of blood samples from the 1950s. Read the rest of this entry »

One of the tough parts of being a blogger is reviewing products.

This week we were really put through our paces, chomping our way through a feast of bakery goods, this time dispatched our way from Melbourne bakery, Silly Yaks.

Baguettes, rolls, loaves (fruit and plain) pies (savoury and sweet), sausage and vege rolls, nocchi, quiche, pizza bases; I’ve tasted most of these things over the past seven days and I must say it has been rather a pleasure.

The whole family enjoyed the fruit loaf at breakfast time and the rolls and baguettes were handy to grab from the freezer when we needed them.

The tomato/chilli nocchi made a very nice lunch for two, and I also sneaked a yummy sausage roll when no-one was looking.

But the highlight had to be the pies – both large and little. They have tasty, tender pastry that contains a variety of ingredients such as rice, soy, tapioca and maize flour. Read the rest of this entry »

Chia seeds

Now many of us have been forced to look beyond wheat as a source of nutrition, attention has begun to shift to some of the ancient grains of our ancestors.

They don’t just look wholesome – but actually contain higher levels of protein and fibre than more traditional gluten free staples such as rice, corn and potato, which could mean a healthier and more balanced diet for those of us who have sworn off gluten for life.  Here are a few that have caught our eye in recent times.

Chia

Chia seeds are popping up in a wider range of gluten free goods, so we thought it might be time to take a closer look at this grain.

The Lifestyle bakery has had great success with its award-winning chia loaf and breadmaker Dovedale has also released a number of breads and other chia-based goodies.

Dovedale says chia’s origins date back to Central American civilisations and “improves human nutrition by providing the richest natural source of Omega 3, antioxidants and dietary fibre”.

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