Being an informed gluten-free consumer is the best way to affect change in your gluten-free shopping and dining options. With more companies than we can count jumping on the gluten-free bandwagon lately, it’s important that we not assume everyone knows what they are doing. I’m all for any company trying to make money in our market if they go about it the right way. It seems like more and more companies are competing for our business these days and that’s as it should be. However, not every company and restaurant knows what they are doing in terms of providing safe options for gluten-free consumers.
In the Atlanta area, we’ve had restaurants say they had gluten-free pizza and pasta that in fact, were not actually gluten-free. One pasta company started selling gluten-free pasta that was made with a blend of buckwheat flour AND semolina wheat flour. The restaurants buying the pasta had no idea it wasn’t actually gluten-free until it was too late. When a local pizza joint contacted me to ask that I try their gluten-free pizza, the manager actually didn’t know gluten could be in sauce or toppings like sausages. The pizza place got into the gluten-free pizza game because a restaurant distributor salesperson told the manager about gluten-free pizza crust. The manager was clearly taken aback as I inquired about toppings, dressing, and sauces. She actually said, “gluten is only in bread items, right?”. Wrong. The good news is that the pasta place did bring in truly gluten-free pasta and the pizza joint got informed eventually.
Because I love using normal recipes and just modifying them to be gluten-free I often check mainstream recipes websites for interesting dishes. Over at Recipe Zaar, I tend to use “normal” recipes, but they have a decent selection of gluten-free recipes on the site. Everyone I’ve checked out has indeed been gluten-free, though I didn’t review them all. Yahoo often lists recipes so recently, I decided to search “gluten-free” there to see what popped up. Almost 400 recipes appeared, but four out of five (that I checked) all called for wheat flour. None of the recipes seemed to give gluten-free ingredient modifications so it’s unclear why they popped up in the search at all.
Some companies that are trying to cater to our market mess up so it’s helpful for us to help them improve things when possible. While many companies or people that run them might not listen, it’s worth a try to help them out. If we’re successful in our efforts, we’re not only helping the company, we’re helping ourselves and the gluten-free community at large. If people go out to eat and get sick from a so-called gluten-free meal, it’s fine to share that news with others. It’s even more helpful to let the restaurant that messed up know what happened. The restaurant can not improve things if they don’t know they did anything wrong.
When restaurants try to offer special gluten-free menu items like bread or pasta, we owe them our gratitude. If the products they choose to serve are not very good, the manager (or owner) usually appreciates knowing how they can make better choices going forward. When gluten-free consumers give constructive criticism to companies trying to cater to our market, they will likely affect those options in a positive way going forward. Chef “ABC” has no way of knowing that all gluten-free pasta are not created equal, for example.
The FDA clearly isn’t concerned about ruling on a gluten-free labeling law any time soon. Therefore, more and more companies are going to jump on the gluten-free gravy train. Some food companies and restaurants will get it right and others will try to make a fast buck on what they assume is a trendy diet that will eventually fade away. It’s up to gluten-free consumers to make a difference in the market. I’m not sure who said it, but one of my favorite sayings is “be part of the change you want to see in the world”. That idea can totally apply to the gluten-free market.
In the Atlanta area, gluten-free consumers yield a lot of power due to the large size of the gluten-free community. Unfortunately, most smaller areas are not in the same boat. I hear from people from all over who can’t buy a gluten-free cookie, cracker, bagel, or loaf of bread (inedible or otherwise) where they live. However, things are improving in some unexpected places. Recently, Three Guys from New York pizza in Tallahassee, FL began serving both gluten-free pizza (same crust as zpizza) and beer. The company does not have a website but can be found through Trip Advisor. Bard’s Tale beer is currently selling at the pizza joint for only $3. Now that is something to celebrate!
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