Archive | August, 2013

Torbay Gluten Free Food Fair

26 Aug

The Torbay Coeliac UK Voluntary Support Group are holding a food fair on 7th September.  The event will be held at the Riviera International Centre in Chestnut Avenue, Torquay and will run from 10:30am until 2:30pm.  You will find the food fair in the Grace Murrell Suite, which has its own entrance at the far end of the car park.  If you buy anything at the cafe they will refund your car parking fee.

Local producers will be joined by national brands such as Newburn Bakehouse, Glutafin and Juvela.  There will be plenty of bite size samples available, and Glutafin and Juvela will also be giving out free goodie bags.  The will be a question and answer session with a dietitian and Coeliac UK will also be present so a great chance to get information with anything you may be struggling with.  Activities for children are also being put on.

There are still places available for exhibitors, with tables priced at £25 for a 4 foot table and £35 for a 6 foot table.  Exhibitors will be asked to sign a gluten free declaration, to ensure the safety of members.  Anyone requiring more information can contact Torquay Group Organiser Wendy Smeaton on 01803 616737. The group are hoping to attract 150-200 people on the day, and the following stall holders and activities have been confirmed:

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I know Wendy and her fellow committee members have spent a lot of time and effort putting this event together, and I really hope that the event is a success.  So please pop by and support the food fair if you are able to.  Wendy is keen to put on similar events in the future if this one is well attended.

Kevin, Gluten Free by the Sea.

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Gluten Free by the Sea is One Year Old!

5 Aug

Unbelievably today is the first birthday of this blog.  On the 5th August 2012 readers were welcomed to Gluten Free by the Sea by this post, and how quickly a year has flown by!  I set out with a mantra that if I could help even one person, then the work put into the blog would be worthwhile.  I’d like to think I’ve achieved that aim and hopefully a few more along the way.

GlutenFreeByTheSea

Before launching Gluten Free by the Sea I’d not done anything like this before.  I’ve always been a person who has shied away for the limelight, so blogging and putting myself out there has been a completely alien concept to me really.  However, I’ve really enjoyed writing about my experiences over the last year and the feedback from readers has been very rewarding to be honest.  I didn’t think many people would be that interested in what I have to say, but a year on and I still find it utterly astonishing that there have been nearly 37,000 page views in that time.  I’d just like to give a huge thank you to everyone who has read and shared my posts over the last twelve months.

Here’s a little round up of the last year on Gluten Free by the Sea, with the most viewed post in each month:

TetleyGreenAugust 2012: Warning, Tetley Green Tea!  My first month started strongly with a lot of interest in my round-up of some great gluten free eateries in London.  However my month was disrupted by a mystery glutening which was eventually traced to Tetley Green Tea.  My follow up communications and subsequent blog post caused some shock amongst the GF community and has now been viewed over 2500 times.

potatoesSeptember 2012: My Coeliac Journey – One Year On.  My story.  I was terribly nervous about posting such a deeply personal post on Gluten Free by the Sea.  There were things in here which I hadn’t even told my family.  I found it emotional to write but at the same time very therapeutic.  The comments that I received on this post made me so glad I had written it, fantastic feedback.

SeabrookOctober 2012: Gluten Free Labelling Removed from Seabrook’s Crisps.  Despite the fact that October saw the launch of the first of a glut of gluten free pizza launches from Pizza Hut, it is actually my post about Seabrook crisps removing gluten free labelling that is my most viewed post from the month. The post has now been viewed over 1100 times, and helped persuade Seabrook to promise to review the decision.

DominosGFNovember 2012: Domino’s Gluten Free Pizza Review.  Well gluten free pizza may have been outshone in October, but November was a different story.  The launch of the Domino’s GF base really caught the imagination of the coeliac and gluten free community.  To date this post is my most viewed with over 7500 hits!

CadburysTreeChocDecember 2012: A Gluten Free Christmas.  Perhaps unsurprisingly the most popular post in December was Christmas themed.  This post was a round-up of tips for making sure coeliacs didn’t miss out on all the trimmings with Christmas dinner and all the other indulgences that make that time of the year.

Kev_AbbyJanuary 2013: Living With Coeliac Disease.  Many people had been asking me for tips and advice, so I thought it would be good to put together my guide for living with coeliac disease.  This post was aimed at helping those newly diagnosed with coeliac disease and those struggling to adjust.

EggbucklandChipShopFebruary 2013: Gluten Free Fish and Chips!  Excitement ensued in the Plymouth gluten free community after my childhood chippy at Eggbuckland announced they were launching a monthly 100% gluten free night after receiving training from Coeliac UK.

Prawn CocktailMarch 2013: Seabrook’s to Restore Gluten Free Labelling. A second month of most views for a Seabrook post, and this time their announcement to make their entire range gluten free and restore GF labelling.  A very proud moment for me and the coeliac community, showing what can be done if enough of us question companies.

SimplyMoorishApril 2013: Simply Moorish. A quiet month on the blog, meant my review of local producer Simply Moorish was the most viewed post.  I could just eat one of their muffins right now!  It’s been great to build relationships like this with local businesses.

GFPizzaMay 2013: Pizza Express Gluten Free Review.  A lot of posts in May for Gut Feeling Week, including some great guest posts on diagnosis.  Most viewed post in May though was a review of the new gluten free offerings form Pizza Express.  Coeliacs really do like to read about GF pizza!

StMauriceBakeryJune 2013: St Maurice Bakery.  Slightly surprisingly my review of a local bakery in Plymouth which makes gluten free pasties and cakes has out performed my review of the Allergy and Free From Show 2013.  It’s actually quite satisfying to see something Plymouth focussed getting more views  than something with more national appeal.  The blog is Plymouth focussed after all, but naturally it is the posts with wider appeal that get many more views.

samplesJuly 2013: ilumi Review.  Most viewed post last month was my review of the gluten, nut and dairy free ready meals from ilumi.  These meals are certainly causing waves amongst the gluten free world at the moment, and I can see why.

Overall it’s been a fantastic year.  I’ve built up relationships with many local suppliers, producers and restaurants and also extended Gluten Free by the Sea by launching a complimentary Facebook page.  Through Facebook I’ve also received many recommendations for eating out in Plymouth and the surrounding area.  So I’d just like to give another huge thank you to everyone who has supported Gluten Free by the Sea this year, and I hope the next year is equally successful.

Kevin, Gluten Free by the Sea

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Deli Divine Review

1 Aug

Deli Divine have recently celebrated a year of selling a wide range of gluten free products on-line at http://www.delidivine.co.uk.  What better way to celebrate than by opening a gluten free shop!  I was invited to the opening of the shop in Netley, near Southampton, but was unfortunately unable to attend.  Fortunately for me I was very kindly offered a sample box of products.

Samples

There were some fantastic products amongst the samples.  CELIA Lager and Frank bars were familiar to me along with Foodamentalists pork pie, a Sconeybun from Honeybuns bakery and some cookies from Knead bakery.  Also included were a ham and cheese panini from Freedom Deli, and a gourmet lasagne from Lifestyle Cuisine, both of which were great.

Some of the stand put products for me included the extremely tasty Hotch Potch Eggs, which were scotch eggs with no egg!  Instead of egg they were stuffed with things such as roasted pepper, apricot and olive.  Really different and it worked really well.  My first taste of Glamour Puds was a positive one, the hot chocolate fudge pud was extremely moist and delicious.  Le Pain des fleurs chestnut crispbread was by the far the best gluten free crispbread I’ve tasted, and topped with lashings of Nutella it was something else!

lasagne_packagingglamour_pudcrisp_bread

Deli Divine aim to be a place where you can buy all the best gluten free products in one place.  Judging by the samples they seem to be doing a great job at this.  I also note they sell my favourite pasties and pies from Baked to Taste.  Although I was unable to make the shop in person, fellow coeliac Elizabeth Sargent who lives in Southampton kindly agreed to do a write up for Gluten Free by the Sea.  Many thanks to Elizabeth.  It seems the people who live near the shop are very lucky, and I am extremely jealous.  I am sure I will be ordering on-line in future though.

Elizabeth’s Review:

Shop_FrontLast week I had the pleasure of checking out the newly opened Deli Divine store in Netley. The name may sound familiar to some of you as the online shop http://www.delidivine.co.uk has been open for over a year now.

My first thought upon entrance was: “Wow, treasure trove!”  The shelves were stacked with gluten free sauces, mixes, crackers, and chocolates, and 3 chest freezers were full to bursting with savoury and sweet delights.

Freezers

I recognised some of the brand names, but many items were completely new to me. Debra, the founder of Deli Divine, explained that many of her items are locally sourced. I was excited to see so much selection from in and around Hampshire!

I’m a sucker for sauces, so I spent the first little while browsing jars of mustard, marinade, and hot sauce. I’m always nervous when purchasing these items in bigger stores, with ambiguous “starch” ingredients popping up all over the place, but Debra assured me that every single item in her shop (except one jar of mustard) is gluten free.

Shelves

As you might imagine, I made out with quite a good haul!

Haul

I’ve only made it through a handful of my items so far, but I whole-heartedly can recommend what I have had.  If you’re someone who likes spice, the South Devon Chili Farm range is amazing. I loved their chilli chocolate, and the habanero hot sauce went perfect with nachos at the weekend.  My favourite item so far has been MAN•MEAT•FIRE®’s hot ginger sauce. It is delightfully spicy sweet. Debra mentioned that it is great on ice cream, but I have yet to try that. The Les Pains des Fluers quinoa crispbread is also pretty amazing and went well with the Smoked Godminster I picked up.

The only negative I could possibly think of is that the shop is a bit hard to get to if you don’t have a car. Fortunately everything is available to order for delivery anyways, so it’s not much of a setback!

My only regret is not bringing along a cool box. I was leaving straight from the shop for a weekend away, so had to woefully leave behind all the frozen goodies. I’ll certainly be stocking up on those during future trips.

Also, if you haven’t yet tried Glamour Puds, do so! They were so good, I couldn’t even allow myself enough time to snap a photo before digging in. Gluten free delight!

Pud

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