Tag Archives: gluten free food

The Allergy and Free From Show 2014

8 Jul

2014-07-03 21.11.07Yesterday was my first full day back in Plymouth following a great trip to London for the The Allergy and Free From Show 2014.  The show was held at London Olympia, as it was last year, but this year it moved to the larger Grand Hall following some overcrowding at the previous show.  I set off from Plymouth on Thursday afternoon to meet my wife, Abby, who was travelling back from working in France.  I met her at Kings Cross which gave us chance to pop round the corner and visit the Kings Cross branch of Honest Burgers.  Amazing burger as always, and washed down with a gluten free beer.

We had decided to visit the show on Friday this year, in the hope that it would be a bit quieter than the previous year when we’d visited on Saturday and it was carnage.  We arrived at 10:20, expecting to join a long queue but were pleasantly surprised to find the doors had opened a little early and we were able to walk straight in.  On entry we were given a guide book, along with a bag and a pack of toaster pastries from this years sponsors Udi’s Gluten Free.

2014-07-04 10.39.16Our first stop was of course to see friends Ann and Steve on the always colourful Perkier Foods stand.  It was good to see them before it got busy so we had a chance to chat.  The calm before the storm I am sure!  I stocked up on my favourite Rocky Road tubs and golden syrup porridge pots.  Two of my favourites from the Perkier range and of course the ones that Sainsbury’s do not stock.  Here I am pictured with Ann (centre) and Twitter friend Flo Bistrow who I finally met here.

On the way in to the show was a huge Udi’s Gluten Free stand, and they were sampling their new Oreo style cookies and Tiger Bread.  The cookies were delicious but I wasn’t particularly impressed with the tiger bread, which was a little dry.  Maybe I had been a little spoiled on that front by the excellent tiger bread by The Wheat Free Bakery that I had managed to get my hands on at Clare’s Gluten Free in Plymouth recently.

2014-07-04 10.57.43Next I had a chat with Peggy from Glamour Puds.  We’d spoken on Facebook a couple of times when Glamour Puds was just launching so it was good to be able to put a face to the name.  It was also good to be able to have a taste of these puds again as I was extremely impressed on the previous occasion that I’d managed to try one.  Thanks to Peggy who gave me a few freebies to take away.  The good news is that these puds are now available in the chilled section at Tesco so do give them a try.  They are dairy free as well as gluten free.

Much of my time at the show was spent catching up with contacts I had made in the Free From community over the last couple of years.  Between the bigger hall and coming on the quieter day, there was much more opportunity to have a chat with the stall holders this year.  It was good to chat with Nick and Martin of Celia Lager, not to mention stock up on some beers.  Unfortunately getting my hands on 6 beers at the start of the show was a complete school boy error and I should have bought them at the end instead of carrying them around with me all day!

I also enjoyed catching up with Sean on the Live Gluten Free stand, Monika from Fria and Alex and Michelle on the FoodsMatter stand.  In fact I spend pretty much the whole day bumping in to people that I know from Facebook and Twitter land, and this was probably the highlight for me.  Several of us also had a blogger meet up in one of the cafes (oddly filled with non-free from cake).  It always great to meet up with these guys and say hello to old friends and meet some new faces.

To be honest I pretty much avoided the uninspired supermarket stands and also most of the big boys at the show.  Nothing against the likes of Glutafin and Genius, but I’d visited their stands over the last few years and felt a bit like I’d been there and got the T-Shirt this time round.  I preferred to spend my time focussing on the little guys to see what I could find.  Of course there are a lot of people doing very similar things at the show so it can be very hard to stand out.

A few other names to look out for this year:

Kabuto Noodles. A posh pot noodle with brilliant fun Samuria branding, full of flavour and now available in two gluten free varieties.  They hope to get their gluten free pots into supermarkets later this year

No.G. A great range of pastry products including a chicken, bacon and leak pie I sampled at the show. Superb pastry and they will be brining their full range to Sainsbury’s later this year.  Definitely one to watch and the blueberry cheesecake definitely caught my eye

2014-07-04 13.19.36Pudology. They’ve been in Sainsbury’s for a little while now, but ours only has banoffee which is a flavour that doesn’t really appeal to me. However I managed to try the chocolate orange one at the show and it is fantastic! Extremely rich and indulgent and I wouldn’t have guessed it was dairy free

Freego. A new online gluten free shop.  I’ve recently ordered from them and they have lots of unusual GF products that I’d not see before.  I love the product reviews on the website and it’s good to see that this online shop will actually deliver to Plymouth! Gluten Free by the Sea readers can get £10 off their first order of £20 on the site using the code “GFBYSEA10′ (exp 31/09).  It was nice to say hello at the show.

1-2-3 Gluten Free. This one has really excited Abby, as they are based in her home town of Cleveland, Ohio.  Being an American company they do some very traditional recipe mixes such as (American) biscuits and cornbread.  The cake samples made with their mixes were excellent.  They were at the show last year too, but it sounds like they are much closer to a UK launch now.

I also stocked up on some Venice Bakery UK pizza bases, which were the highlight of last years show for me.  I would say they were still one of the highlights this year and it really is a fantastic product that deserves wider availability, and it would indeed be a great product for any of the takeaway pizza chains to use.  It was good to get my hands on some focaccia from the Free From Food Award overall winner Focaccia Per Tutti, and I’m looking forward to tucking in to that.  I also picked up a few packs of the delicious chilli corn chips from Amaizin, really good.

We spent six hours at the show but still think I missed half of it after reading other peoples recommendations on Twitter.  There is so much to see and taste, the show was HUGE this year.  I have been chatting to Abby and I think next year we may do Friday morning and then come back and finish on the Sunday.  I think by the time we did the second half of the show we had tasted so many cakes and crackers it was hard for anyone to stand out and we were too full to even try some brands, and we didn’t give some of the smaller stands the attention they deserved as a result.  I think it will be better if we can have a break in between and come back refreshed and ready to go again.  This approach may also mean we can get away with buying some chilled products if we go home straight from the show.  Just one thing I’d like to point out is that Ocado don’t deliver past Bristol and we don’t have Whole Foods in Plymouth.  The amount of times I heard “we’re available in Ocado” on Friday, the heart sinks a little!

Overall I enjoyed the show a lot more than last year.  There was so much more room and the atmosphere was much more relaxed on the Friday, which was reflected by the fact we spent a whole six hours there.  Great credit to the organisers for responding to last years issues.  We didn’t see any gluten near misses this year with potential cross contamination, though it was a bit worrying that ASDA were giving out unlabelled samples.  I also noted that I did get asked my dietary requirements when asking for samples a lot this year, good to see that more companies were on the ball in that respect.  From a personal point of view, I’m probably getting less out of the stall holders due to my increased knowledge of the producers, and of course the fact I’m lucky enough to be sent samples regularly.  This year I didn’t quite feel like the “kid in a sweet shop” that I did on my first visit, but we’ll still be back next year.  It really was just fantastic to see everyone, and the rest was almost just a bonus.

2014-07-04 21.14.40

Friday evening Abby and I met a few other bloggers and tweeters for a fantastic meal, and not to mention a few cocktails, at Dishoom.  Both Abby and I were really impressed with the food at this Indian street food restaurant.  There was a really good gluten free choice for us, and plenty of veggie options for Abby.  The evening was made complete by great company and great cocktails, we will definitely be going back.

I hope those that visited the show had  a great time with lots of new discoveries.  Please comment below with your favourite finds!  For more photos from the show see my Facebook page.

Kevin, Gluten Free by the Sea

 



 


 

				
Tags: , , , , , , , , 
			


	


		

		


	




			
                



	
	
Kingfisher Fish & Chips Gluten-free Menu

	
		1
		Jul
	

	

	

		
Thanks to a tip off from Coeliac UK Plymouth group member Matt Gifford, I recently discovered that Kingfisher Fish & Chips in Chaddlewood Shopping Centre are now serving gluten free fish and chips every Monday.  With the uncertainty surrounding the sale of Eggbuckland Fish and Chip shop at the time this was very welcome news indeed.  Thankfully the Eggbuckland sale has now been completed and the new owners have confirmed that gluten free nights will continue on the first Monday of every month.


2014-06-30 19.31.57


There are a few other chip shops in Plymouth serving gluten free on various days or indeed daily in some cases: The Chip Stop in Stoke, Honicknowle Fish and Chip Shop, Francine’s in North Prospect and I believe Thank Cod it’s Fryday in Pennycross still serve gluten free too.  The Rock Fish restaurant on the Barbican are also serving gluten free.  I am not sure of the cross contamination controls at any of these restaurants though, so please do you own research if you are going to try them.  Please feel free to comment below if you have tried any of these or indeed own or work at one of them.


I’ve always liked Eggbuckland as their gluten free day is totally GF, so no need to worry about potential cross contamination.  However, with the sale process going through there hasn’t been a gluten free night there for a couple of months (they are back 1st July!), and after seeing a few tweets about Kingfisher after the initial heads up from Matt I decided to investigate a little further.  I noticed that Kingfisher have started to push gluten free quite hard via Twitter now, and I was impressed with the gluten free information on their website.


Kingfisher use a separate fryer which is cleaned prior to being used for GF and loaded with clean oil.  They also state “all other equipment is used solely for the purpose of gluten free to prevent cross contamination”.  Gluten free is served all day on Monday’s with no need for advance warning and is cooked fresh to order.  Batter is made on-site using their regular recipe with gluten free flour.  GF vinegar is also stocked, and no extra is charged for gluten free orders.  Having a wife who works in environmental marine policy I was also very impressed that Kingfisher are very proud of the fact all of the fish is caught sustainably, with the cod, haddock and hake being MSC (Marine Stewardship Council) certified.  They were also finalists in the 2014 National Fish & Chip Awards.


So after reading all this I was sold.  I’d been tweeting owner Craig for a few weeks and let him know I was coming as I was eager to have a chat with him when I got there.  Ironically living by the sea I don’t eat fish so my choice from the gluten free menu was a little limited.  I’d previously mentioned to Craig on Twitter that it would be great to see a battered sausage on the menu, which he was very keen to look into.  The power of Twitter worked it’s magic and before we knew it Craig was in contact with a local company who are dropping off some sample gluten free sausages soon, so which this space.  It would have been good to try the batter, but I often went for chicken and chips in my pre-coeliac days so this was an easy choice.


While my food was being freshly cooked I was able to have a good chat with Craig.  They have been serving gluten free since January after several requests from customers and friends.  They have been working hard to make sure they have the correct procedures in place and increased menu options and are now happy that they can do things properly which is why they’ve started pushing this recently.  Craig actually thinks the gluten free batter gives a crisper result than the normal batter which is a good sign.  It was good to hear Craig’s enthusiasm for gluten free and his desire to make sure things are done properly.  Kingfisher obviously have some happy customers, and one punter that has been going there for 10 years witnessed our conversation and came up to tell us how great everything was!


2014-06-30 19.44.21


Onto the food.  No old school newspaper here, the food is served in a swanky Kingfisher box, and it was reassuring to see a gluten free sticker on top of mine as there were gluten filled fish and chips being cooked in other areas of the shop.  It was obvious that everything had been cooked freshly and it was still pipping hot by the time I had driven home.  The portion size was very large and at £5.75 for chicken and a large portion of chips I had no complaints about the price.  There was apparently lots of other gluten free customers tucking in yesterday too which is good to hear.


2014-06-30 19.44.53


The quality of the food was excellent and I’ll definitely be back again for more.  A friend whose family also tried Kingfisher for the first time yesterday told me on Facebook “We all agreed that it is the best gf fish and chips we have had“.  The only downside for me was that there was no gluten free curry sauce to dunk my chips in but I’m happy to report that Craig is going to look into this as well as the battered sausages.  So even though gluten was being served in the shop at the same time, I’m happy to report that the cross contamination controls in place were good enough and I suffered no ill affects, other than a severe case of over indulgence!


You can find Kingfisher at: Chaddlewood Shopping Centre, Glen Road, Plympton, Plymouth, PL7 2XS.  For more information see their website, Twitter and Facebook pages.


Kevin, Gluten Free by the Sea



		
	
				
Tags: , , , , , , , , 
			


	


		

		


	




			
                



	
	
Guest Post: A week as a vegetarian coeliac

	
		19
		May
	

	

	

		
My lovely wife Abby went gluten free for Coeliac Awarness Week to show support, here is her guest post on the experience:


AbbyYesterday marked the last day of Coeliac UK’s Awareness Week. Although I don’t have coeliac disease myself, since Kev’s diagnosis three years ago I am now an expert on all things coeliac and gluten free, and I’ve become an outspoken advocate for the rights of coeliacs to enjoy eating good food, both in restaurants and at home. Thousands of people use Awareness Week to raise the profile of coeliac disease by not eating gluten for seven days in support of sufferers of the disease. My participation in Awareness Week adds another restriction to my already restricted diet – for strong environmental and ethical reasons I am a vegetarian (no fish) of almost 25 years. Before Kev’s diagnosis he never ate meat in our house, an act of support which I truly appreciated. Unfortunately, I can’t show this solidarity when it comes to gluten because, as a vegetarian, protein is a top concern and most meat substitute products, such as Quorn or Linda McCartney products, contain or are contaminated with gluten. To ensure we both get protein, Kev and I often cook two versions of the same meal – one with real meat and one with Quorn. During Awareness Week this was not an option so last weekend Kev and I carefully planned out our meal plan for the upcoming Awareness Week.


As you know from Gluten Free by the Sea Mexican food is a staple in our house so we ate black beans (refried and as chilli) several times during Awareness Week. We also went to the Plymouth Coeliac UK Support Group dinner at JD’s Grill – I know Kev raves about JD’s all the time but it’s because the place is great for coeliacs and they have a good veggie menu too. The set menu for Awareness Week had two veggie options for starters and a veggie burger for the main course (plus a delicious sweet-potato-fries-with-vanilla-ice-cream dessert). OK, that was an easy version of eating out since it was pre-arranged, but last year I found myself in Padstow during Awareness Week and basically just walked around asking restaurants what they could do for a vegetarian coeliac until one chef offered to make me gf pasta with fresh wild mushrooms. Actually, that was only the second restaurant I approached so it pays to ask questions.


The majority of our food during the week was home cooked, but we did try two ready-made products: Clive’s Pies and a veggie lasagne and a burrito from Amy’s Kitchen. I’ve loved Clive’s Pies since I first tried them two years ago and it was convenient to have a ready-made gf and veggie product in our freezer to throw in the oven for dinner when I got home late one night. The only downside was that we had to walk into town to purchase them at Holland and Barrett – I wish they were more widely available. As for the Amy’s products, I don’t normally like ready meals, but it turned out Amy’s frozen meals are not like normal ready meals! There was no grease, they weren’t over salted and they tasted great. I was really impressed.


Overall it was fine being a veggie coeliac during Awareness Week since 1) we cook most of our own food, 2) I’m assertive and not afraid to order off-menu while eating out, 3) as a vegetarian I’m an avid label-reader, and 4) I was in the UK. I am on the road for work much of the time and the vegetarian coeliac abroad experience would have been much harder, particularly in China or Japan where veggie food is confusing due to the language barrier and lack of understanding about the concept. The best part of Awareness Week was not having to worry about my gluten-containing food contaminating the gluten free food in our kitchen – I normally have to wash my hands constantly while cooking to avoid cross contaminating Kev’s food. I also don’t know what I would have done had we had a barbeque – I love halloumi and veggie skewers but it’s not the same as a veggie burger or veggie sausage (don’t worry – we have a gluten free meat barbeque and a separate barbeque for veggie products and gluten). If Quorn had some gluten free options vegetarian coeliacs would have a lot more choice for protein and I could eat gluten free at home all the time.


Abby – @anaturalstate

				
Tags: , , , , , , 
			


	


		

		


	




			
						

			    
← Older Entries

				
Newer Entries →