Category Archives: News

A Happy — and Gluten-Free — Thanksgiving

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This Thanksgiving, my husband and I are doing what we usually do: taking the train down to Philadelphia to celebrate the holiday with family. While I won’t have the chance to sample any of Philly’s many celiac-friendly restaurants, I’ve got a special event to attend. My husband’s cousin Joanna and her husband, Seth, host a family party that spans four generations. They are always careful and considerate hosts, and while I can’t eat every dish at Thanksgiving dinner, most items are gluten-free.

I also have to tell you that Joanna is an expert cook and an entrepreneur who opened Yo Dogs in Wyndmoor, Pennsylvania, earlier this year. Yo Dogs is a gourmet hot dog, burger, and salad place, which also caters events. If you’ve got a craving for a dog and you want it on a gluten-free roll (and maybe dressed with cheddar, avocado, and mushrooms), check it out. Yo Dogs [address] 1014 E. Willow Grove Ave., Wyndmoor, PA 19038 [tel] 215-233-DOGS (3647) [web] www.eatyodogs.com.

Thanksgiving can be a stressful time for those on the gluten-free diet, and for people with food allergies. Shauna James Ahern, the Gluten-Free Girl, shares some wonderful advice — and recipes — on her blog. Sure Foods Living provides great tips about what celiacs and food-allergic people should watch out for. Nancy Lapid, About.com’s guide to celiac disease, has a terrific roundup of Thanksgiving-related links. (Until I saw Nancy’s list, I had no idea that NPR had covered the subject of a gluten-free Thanksgiving this year.)

Lately, I’ve been seeing some great gluten-free recipes from sources that don’t specifically serve the celiac market. Janet Rudolph, the woman behind the wonderful Dying for Chocolate blog, has published some of my favorites. Another great source is Canadian House and Home magazine, which has an archive of recipes available for free on its website. The website has a special Thanksgiving section for its many American readers. While you can’t search by “gluten-free,” take a browse to see what’s available. Finally, Canadian Living magazine’s online recipe archive does let you search by the term “gluten-free,” and you’ll find everything from a mouth-watering cardamom shortbread to egg crepes with smoked salmon.

Wishing everyone a very happy Thanksgiving!

Reader Reports for Celiac Awareness Month

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October is Celiac Awareness Month, so there’s an uptick in coverage about the disorder and generally about gluten intolerance. A couple of the better pieces that have been published lately: “Gluten-Free: Is It for Me?” by Daphne Oz on Oprah.com and “Why Common Foods May Hurt Your Health” by Dr. Jon LaPook on The Huffington Post.

Everyone knows it’s Halloween at the end of this month, but parents of children with celiac disease and/or food allergies need to hear about the Halloween candy list that’s available from Sure Foods Living. Keep in mind that this list was compiled using American sources. Canadian parents, when you read that Smarties are free of gluten, know that this is not true of the popular Nestlé treat, but of an American candy that is unrelated but shares the name. Also this month, the National Foundation for Celiac Awareness hosts a Gluten-Free Cooking Spree in San Francisco. It will take place on October 30th; check the NFCA site for details and ticket information.

Some Gluten-Free Guidebook readers also have advice to share. Carolina, who lives in Buenos Aires, Argentina, recommends one gluten-free spot:

There is a place called CeliGourmet here in Buenos Aires that sells food to take out. It has all sorts of things, such as crepes, tarts, pizzas, sandwiches, empanadas (typical local food). There are also many kinds of cake, like cheesecake, chocolate cake, tiramisu, etc., and a variety of breads. There are two stores: one in General Paunero 1927 – Martinez (like half an hour out of town) tel, 4798-2990, and one in Thames 1633 – Palermo Soho, in town, tel 4831-5162.

To my ear, Buenos Aires sounds more and more like a gluten-free paradise. Reader Silvia Basualdo Róvere shared some local restaurants in this post and in this one. If you visit Buenos Aires, check out Oleo, a website that allows you to search for city restaurants that serve gluten-free meals (“comidas para celiacos”). There are currently 300 places on the list!

Another reader, Sybil, left an incredibly helpful comment on my post “Gluten-Free Fast Food at the Eaton Centre.” In it, she mentioned that the Druxy’s Famous Deli in Toronto’s Commerce Court kept gluten-free bread in its freezer. I’d never heard about Druxy’s offering gluten-free options, but Peter Druxerman, the company’s vice-president of marketing, confirmed it. Right now it’s just a test program — the only Druxy’s with gluten-free bread is the one in Commerce Court — but it’s one that Druxerman says the company would like to expand.

Next summer, if you’re visiting Ontario’s spectacular Stratford Festival, take a tip from another reader, Marilyn, who shared this:

We twice visited the festival last summer, and we were able to order ahead, by phone or online, for a gluten-free picnic lunch that we picked up from the Festival Theatre lunch bar. We found the food and beverage supervisor very helpful in discussing options, and the food was excellent!

If you go, the Festival Theatre Café is located at 55 Queen Street, Stratford, [tel] 1-800-567-1600 or 519-271-4040. According to the website, picnic lunches need to be ordered at least 48 hours in advance.

Many thanks to Carolina, Sybil, and Marilyn for their terrific tips. Please keep them coming!

Reporting Accurately on Celiac Disease

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Some frightening headlines about celiac disease have been circulating lately. My inbox has been filling up with gems like these: “Study Finds Increased Risk of Death for Patients With Celiac Disease,” “Celiac Disease Raises Mortality Rate,” and the blunt “Celiac Disease Raises Risk of Death.” These stories aren’t coming from fringe sources or anonymous blogs. According to the Los Angeles Times, “Those With Less Severe Symptoms of Celiac Disease May Be at a Higher Risk of Death.”

Talk about media hype.

These reports came out of the same study, which was published by the Journal of the American Medical Association in its September 16th issue. (Unfortunately, the study is only available online to JAMA subscribers; there is a summary from Medscape that’s available from Google’s cache). It was performed by Swedish researchers, who did a retrospective cohort study. In layman’s terms, that means they didn’t track live celiac patients. Instead, they sifted through years of medical data, from July 1969 through February 2008, about deceased persons, and correlated their data with intestinal biopsies performed on patients with celiac disease and/or intestinal inflammation.

The results showed a modest increase in the risk of mortality. Although the researchers acknowledged some limitations (for example, not all of the subjects with intestinal inflammation necessarily had celiac disease, and no adjustments were made for health issues such as smoking or obesity), its conclusions are important — but not in the way that has been widely reported.

Here’s what the headlines should have said: “Undiagnosed Celiac Disease Increases Risk of Mortality.”

What the study demonstrates is a real risk for people who have celiac disease but who have either not been diagnosed with the disorder, or who have been diagnosed but who opt not to follow a gluten-free diet. It is, if anything, an argument for encouraging people to get tested for celiac disease. But I can’t help but wonder if scary headlines will actually make people less likely to get tested. What do you think?