My Letter to Zagat: Gluten-Removed is NOT Gluten-Free

Dear Zagat,

Thank you for featuring gluten-free cuisine on your YouTube channel. I appreciate you taking the time to interview the chefs of The Curious Fork and Senza Gluten. These people are making a huge difference in the lives of people living with celiac disease, myself included. To be a celiac and go into a restaurant and be able to eat anything and everything on a menu is a wonderful feeling. I have personally dined at Senza Gluten many times and love the "freedom" I have when ordering.

Unfortunately, your video immediately lost credibility when you featured a gluten-removed beer. Many people living with celiac disease, such as myself, cannot tolerate food or drink originally derived from gluten. This beer is made from barley and the gluten is removed through a special process. Once the gluten is removed, the beer is tested by the producer for the parts per million of gluten left in the beer. "Gluten detection isn't a particularly straightforward process, and there are several methods in use that can produce different results when used to test the same product."(Source) While the beer you featured says they are transparent with their test results, they also choose which tests to perform on their product. I believe that until these tests are regulated by the TTB or FDA across ALL products, individual companies will continue to use tests that are most convenient to their 20ppm or less regulations.

My question for you Zagat is why didn't you choose to feature a 100% gluten-free beer derived completely from gluten-free ingredients in a video about gluten-free options getting better? There are many delicious gluten-free beers on the market now that were not even for sale a few years ago. Breweries are now using gluten-free ingredients from start to finish in a dedicated gluten-free environment. I think it was a huge mistake on your part to feature a beer that is not actually gluten-free. The beer in the video can only be labeled gluten-free in the state of Oregon and outside of the United States. Featuring this gluten-removed beer made from barley (a gluten-filled grain) is misleading and confusing to the gluten-free customer.

In a video called "Gluten-Free Gets Good," all of your featured companies or restaurants should have been truly gluten-free. Perhaps a better title for this video would "Gluten-Free Food Gets Good While Some Beers are Gluten-Removed" or something a little bit more reflective of what you are actually showing. Yes, you do let the brewer explain his gluten-removal process but you fail to mention that people are having negative reactions to this type of beer or that it cannot legally be labeled gluten-free.

Zagat, you really could have done better with this video. More thorough research on gluten-free beers, a better title, and less misleading information would have made a huge difference. Maybe next time...

Sincerely,
Erin Smith
Living with celiac disease for 34 years

What Happens When You Tell People You Can't Eat Gluten

It's been a while since I posted a Friday Funny but I felt this deserved it's own post. This has been me for the past 34 years of my life. Explaining what gluten is, what I can't eat and reminding people there is actually food I CAN eat, why I can't just pick out the lunch meat from a sandwich, and so on and so on. Can you relate to this video?

Gluten-Free Fun Silly Saturday: Intolerant

Even though this video was sent to me as a Friday Funny, I didn't watch it until late in the day yesterday. I figured this would be an amusing way to kick off your weekend. Thanks to Lilly, my Facebook follower, for sharing this with me. It's quirky but amusing! Thoughts? 

What The Heck Is Gluten?

I've been really quiet this month which is kind of ironic considering it is Celiac Awareness Month. More on my silence later. In the meantime, share this post with everyone. It is actually a decent explanation of gluten and the immune response we experience as people living with Celiac Disease.





Video via ASAPScience

Bring It On Down 2 Veganville

I never watch Saturday Night Live, but this week I watched the whole episode with Justin Timberlake as the host. Yes, I have a bit of a boy band crush on JT. Who wouldn't? He is funny, he can dance, and he sings about kale and quinoa. What's not to love?! The only thing that could have made it better was if he threw in a random gluten-free reference.

Enjoy!



Justin Timberlake - Bring It On Down 2... by IdolxMuzic

One Grain More

I love a good laugh and this lighthearted video made me giggle. To the tune of "One Day More" from Les Miserables, this "food allergy parody that will knock your hypoallergenic socks off!"

4 Ingredients Gluten-Free Winner and Recipe Video

Thank you to everyone who entered my 4 Ingredients Gluten-Free Cookbook giveaway this past week. We had more than 20 entries in the contest but only one winner.

Congratulations, Heather Lisk! 

Heather says:

"As a mom of 3, this would certainly be a great cookbook to possibly win, THANKS!"

I hope you enjoy this cookbook as much as I do, Heather.

This morning, Kim McCosker was on the Today Show with Kathie Lee and Hoda whipping up some delicious gluten-free pork chops with polenta and a baked ricotta for dessert.

Check it out:

Kim McCosker, author of “4 Ingredients Gluten-Free,” shows home cooks how to make weeknight family dinner simple and healthy for anyone who is gluten-intolerant, demonstrating recipes for pork with parmesan polenta and baked ricotta with blueberry sauce.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Gluten-Free Videos

The Twitterverse has been buzzing with some major backlash against a company called Cappello's. In trying to jump on two trendy bandwagons at once, they produced a video called "Sh*t Gluten Free People Say". For those of you that don't know, this trend started with this video and led to a huge flood of funny and not-so-funny videos. Cappello's video falls into that latter category. Just. Not. Funny.

For those of you that know me, I am on the fence by the recent attention gluten-free is getting. It is great that I can now walk into a supermarket and find some kind of bread/pasta/cracker that I can eat; this wasn't the case when I was first diagnosed in 1981! On the other hand, when celebrities like Elisabeth H. start spewing WRONG information in their plight for the Celiac I think we lose some major credibility. People see gluten-free eating as a fleeting trend and something to poke fun at with unfunny videos. We aren't a trend, we are living with a disease.

This is for real, people. I can't eat gluten, EVER. I don't ask if "this bread is gluten-free" like in the video because I know it isn't. This Cappello's video is just stupid and uninformed on so many levels. GlutenDude, another GF blogger, did a great write up about the gluten-free boom in the media but I like the comments even more. It shows that we aren't a trend and we speak up for our cause.

What I do like the most in this PR mistake by Cappello's is how the Celiac community once again banded together to make their voices heard. Comments on FB, Twitter, and blogs are flooding in. If you know a Celiac, you know we are NOT a quiet bunch. Cappello's stepped in a big pile of Celiac sh*t if you ask me.  They want us to like them on FB and follow them on Twitter. Now, they want to send me some of their gluten-free pasta. Not sure if that is a wise choice Cappello's, I already have a bad taste in my mouth and it comes directly from you. Do you really want me to publicly review your product?

On a much lighter note, check out this fun and much more well-informed video by Royal Empire Productions. ILL Knowtice, the guy in the black, has Celiac. He gets it and makes this catchy video to prove it.



UPDATE:

Check out the email I got from ILL Knowtice in the above video. Cool guy!

Hello Erin,  

Thank you again! 

Nothing makes us happier than knowing people are enjoying and sharing our video, it is awesome :)  I watched that other video and I understand completely what you mean, it is quite offensive and not very creative or constructive.  It's almost as if the uninformed believe being Celiac is some sort of lifestyle decision and not a disease that people have to learn to live with and deal with on a daily basis.  I'm glad people are taking our song the correct way, we definately wanted to make people laugh and smile but for positive reasons as well as build awareness for Celiacs in general.  I've been dealing with it for less than a year and it has been pretty tough at times, I couldn't imagine my entire life, much love and respect to you! I have noticed our views have increased drastically the past few days so thank you for sharing with your friends and peers, it is very appreciated.  We just set up a twitter account last night due to the overwhelming response we have been getting.  It started out as a fun little video to spread awareness and it is growing into something we couldn't even have imagined. 

Hope all is well with you and please let us know if there is anything we can do to help out on any level. Have a great day 

ILL Knowtice

Royal Empire

That Girl

Have you seen this video about Celiac Disease yet? It has been floating around the Internet within the gluten-free community for a couple of weeks now. It is a very real and emotional account of what it is like to live with Celiac Disease. As a life-long Celiac, I can relate to so much of this video and I am sure you can too. I tried reaching out to the student producer from UC Berkeley via Facebook to thank her for putting this together but haven't heard back yet. It is worth the watch and worth sharing with people that just don't get Celiac Disease.

That Girl
by Candice Bonaduce