Cary Food Lion stocks Gluten Free products

The Cary Food Lion at the corner of Kildaire Farm Road and Maynard recently added an end display, four or five shelves, devoted entirely to Gluten Free Products. Among the products are Glutino pretzels, a staple in our house, Glutino Lemon and Glutino Chocolate wafer cookies, Gluten Free pastas, and Gluten Free baking ingredients. Some are priced lower than elsewhere.

The manager told me these products are slow movers, so if you are in the neighborhood, please consider picking up a few items so they continue to stock gluten free groceries.

The gluten-free religion

It was lunch time and we were hungry. The mall wasn't crowded, so I spoke with a kebab vendor, we'll call him kebab vendor #1, who assured us that the skewered chicken and rice could be prepared gluten-free.

I could see that he was just throwing pita slices over the kebabs as they cooked on the grill, so I asked him to cook ours separately, which he did by setting the skewers on the unused, low heat side of the grill. They took longer to cook because the heat was not as high. Just before the kebabs were done, another employee, kebab vendor #2, innocently grabbed the skewer and stuck the chicken on high heat, right where the pita had been seconds before.

I think I probably cried, "Nooooooooooooo!" Winces all around. My freakout factor related to food preparation would have been unimaginable six months ago. Blood tests at the three month mark indicated that our celiac daughter was still getting exposure to gluten from somewhere, exposure that even in minute quantities damages her small intestines, makes her sick, and puts her at greater risk for malignancies and osteoporosis.

After I explained that my daughter can't have any contact with wheat, kebab vendors #1 and #2 jointly put a fresh kebab on the 'clean,' low-heat side of the grill. It took ages to cook. In fact, my husband finished eating before ours was ready. While we were waiting, the woman came over and asked if she could ask a personal question.

Did my daughter not eat wheat, kebab vendor #2 wanted to know, because of our religion?

I am still trying to imagine the religion that would forbid the eating of wheat.

Raleigh Cel-kids event May 15

Attention families, this is going to be a great picnic event!

Join the Raleigh Cel-kids group at Baileywick Park on Saturday, May 15 for Gluten Free pizza(!) from Mellow Mushroom and dessert (!) from the Moonlight Bakery.

The event is from 4-6pm.

Be sure to RSVP by May 10 to raleigh.celkids@gmail.com, and check the Cel-kids website for more information and directions.

Road trip - South Beach Grill, Wrightsville Beach

With the hot weather, thoughts turn east to the beach, but if you're like us, you may have heard about a supposed dearth of gluten-free choices in the Wilmington/Wrightsville Beach area.

We've only been gluten-free since January when our daughter was diagnosed with celiac disease, so even a short trip to the coast induces a mild panic about how to handle meals. Which is why I am so excited to tell you about South Beach Grill on Wrightsville Beach. It's right next door to Wings.

We ate at South Beach Grill a number of times during our pre-GF days (those halcyon days of yore) and always loved the combination of great cuisine and casual atmosphere, so on Saturday afternoon I stopped in and spoke with Chef James "Firetruck" Rivenbark to see if he would be able to accommodate us that evening. With assurances that the Grill made it a priority to safely serve people with food intolerances, we were able to enjoy the afternoon without worrying about dinner.

South Beach Grill does not have a specific gluten-free menu (yet), but many offerings can be prepared gluten-free upon request. Chef Rivenbark recommended the sage chicken for our daughter, which was delicious. It's a boneless breast prepared with boursin cheese, mushroom, sundried tomatoes, and basil stuffing. The chicken is ordinarily dipped in flour before pan searing, so it's imperative that you speak with your server and specify gluten-free.

If you are interested in learning more about South Beach Grill, check out their website or Fish N Pickles a blog written by the Grill's general manager, Chris Kronenwetter.

South Beach Grill
100 South Lumina Avenue
Wrightsville Beach, NC 28480
(910) 256-4646
Open for lunch and dinner starting at 11:00 am

North Carolina Governor Declares May Celiac Disease Awareness Month

Media Release

North Carolina Governor Declares May Celiac Disease Awareness Month

• Triangle residents can participate in a gluten-free food drive at various locations or make a monetary donation to help stock the Food Bank of Central and Eastern North Carolina
• Bella Monica Italian Restaurant is hosting a six-course gluten-free dinner prepared by Vanessa Maltin, food and lifestyle editor for Delight Gluten-free Magazine
• A top food allergens poster is available for restaurants to download to educate their staff about these items, including gluten

Raleigh, N.C., USA, April 30, 2010 – The Gluten Free Raleigh Blog has announced Governor Beverly Perdue has declared May 2010 “Celiac Disease Awareness Month” in North Carolina. The Gluten Free Raleigh Blog and Pat Berger, leader of the North Raleigh Celiac Sprue Association (CSA) Support Group brought the petition to the Governor’s office regarding the awareness month.

Celiac Disease is a genetic autoimmune disease that affects one in 133 people in the United States. It interferes with the absorption of nutrients from food and can cause gastrointestinal and neurological issues, infertility, skin rashes and cancer. The only treatment for Celiac Disease is lifelong, strict adherence to a gluten-free diet.

“The Governor’s proclamation paves the way to further educate the community on Celiac Disease and helps to create a positive impact on the quality of life for people living with this condition,” said Zach Becker, creator of the Gluten Free Raleigh Blog. “It’s my goal to help raise awareness so those living with this disease can safely eat out at restaurants and have easier access to gluten-free food.”

In an effort to educate, raise awareness and give back to the community, there are a number of gluten-free events scheduled during the month of May.

• A gluten-free food drive will be held on Saturday, May 8 to benefit the Food Bank of Central and Eastern North Carolina. Special discounts at the drop off locations may be available in exchange for your donation. Bins are set up in each of these locations to accept the packaged gluten-free non-perishable food items:
o Rosie’s Plate – N. Person St., Raleigh
o Bella Monica Italian Restaurant – Edwards Mill Rd., Raleigh
o ZPizza – Falls of Neuse Rd., Raleigh and Cornerstone Dr., Cary
o Mellow Mushroom – W. Peace St., Raleigh
o Whole Foods Market, Raleigh – Wade Ave., Raleigh
o Earth Fare – Moncreiffe Rd., Raleigh
o Harmony Farms/Café Harmony – Creedmoor Rd., Raleigh

• A virtual food drive will be held all month to benefit the Food Bank of Central and Eastern North Carolina with gluten-free food. The link to donate can be located on the Gluten Free Raleigh Blog.

• On Sunday, May 16, beginning at 5 p.m., Bella Monica Italian Restaurant will host a six-course gluten-free dinner prepared by Vanessa Maltin, food and lifestyle editor for Delight Gluten-free Magazine and Corbett Monica, head chef at Bella Monica Italian Restaurant. They will be preparing dishes from Maltin’s gluten-free cookbook entitled The Gloriously Gluten-Free Cookbook: Spicing Up Life with Italian, Asian and Mexican Recipes. Copies of the cookbook will also be included. Tickets are required for this dining event and can be purchased by calling Bella Monica Italian Restaurant at 919-881-9778.

• The Gluten Free Raleigh Blog worked with Sofia Noble of the design firm This Is Beautiful to create a poster featuring all of the top food allergens, including gluten. This poster is now available for download in English and Spanish at the Gluten Free Raleigh Blog. Wake County restaurant owners may use it to educate their staffs about these foods.

“Research indicates there are approximately three million people living with Celiac Disease in the United States and of those, only about 120,000 have been diagnosed,” said Alice Bast, founder and president of the National Foundation for Celiac Awareness (NFCA). “It’s great to see North Carolina working to raise awareness about this disease so perhaps others can be accurately diagnosed by their doctors. Zach Becker and the entire North Carolina Celiac Disease community should be commended for their leadership and successful advocacy efforts.”


About Gluten Free Raleigh Blog
Zach Becker was diagnosed with Celiac Disease in May 2008. He founded the Gluten Free Raleigh Blog in August 2008 and has created similar blogs across the state. He has recruited writers for these blogs so gluten-free information in those communities can be shared. The blogs contain restaurant and grocery store reviews, summaries of national news as well as highlight local companies that cater to the gluten-free community. Becker is an advocate for those living with Celiac Disease in the Triangle and donates his time to educate the newly diagnosed, local restaurants and government leaders on this condition.

FDA recall of Gluten-Free pancake and baking mixes

Due to traces of Salmonella and the potential for Salmonella contamination, Gluten-Free Naturals Foods has recalled its Pancake Mix, Light and Moist Yellow Cake Mix, and Cookie Blend Flour. The FDA recall press release, which includes the Lot numbers of recalled products, can be found here.

Gluten-free wheat under development

In February, the biosciences company Arcadia received an $855,500 grant to enter the second phase of developing wheat varieties with reduced celiac disease-causing proteins. The grant, from NIH's National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) and the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), is in collaboration with Washington State University, and will last for two-years. According to the press release, Phase I of the research successfully identified"wheat plants with low levels of proteins that are most toxic to individuals with celiac disease." Phase II is expected to last through mid-2011.

All indications are that gluten-free wheat will be available to our kids sometime in the not so distant future.

Kids with allergies article

Joyce Clark Hicks has a short, but interesting article about the challenges of raising kids with allergies in the current Independent Weekly. Looks like it may become a regular column!

CelKids group, gift baskets, and travel blog

There are three items to talk about this week:

1. The Raleigh CelKids group meeting at Earthfare.
   
2. The University of Chicago Celiac Disease Center gift basket.
3. Introduction to my new blog, Travel With Allergies.

1. Saturday afternoon was the quarterly meeting of the Raleigh Celkids support group. We met at Earth Fare organic food supermarket at Brier Creek and took a tour of the store which featured gluten-free products. (Look for the brown wooden shelves scattered throughout the store. Everything on them is gluten-free!) Also, a representative from Rosie's Plate in Raleigh was there to give us information and samples of gluten-free goodies. There is preliminary talk of holding a kids cooking class at Rosie's, so if this interests you, let them know.

There was a good mix of boys and girls at the meeting, with an age range from toddlers to seventh graders. The kids and adults got a chance to socialize and share drinks, snacks, and tips about thriving with celiac. This was our first time joining the group and it was a relief to meet so many local families dealing with the same issues. Everyone was friendly and I was surprised to meet some real live readers of Gluten Free Cary! All in all, the Celkids Network is a great resource for Triangle families; we are already looking forward to the next event. Check out the Celkids website here.

2. If you or a family member has been diagnosed with celiac disease in the last three months, call the University of Chicago Celiac Disease Center to participate in their free, one-of-a-kind care package program. My daughter's care package arrived this week and included scores of gluten-free product samples, magazines, books, and coupons. See the pic above for some of the goodies we received. The letter accompanying the package says, "We hope this gluten-free care package reduces the overwhelming feeling that often accompanies the diagnosis," and includes a testimonial by a U.S. Armed Forces member serving in Iraq.

3. My final bit of news is that I've started a new blog called Travel with Allergies.

We love to travel and don't believe that having celiac disease, food allergies or sensitivities should stop anyone from traveling with ease and comfort. There are many, many resources on the web for people with celiac and food allergies, but they all seem to lack something. Even the sites that review gluten-free restaurants in major cities in Europe lack useful tips or resources for travel even slightly off the beaten track.

My attempt with Travel with Allergies is not to be comprehensive, but to aggregate links to as much useful information as possible. My introductory post can be found here. I am actively seeking contributions of tips, useful information, and links. If you have information to contribute, submit it via the comment box or contact me and you can become a guest blogger. The site will be a work in progress for some time.

Have a great week!

Restaurant Review: Chatham Street Cafe

Somehow I never noticed Chatham Street Cafe, a storefront restaurant just steps from the Cary clock in the heart of downtown. A recent News and Observer review mentioned that Chatham Street offers gluten-free options, so it was time to investigate. We went there for brunch and felt at home in the casual and unassuming cafe, decorated with local artwork. A softly crooning singer in the front room added to the mellow aura.

Owner and Head Chef Gayla Bonke, who has a dietetics degree and catering background, told us she could make virtually anything on the menu gluten-free. Like so many business owners who cater to the gluten-free community, Bonke has friends who are gluten intolerant and loves the challenge of cooking without it. I didn't get a chance to see the kitchen but was told that the gluten-free foods are prepared separately.

Between us, we sampled the Gluten-Free French Toast, the House Omelet, and the Grilled Steak Salad. Although all three items are listed on the menu as gluten-free, the Steak Salad comes topped with crumbled gorgonzola. Gorgonzola cheese is one of those sometimes safe, sometimes unsafe foods for celiacs, and I didn't have enough information to make a judgment. We were offered the option to substitute another cheese, and went with Asiago. The peas and sauteed mushrooms added a nice flavor to the salad. The French Toast was indistinguishable from "regular" French Toast, although possibly not quite as heavy. The omelet was tasty accompanied by hashbrowns.

Even packing up half our meal to take home, we had no room for dessert. The Almond Cake, described on the menu as "A dense, buttery cake dusted with powdered sugar served in a pool of sweet raspberry coulis. And yes, it's Gluten Free," sounds scrumptious. I look forward to trying it in the very near future when we return to Chatham Street Cafe.

Information:

Chatham Street Cafe
140 E. Chatham Street
Cary, NC 27511
919-380-1193

Website: http://www.chathamstreetcafe.com
Menu: http://www.chathamstreetcafe.com/menus

Valentine's Day

I watched V this afternoon. She was sitting at the kitchen table, happily making cards and packing chocolate kisses into plastic baggies to give to her classmates for the Valentine's Day exchange. Her blond hair, which barely grew for the last three years, has shot past her shoulders in the few short weeks she's been off gluten. Her skin glows.

The nutrients her body could not absorb are finally feeding her. I don't want to speak too soon, but the symptoms which stole countless hours in hospital clinic waiting room have all but disappeared!

The transition from "regular kid" to a person with an immune disease who must eliminate gluten for the rest of her life, has not been easy. It is not about finding replacement foods. We are lucky to have so many gluten free options.

Even as I write this, my temptation is to downplay the difficulty. Oh there are so many options... Grocery stores carry gluten-free products...Starbucks has a new line of GF products piled so high you can barely see the counter. It's not [insert terrible disease name here] so buck up.

Well, I am, most of the time. And she is my hero, for the way she is handling it. But it is hard for her. As I watched her I thought about the challenges of celiac from a few angles. To a certain extent, they apply to sufferers of all severe food allergies:

1. Food. There are foods you love that you can't have. Period.
2. Time and Focus. Unless you stay cloistered in the house and eat the same thing day after day, you have to check the ingredients in everything you eat. If something is ambiguous (modified food starch, anyone? Natural flavor?), you must either not eat it, or verify the ingredients from the producer.
   
3. Makes it kind of hard to "Oh it's no big deal" it when you're socializing. It's not impossible to be smooth, but let's face it, no matter what age you are, needing to know the exact contents of everything you consume is not going to draw people to you like a magnet.
4. 1,2 and 3 make you different. Which in school is still called weird.

Which brings me back to the chocolate kisses.

I'm not much of a Valentine's Day person, still less having it be an obligatory holiday observed in elementary school. In past years, V made cards for her classmates, but I never sent in candy for the kids. Because nothing says I Love You more than crap that makes your teeth fall out, right? Oh that gaping black hole is so sexy. I couldn't justify it. But this year, I don't want my baby left out. She won't be able to eat the other kids' candy if it's unlabeled, so I gladly showered her with chocolate kisses to bring to school. It is the least I can do.

Whatever you're eating or not eating, Happy Valentine's Day.

The orange walnut biscotti test

My homemade Gluten-Free biscotti:



If you've ever wanted to travel back in time to Ancient Rome, try dunking a piece of biscotti in wine. (Well, it works for me). I don't know if there is sound archaeological evidence of the ancients dipping cookies in wine -- if you've got proof please tell me. The ancient origins of the word biscotti, however, are free for the taking. From the Latin -bis meaning twice and coctum meaning cooked.

Now if only some Roman baker imagined me, two thousand years later in my middle class 21st- century American kitchen (actually it's still a 20th-century kitchen, alas), twice-baking my own biscotti GLUTEN-FREE. That would be a mind-blower. The original, crunchy, golden brown cookie made without wheat? How could it be? And by the way, Tiberius, we still use aqueducts. And when you see steam rising from Vesuvius, you might want to evacuate.

So, I really enjoy biscotti with my coffee and it isn't an indulgence I want to give up now that we've gone gluten-free. As I mentioned in the carrot cake post, Rebecca Reilly's Gluten-Free Baking includes six GF biscotti recipes, with variations given for each recipe. For my first attempt, I chose the Walnut Orange biscotti. People with other sensitivities should note that this recipe is gluten-free, but contains DAIRY, NUTS, EGGS and SUGAR.

The first few steps are familiar to anyone who's baked: combine the dry ingredients; whip the butter, sugar and wet ingredients; combine the wet and dry ingredients. Voila--dough. I'll focus here on the twice-baked part which is crucial to biscotti.

After the prepared dough is chilled, roll it into logs:




Bake the logs.

This is what they looked like after the first baking:




Next, slice the baked logs:




As you can see, the result was extra crumbly.
Spread the baked slices on a cookie sheet and rebake.
Here they are just out of the oven:



Seriously, can you tell these are gluten-free? Yum!

Restaurant Review: Pei Wei Asian Diner

P.F. Changs' unfussy younger brother, Pei Wei Asian Bistro, has 150 locations throughout the U.S., including one on Walnut Street in Cary, adjacent to Cary Towne Center. The big draw here is price and convenience; the chain boasts every item on the pan-Asian menu costs less than $10. This isn't relaxed dining, it's order-at-the-counter fast-casual, and it gets the job done without the frills.

Since Pei Wei is owned by P.F. Changs, a popular choice among gluten-free diners, we thought we'd check out the offerings at Pei Wei. But whereas Changs has a whopping 17 gluten-free choices, Pei Wei has a menu of just five items they call "Recommended for Gluten Intolerant diets." Three of those items are incarnations of chicken salad: Vietnamese Chicken Salad Rolls (order without the Thai peanut sauce), Asian Chopped Chicken Salad (substitute lime vinaigrette dressing and no wonton strips), and Pei Wei Spicy Chicken Salad (shrimp can be substituted). The other two recommended items are Pei Wei Spicy and Pei Wei Sweet and Sour, with a choice of chicken or shrimp in either dish.

Note the disclaimer at the bottom of the menu which reads, "Products containing gluten are prepared in our kitchen." In other words, BEWARE if cross-contamination is a concern. The good news is: the kitchen is open and visible from the dining area, so vigilant diners can keep a close eye on food preparation.

Ordering at the counter, it was evident that the staff had received training on Pei Wei's gluten free options. The woman we spoke with was able to answer specific gluten questions about each dish. When the computerized order went through, we could hear shouts of "Gluten-Free!" coming from the kitchen, as the information passed among the food preparers.

Even though my daughter is the one who MUST eat gluten-free, all three of us ordered off the gluten-free menu, in order to get a true idea of options. When I ordered, I asked that the non-gluten-free Thai peanut sauce be served on the side of my Vietnamese Chicken Salad Rolls. When our server brought the food to the table, he warned me that the side of sauce wasn't gluten-free, and asked if I wanted him to bring it back to the kitchen -- another sign of good staff training. The Chicken Salad rolls were tasty, if funny looking, and I skipped the peanut sauce altogether: chicken, fresh lettuce, mint, vermicelli thin rice noodles, and lime vinaigrette packaged in chewy rice paper. The rolls seemed a lighter option than the syrupy, sauce-laden dishes, all too prevalent at Amer-Asian restaurants.

My daughter chose the Pei Wei Sweet and Sour Chicken without the sauce (see above. Although rest easy, the GF sweet and sour sauce is gluten-free). The chicken arrived at the table breaded, despite the menu description as "non-battered chicken." When I inquired about the batter, I was quickly reassured that the GF chicken is breaded with potato starch, and is gluten-free. It was a comfort that all three of the staff members I interacted with were fully informed about the requirements of a gluten-free diet.

Here is a summary of the pros and cons of Pei Wei Asian Diner in Cary, as we experienced it:

PROS

* Quick, cheap and convenient dining option.
* Staff well trained in gluten-free dietary requirements.
* Kitchen visible from dining area.

CONS

* Risk of cross-contamination due to mixed kitchen.
* Limited gluten-free menu selection.


All in all, we plan to return to Pei Wei in the future, but with caution.

Challenge 1: Baking a Gluten-Free Cake

Gluten, a composite of gliadin and glutenin, is the protein in wheat grain, the elastic that binds together ingredients in dough. To bake without gluten is like trying to get two pieces of paper to stick to each other without glue. You can use tape; you can use paperclips or staples, but the end result is going to be different. Yesterday, I set out to use paperclips but make them act like glue.

V requested we bake a carrot cake and that seemed like an easier apprenticeship into gluten-free baking than, say, chocolate croissants.

I chose a carrot cake recipe from Rebecca Reilly's GLUTEN-FREE BAKING. Reilly is a graduate of LeNotre and Cordon Bleu cooking schools in Paris, so she knows how to bake, but here's the real sell for me: her book contains recipes for six different kinds of gluten-free biscotti. I have a *thing* for biscotti, so I'm looking forward to sampling homemade GF biscotti with my coffee.

Here are the ingredients I used to bake the carrot cake:





As you can see, it takes many ingredients to approximate the power of wheat gluten. Reilly's carrot cake is also dairy-free, egg-free, and sugar-free so it is great for people who have multiple sensitivities.

The cream cheese icing, on the other hand, is mostly dairy and sugar. So skip the icing if you are lactose intolerant or diabetic.





This is what it my dry and wet ingredients looked like before combining:




The house smelled divine while the cake was baking--a great sign!







Just out of the oven, you can see that the cake hardly rose. This is a dense dessert.

Here, I whipped up the cream cheese icing:





I'm not the world's best cake icer, but I thought the finished product looked pretty good, except for being really short:





Okay, so how about taste?

V loves it; I had to stop her from having too much. I like it, but would prefer using egg instead of tofu, if I can figure out how to make the substitution. Embracing my inner Betty Draper just a bit, I do believe the carrot cake passed the ultimate test. My husband, who is not on a gluten-free (or any other) diet took a piece with him to work. While I was writing this entry, he sent me the following text:

The carrot cake is totally yummy. It got me through the morning. No small feat.

If only "mission accomplished" weren't relegated to the linguistic trash-bin....
I'll have to settle for "challenge met".

A New Life

My daughter--I'll call her V for now--was diagnosed with celiac disease on January 15, so she’s had just over a week to adjust to a total change in lifestyle. It’s been an emotional week for the entire family. Today we ran into Target and she said, "Mom, I just want a soft pretzel."

I'm going to use this space to occasionally chronicle what's going on with us, but also to pressure local businesses to provide gluten-free options. Luckily, we're coming into this at a time when gluten-free is HOT--celiacs have more grocery and dining options than ever before. So when a Cary business does a great job being gluten-free friendly, I want to commend that here in this blog. Later in this post, I am going to recognize Biaggi's Ristorante Italiano for doing just that.

Over at Gluten Free Raleigh, Zach mentions that it takes an average of 11 years for someone to be properly diagnosed with celiac. In our case it took seven years, and many visits to both UNC Children’s Gastroenterology and Duke Pediatric Gastroenterology clinics, unpleasant experiences at best. I give both hospitals an F. I could talk ad nauseum about UNC and Duke, but the bottom line is: no one at either clinic knew what was wrong with my daughter and she was never tested for celiac disease. I was not even aware of celiac until my mother was diagnosed with it.

In December, I finally found an independent pediatric gastroenterologist and requested the blood test. V tested positive for the celiac antibodies. The gastroenterologist then performed an endoscopic biopsy, a procedure in which a tiny camera is inserted through a tube which goes down the throat, through the esophagus, into the duodendum. Pictures and tissue samples were taken. Those samples were sent to a pathologist for analysis. The biopsy confirmed celiac disease.

The whole process of getting knocked out with general anesthesia before the endoscopy, the endoscopy itself, and waiting for the results frightened V, who is nine. Fortunately, our experience at WakeMed pediatric outpatient surgery was better than the UNC and Duke clinic visits. By the time we received confirmation of the celiac diagnosis on Friday morning, it was somewhat of a relief. If celiac is the sole cause of her problems, she will feel better very soon.

We wanted to do something at least a little fun Friday evening, so we ventured out for her first gluten-free meal. We went to Biaggi’s in Cary, which has a gluten free menu.

Biaggi’s was the perfect introduction to gluten-free restaurant dining. The atmosphere is relaxed but chic, with earth-toned décor, soft lighting, and plenty of space between tables.

A helpful server had the kitchen bake up a fresh batch of GF bread. They use their gluten-free pizza dough, which is salty and flavorful, and goes down easily drizzled with the olive oil at the table. I asked for the croutons to be left off my salad and that was no problem. V ordered the gluten-free pasta with pesto sauce, and she loved it. She said she couldn’t taste the difference between hers and regular wheat pasta, the ultimate compliment. When the Chef heard from our server that we were brand new to gluten free living, he sent over a paper copy of the GF menu and his business card with an offer to answer any future questions that we have. I plan to take him up on this, and we will definitely dine again at Biaggi’s.

More later. In the meantime, please leave a comment if there is a local gluten-free friendly business you'd like me to visit.

Whole Foods - Gluten Free Tour

Sunday, January 24th

Gluten-Free Tour

4 p.m. free, pre-register

If you suffer from gluten sensitivity, Celiac Disease, or you just want to know about our gluten-free products, then this tour is for you! We will show you where to find our various gluten-free options, as well as direct you to other resources. Along the way we will stop in our different departments to sample some yummy and satisfying gluten-free nibbles. Everyone who takes the tour will be sent home with a goody bag of our gluten-free products. Space is limited so we ask that you pre-register at our customer service desk.

Whole Foods - Gluten Free Tour 12/13

From http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/stores/cary/storecalendar.php

Sunday, December 13th
Gluten Free Tour
4 p.m. free, pre-registration required

If you suffer from gluten sensitivity, Celiac Disease, or you just want to know about our gluten-free products, then this tour is for you! We will show you where to find our various gluten-free options, as well as direct you to other resources. Along the way we will stop in our different departments to sample some yummy and satisfying gluten-free nibbles. Everyone who takes the tour will be sent home with a goody bag of our gluten-free products. Space is limited so we ask that you pre-register at our customer service desk.