How many steps backwards?

Now I don't really want to turn this into a rant, however I've had two incidences in as many days where I've been so disappointed with the offering of gluten free food.

The first was a pub/restaurant local to me.  As it happens this establishment was one of the first places who sent the then Head Chef, on one of our training courses.  Then for nearly three years they handled gluten free brilliantly, despite the Head Chef having moved on.  They had taken everything we had said on board and fully trained all the staff to be competent in gluten free, especially having a separate gluten free menu.  Dishes that could easily be adapted by substituting the bread roll etc were available for me to eat.

So, on Wednesday evening, we decided to treat the kids and take them out for dinner to thank them for helping us reorganise our kitchen to a development kitchen rather than a manufacturing one.  We arrived at the pub and got a drink at the bar and took the menus out with us to peruse while we enjoyed the last of the sunshine over looking the sea (this particular pub commands the best location in the area).

As we live on the coast you can imagine that there are a lot of fish dishes, but there were the normal steaks, gammon, slow roasted duck and belly of pork.  They had a key to which dishes were gluten free, egg free etc, but they made the key so hard to understand.  I don't know about anyone else, but I am so used to seeing gf for gluten free or g for containing gluten, but they did an alphabetic key where 'a=gluten'.  It got really confusing!

Anyway, out of possibly fifty to sixty items on the menu, there were four that were gluten free, which did not include any of the sides....so no potatoes or gluten free bread or anything.  Even the prawn cocktail (prawns and lettuce!!!) was not gluten free because of the bread served.  No adapting here then!!!  So we finished our drinks went elsewhere...another establishment has lost four covers on account of not being able to cater for one coeliac diner.  At this moment in time, I will not be recommending them and will take the matter up with their head office.

The next rant is about Tesco. We have a cafe in Tesco, Barnstaple that has a Costa concession.  It used to be owned by the Compass Group, which is huge, but it recently changed ownership.  I know the manager quite well (I do like my Costa coffee) and they have always provided me with ham, chips and beans and I have never been ill.  The chips are fried separately, the ham is not crumbed etc. So, I was on a course all morning and met hubby and kids in Tesco for lunch before we did the shopping.

We went upstairs to the cafe and grabbed our trays to queue up like the sheep we are and very quickly it was our turn to be served.  I asked whether they had any ham to which the server said no.  "Okay, what have you got that's gluten free?"  She then proceeded to hand me a thick A4 file and told me to look. Grrrrrrrr!  I refused and said that we would rather eat elsewhere than spend the next 30 minutes trawling through pages of allergen specifications only to find at the end of the search that they've sold out of the one item that I can safely eat.

Where in customer service training has it been said to these cafes and other eateries "For best customer service make sure you don't know what is in the products you have to sell.  Instead give the customer a whacking great file to read through before they can even order.  Make them look like complete idiots and make sure you draw attention to them, because that's why people eat out....to enjoy a challenge and to be made to feel different."

Anyway, as it happened the Manager was on duty, so I stopped and had a chat!  He totally agreed, that it is really awful in terms of service, however it's dictated by Head Office.  They are not allowed to verbally inform the customer at the serving hatch what is gluten free anymore (or any other allergen for that matter) - it's against their rules.  They have decided that the best way forward is to thrust a huge folder into your hands and hope you move on quietly, so they can serve the lions' share of their customers.  They are so scared of being sued that the onus is completely on us.  So so frustrating and really poor I think.

I went home and made us all food instead. It's getting to the stage where I can't eat out without aggravation or illness - or most likely both!  Brunch at Chez Droppa this morning was far less hassle and risk free! #BetterThanEatingOut  The recipe for the pancake mix can be found here http://www.glutenfreetraining.co.uk/pages/recipes.html

Gluten free pancakes - with egg and bacon

Gluten free pancakes with peaches,
pecans and natural yoghurt

So, has the legislation helped us - for me 'no' is the answer.  I think it has made the situation so much worse, especially in cases such as this where the interpretation is way off the mark - common sense has gone out of the window completely.  I used to eat in chains because generally they were safe, but I have to say I don't think that's true anymore.  The kitchens are becoming ever more de-skilled (just ping and serve) with very little ability to provide anything that doesn't feed the masses and because of the way the food is bought in, it can't be adapted either.  Furthermore, staff turnover is such that big chains think that to undertake the training once will suffice.  Unfortunately, training is a continuous process (not just where allergens are concerned), but in all areas of the business.  Our experience of late has illustrated that there are huge gaps in staff awareness and knowledge and it does not instill confidence.

Time to move on......

You may or may not be aware, that we recently celebrated ten years as a gluten free manufacturer.  We began business in 2005 for two reasons.  Firstly, to provide fresh gluten free food that at the time was very hard to come by.  Secondly, and most importantly, was to spend as much time at home with our very young children. 

Ten years on and things have changed quite considerably.  Supermarkets and major bakeries cottoned on to the growing gluten free market and through massive investment developed acceptable 'fresh' gluten free alternatives to mainstream products such as bread, pies and cakes, when previously it was only small bakeries such as ourselves, and the few precscription manufacturers, who provided these foods.

Also, new legislation has meant that the catering sector and food service industry as a whole has had to significantly change the way they serve and supply foods suitable for those with food intolerances and allergies.  These legislative changes led us to develop our allergen training product, which is designed to assist the industry in effectively managing the demands of this emerging market.

Lastly, our kids are growing up so fast.  Our son is about to embark on his third year of secondary school and our daughter her first.  They have grown and developed into such amazing confident young adults and we couldn't be more proud of them and their achievements to date.

Therefore, we have decided to make a bold decision and close the manufacturing arm of the business in order to concentrate our resources on meeting the needs of our allergen training customers.  We have extensive knowledge of catering for allergens, especially gluten, having not only worked in the industry for over ten years, but also due to Jocelyn having coeliac disease.  We feel now is the right time to focus on that side of our business and utilise our skills to help businesses get to grips with best practice procedures, due dilligence, compliance and good old fashioned common sense.  We will continue to develop recipes suitable for gluten free diets, which can be cooked in any kitchen using 'easy-to-come-by' ingredients, as part of our KISS (Keep It Simple & Safe) Campaign.

We would like to thank you for your support and loyalty - without it we couldn't have achieved what we have in the last ten years.

Best wishes

Ferenc & Jocelyn

It was only a matter of time

This week brings us yet another product recall. A batch of gluten free onion bhaji mix produced by Samosaco was found to contain 'elevated levels of gluten' - (http://www.food.gov.uk/news-updates/news/2015/14080/gluten-free-onion-bhajee-mix-recalled).  Samosaco produce a range of vegetarian Indian snacks and this includes some gluten free mixes.

The question that is burning on my lips is how did this come about? Are the recalls purely because companies are more rigorously testing the batches themselves or are Trading Standards testing them and recalling products?  Either way how is gluten getting into 'gluten free' mixes?

We have been told all along by various companies, who have emerged in the last five or so years to the ever growing gluten free market, that the gluten free food they are producing is made in a 'dedicated environment', or in a place where strict procedures are adhered to and yet there have been too many products that have been contaminated recently and one wonders how this can happen.

If it is a procedural issue then one can only assume that the processes that are in place are either not adhered to or they are not robust enough.  Do staff require further training, or has the purchasing process failed so that the raw materials are not monitored effectively?

If it's an environmental issue then the significance of it is far more wide reaching.  If companies cannot make gluten free food in a factory where other products are manufactured, then they have to either have a dedicated facility (which could adversely affect the price point) or they simply don't produce gluten free food - in fact that extends to all allergens - not just gluten.

This spate of recalls could prove to be a significant turning point for manufacturers.  Yes businesses are ultimately there to make money (which is required to pay for R&D, staff, factories, utilities etc), but the main responsibility has to be to the consumer.  Contamination of this nature is as serious as a batch of food that contains salmonella or another potentially deadly bacteria...factories would be shut down until Environmental Health are satisfied that procedures are in place to prevent it happening again - the same should be true of allergens.

Multiple outlets - single source

Phew what a busy month May was! Not only were we celebrating ten years of trading, but also we have been nominated for North Devon's Business Awards in the Micro Business category.  The winners will be announced at an Awards Ceremony on 19th June....so watch this space.

The gluten free world has been shaken this week with a contamination issue at one of the major plants that produce gluten free food for some of the biggest companies in the industry.  Genius Foods recalled some of its products on the 7th June http://www.food.gov.uk/news-updates/news/2015/14047/genius-foods-recalls-some-gluten-free-products-as-they-may-contain-gluten

Initially, only three products were recalled: Genius Crumpets, Livwell Gluten Free Crumpets and Livwell Garlic Naan, however this was extended to a myriad of products http://www.food.gov.uk/news-updates/news/2015/14063/some-gluten-free-products-recalled It would appear that human error was responsible for the contamination.  Genius's statement on its website is that one of the dry ingredients used in the baking process affected its products - http://www.geniusglutenfree.com/en_GB/blog/Product%20recall:%20Genius%20&%20Livwell%20Crumpets%20and%20Livwell%20Naan and Genius went on to say: "The affected products tested between 5ppm (our minimum accepted level for all products) and 80ppm – therefore the risk to consumers by industry standard is very low."

I have to take umbrage at that last statement.  The law states that for companies to make the 'gluten free' claim their finished products must test at less than 20 parts per million of gluten.  There is a reason for this - numerous studies have indicated that products that contain more than 20 ppm have an adverse affect on the health of a significant number of coeliacs.  In fact, other countries such as Australia, have a lower gluten free threshold than the UK.  So, for a specialist gluten free manufacturer to make a blanket statement like the above, it would seem that the products it produces are aimed more at the gluten free 'lifestylers' and not the coeliac market.

However, as a manufacturer myself I have to empathise a little with Genius.  All the procedures and processes that one has in place cannot ever totally allow for the fallibility of human intervention. Although, it should not have happened in the first place, the best we can hope for is that the company learns from this.....as should all other manufacturing plants that produce different products in the same place.

What I find particularly interesting about the whole thing is that all these own label and branded products are sub-contracted and are actually made in the same place by a single manufacturer - as is true, I'm sure, of many 'normal' food brands.  So, Genius crumpets are fundamentally the same as Livwell's and all the other supermarket brands.  And yet we are constantly wowed by the choice now available.....it brings it in to focus that if you want real choice, you need to shop at smaller independent manufacturers and retailers.

Droppa & Droppa celebrates ten years

Droppa & Droppa Limited is celebrating ten years of trading on 5th May.  From humble beginnings as an artisan gluten, wheat and dairy free bakery, the business has grown and diversified to include training on catering for gluten free diets.  To celebrate the anniversary, Droppa & Droppa is running a competition with the following prizes: a two nights’ stay for two in The Red Lion Hotel, Clovelly; Afternoon Tea for two in The Chesterfield Hotel, Mayfair; and entrance and lunch for two in Marwood Hill Gardens, Barnstaple.  If you are a food business then there are ten DVDs of the training to be won.  The competition will run from the 1st to the 18th May 2015 inclusive.

Droppa & Droppa Limited is celebrating ten years of trading on 5th May.  From humble beginnings as an artisan gluten, wheat and dairy free bakery, the business has grown and diversified to include training on catering for gluten free diets.  To celebrate the anniversary, Droppa & Droppa is running a competition with the following prizes: a two nights’ stay for two in The Red Lion Hotel, Clovelly; Afternoon Tea for two in The Chesterfield Hotel, Mayfair; and entrance and lunch for two in Marwood Hill Gardens, Barnstaple.  If you are a food business then there are ten DVDs of the training to be won.  The competition will run from the 1st to the 18th May 2015 inclusive.  To win one of these great prizes, entrants can either go to wwwdroppaanddroppa.com on Facebook and like and share its last post, or alternatively find droppaanddroppa on Twitter and re-tweet the last post.

Ferenc and Jocelyn Droppa set up their micro bakery after giving up the rat race in London and moving to Devon in 2004.  Ferenc initially contracted back to London in his previous job as a Customer Services Project Manager for a financial printing company, whilst Jocelyn looked after their two small children.  The couple spent the first six months getting used to their new surroundings and pace of life, whilst they decided what they wanted to do.  Having no family to assist with childcare locally, it was an obvious choice to work from home.  Jocelyn, having been diagnosed as a coeliac (an autoimmune illness where the only ‘cure’ is adherence to a strict gluten free diet for life) ten years prior, had always baked bread, cakes and pies, so it was a natural progression to try and sell them locally.

They began with a few local clients and over time built the business up to selling to hotels, cafes, pubs and restaurants throughout the country.  The Free From business has grown massively in the past ten years and Droppa & Droppa has seen many changes.  “Initially, the industry consisted of a handful of small manufacturers and one or two large companies,” said Director Ferenc Droppa.  “Gluten free food was long life and either was available at specialist health food shops or on prescription if you were a diagnosed coeliac.  Now the market has opened up and free from food aisles can be found in every supermarket – there’s fresh bread, cakes, pasta, biscuits…..the list is endless.

“This rapid growth has had an impact on small manufacturers like us.  However, the advent of recent Allergen Laws has heralded even greater change.  In January 2012, the EU issued a directive with regards to food labelling and it re-classified the definition of gluten free.  Then in December 2014, it became compulsory for all food service providers to declare any allergens (there are 14 recognised allergens) present in their food.

“We realised caterers would require training and as experts in gluten free we set about assisting the food service industry in managing the gluten free offering.  We began by running training seminars back in 2011.  After the success of these face-to-face seminars we developed a DVD and an on-line version, so that businesses could access the material wherever they were based.  Crucially, users can re-visit and watch the DVD and / or on-line training as often as required, and at their own pace.  This facility to view the course material multiple times offers a cost effective means of training new, temporary and / or seasonal staff.  It’s not just about selling a gluten free meal it’s also about how it’s handled from the kitchen right through to the front of house."

Top 100 chefs......

Since my last blog the twitter wires have been burning!! Firstly there was a bit of a ding dong about the meaning of dairy free.  For those who wish to have clarification please see the FSA’s guidelines on what can be defined as dairy free.


http://www.food.gov.uk/sites/default/files/food-allergen-labelling-technical-guidance.pdf Page 17 Point 40.

Fundamentally, although there is no legal definition of dairy free, if a product contains mammalian milk of any sort it has to be labelled as such.  Therefore ‘free from milk’, must mean free from all milk, not just cow’s milk.  If a product contains any form of milk it must be clearly highlighted on the label as an allergen. In the case of food sold in restaurants etc., it must be written or verbally communicated that the product contains this allergen. I will keep you updated on that issue.

The second major furore has been the ‘100 chefs–gate’.  Apparently 100 ‘top‘ chefs in the country wrote to The Telegraph complaining that the new allergen laws that came into effect on December 13th 2014 are stifling their creativity!

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/11460125/Top-chefs-attack-EU-rules-on-allergens-in-food.html

As you can imagine there have been numerous tweets, blogs, letters etc in response to this article. My favourite response has to be from Steve Wearne from the FSA:
 

I echo most other people’s sentiments when I question why some chefs are so negative about the legislation.  As food manufacturers we are also required to work within the confines of the law.  We must draw attention to any allergens in the food we sell this includes both the product label and also at the point of sale.  It is worth noting that the EU Food Information for Consumers Regulation first appeared in 2011 and businesses were given a transition period of over three years to comply in respect of allergen declarations.  This has allowed us and other manufacturers time to get our labelling and packaging in order.  It’s not as if it was forced upon us at the last minute!

It is also worth noting that although it is in response to an EU directive, the FSA along with several other interested parties including key representatives from within the food industry have been involved in fine tuning the legislation. The article reads as if it were forced upon us by the EU Bureaucrats – another bit of EU bashing one feels.

On a more personal note, I really don’t see the problem in letting consumers know what is in the food they are buying.  There is no directive to insist that they have to provide an allergen free meal, all that is required is that the diner is made aware of any allergens used.  This can be communicated verbally or on a menu – why is that so hard?

Sadly the chefs and business owners concerned are voicing what many of us fear – that we are still considered as fussy faddy eaters.  Food intolerances and allergies are not a lifestyle choice.  Yes it is very frustrating for a chef who goes to a lot of effort to create a three course meal without dairy for example, only to then see the diner asking for cream on top of their dairy free desert at the end of the meal.  However, none of us can take the risk that the consumer/diner is fussy – we have to apply the same due care and attention each time to ensure that we do the best our end in case the diner is truly intolerant.

One of the hardest things to get one’s head around is that food intolerances vary so widely from person to person. Some coeliacs are more sensitive to gluten than others and can tolerate minute amounts, some are asymptomatic and thus don’t have any outwardly ill effects from eating gluten, some people eat gluten regardless and suffer the consequences.  As food providers we have to err on the side of caution and ensure that if we state that the food is free from something, say dairy, then it really is free from all dairy.  All processes and procedures should be as robust as they can be to allow for the most sensitive among us.  If the client wants then to take a risk with their own health then that is their prerogative – at least we know we have done the best we can for them.

We mustn’t forget that there are two sides to every story, namely there are countless chefs out there who enter the profession because they love food and they are passionate about sharing their love with their diners.  However, not all diners are made equal and often they present a challenge.  We work with exceptional individuals who adopt a ‘can do’ philosophy on a daily basis – we salute their inspiration and encourage them to continue to embrace the challenge and push the boundaries.

The other side to this is that I also have to take some responsibility for my diet.  I have a duty to make the restaurant, café etc. aware of my diet.  Although I advocate strongly that all establishments, if they want to offer a gluten free meal for example, should always make that meal gluten free.  In many cases I think it creates more stress on the staff and the kitchen to adapt normal menu items, rather than having a few items that are naturally free of certain allergens and there is no digression away from that.  It makes it much easier for me to pick and surely it has to be easier on a busy restaurant.

A poisoned chalice?

I have had quite a few discussions in the last few weeks with various people about gluten free products in mainstream establishments and the apparent acceptance of requiring a gluten free meal when I go out to eat. Initially I’m in total agreement. I was diagnosed as a coeliac nearly twenty years ago and have seen massive changes in the quality and availability of gluten free food. However, has this meant that eating out and buying food on the run has become easier? Sadly, the definitive answer is ‘not really’.

As I write this, I’m sitting in a car park waiting for my son to finish a music workshop having raced from London to Cheltenham. I’m quite a few miles from home and have been for two days due to a friend’s party, which is taking place back in London. So, the situation is quite unique, but very telling in terms of the acceptance of my diet.

Firstly, I had to check with the hotel in London where we stayed that the breakfast I had paid for included a gluten free option. I had a bizarre conversation with a member of staff at the hotel, where she was able to tell me what items were wheat free on the menu, but not gluten free. I did get a tad pious and informed her that since December 2014, she was legally obliged to know which of the 14 allergens were in the food they were serving and that gluten was one of them! So with a proverbial flea in her ear, she finally found out the information and then said that special gluten free bread would be purchased for me.

Herein lies the first of the difficulties. I applaud totally the opening up of the gluten free market – in fact for the last ten years I have made my income from exactly that, however, there is such a raft of mixed information on gluten free. I can’t tolerate oats or wheat starch in any form at all. The other factor is that some supermarket bread upsets my tummy – not sure why, but they don’t agree with me. So what do I do? Do I present all these various dietary caveats every time I want to stay somewhere or eat out? I know that they would have either sent someone to the supermarket to buy a loaf; or ordered a long life loaf from their preferred foodservice supplier. Would I have the courage to say “Oh and by the way, please don’t pick up blah blahs bread and please make sure you don’t buy something with oats in and also can you please make sure it’s wheat free.” Now I’m beginning to sound like the client from Hell. I don’t actually know the answer to that rhetorical question, but being the “Please don’t fuss” sort of person, I don’t say anything and hope for the best!

I don’t think that I’m particularly unique in ‘no oats or wheat’ either, so when did the use of wheat and oats in gluten free food become so widespread that it’s made things very complicated for people like me. It’s the same when one eats out. Do you say I’m gluten free, but can you make sure blah blah blah. It just sort of further compounds the impression that we are faddy eaters…..and this is really where this blog is going in a roundabout sort of way

The second issue I am facing is that today I had no way of preparing my lunch, so what do I eat on the go….as it happens Cheltenham has four major supermarkets that I found after embarking on a mission to find a Costa where I can sit and drink my daily rocket fuel. I’ve been into each one to check out what’s on offer. I ignored all the ‘fresh’ bread - (the fresh bit is the basis for a whole dissertation – let alone a blog!). I am so spoilt making bread of my own, that I cannot physically bring myself to eat the stuff in supermarkets. They’re not so bad toasted, but I can’t get past the ‘pappiness’ (a new made up adjective!) and the lack of bite and chew in the bread. So I opted for crackers in Asda with cheese, then found a Waitrose, so bought falafels and tzatziki as well. Do you think ‘normal’ people struggle like this or am I just way too fussy?

Anyway, the point of all of this is that I’m so glad that I can pick up something – it may not be completely to my taste, but it’s a lot easier than it was five years ago, let alone twenty. However, this in itself leads to so many more problems. The first is that in order to make money the offering has to be a ‘catch all’ – hence the wheat/oat issue. The second is that like all products in supermarkets the free from range has to earn its keep and due to the low stock turnover, the products have to last at least seven to ten days. Herein lies my confusion with the term ‘fresh’ bread. If my bread was left out in ambient conditions for more than four days, it wouldn’t be very edible. Providing it was cool enough, it may not be mouldy, but it certainly would need toasting to eat it. So what fresh product lasts that long?

The other problem I have faced is eating out. I often read on various message boards how fantastic Nandos is for gluten free. Over fifteen years ago I was distinctly put off the chain by being served coffee with a very dirty spoon and that has led to my reluctance to try the food. However, we decided to bite the bullet and try it on Saturday evening. I checked with the server at the counter in a thick book what could be gluten free – as much as I appreciate the thoroughness of this method, I do find it very frustrating to have to go through pages and pages of allergens – why the menu options can’t be collated like other restaurants I do not know.

Anyway, it turns out that all the chicken, the chips and the rice are all gluten free. Doing a whoop whoop, I went ahead and ordered two platters of chicken – one spicy for me and my husband and one plain in case it was too spicy for the kids. As there was an approximate wait of 45 minutes, I also ordered a starter of garlic bread for the kids to keep them going. The garlic bread arrived and was consumed greedily whilst I gulped my wine.

When the platter came (to be fair in about thirty minutes, which was fine) it came with two pieces of garlic bread plonked on top of the spicy chicken platter, thus contaminating the chicken and fries. I called the waiter over and explained that a) we’d already had our garlic bread, and b) I had informed the server that I was a coeliac and that I required the meal to be gluten free and it now obviously wasn’t. The waiter called over the manager and he offered to re-cook my meal for me. Apparently what had happened was that the server had duly taken note of my gluten free meal, but he just failed to inform the kitchen.

So here’s my problem with the whole opening up of the gluten free market…..there’s still too much room for error. What I don’t understand about the whole thing is that if it were a vegetarian meal, then the whole process would be vegetarian from start to finish. So, for example, if I ordered some vegetable risotto (labelled as such), I would not expect to find chunks of ham in it, or a slab of steak on top, because the person who took my order had failed to tell the kitchen that I was a vegetarian. Being gluten free is the same principle…..if you say an item on the menu is gluten free, then it should always be so – no digression at all. It is gluten free from taking the order to serving it. That would save so much hassle, discussions and fundamentally adds to an establishment’s customer service credentials.

Sadly, I can’t imagine going back. Eating out for me is supposed to be enjoyable and yet it almost always seems to be a hassle? The big question is why is it always so hard? If you decide to serve a dish and you purport it to be something, then surely the easiest way to ensure it is, is to have procedures in place that don’t vary and ALL your staff know what those procedures are. Not wishing to harp back to the vegetarian example, but no-one (I hope!!!) would dream of serving a veggie meal with a side order of meat.....

Allergic to shellfish?

I decided not to rely on the tardiness of our Tae Kwon-Do club's Instructor to organise the Christmas do this year as we ended up in a 'last minute' venue last year.  I therefore took it upon myself to sort out the event.  As it happens it's quite late to arrange Christmas Dos in October - who knew?!

The consensus of opinion was to go to a national restaurant chain with an Italian theme locally and then onto various watering holes.  They can fit 25 of us in at the beginning of December with a set menu.  Ideal.  I provisionally booked.  It wasn't until later that I thought about myself and what I could eat, so then looked up the menu on line.

I don't know why this particular chain thinks this is a good idea - I thought we were really making progress in providing relevant information - but in order to find out which menu items are suitable for coeliacs, I had to send an email (in the 21st century?) to a "Guest Relations" person, requesting the allergen information.  Now I'm sorry, but that is about 40 steps backwards from where we were two years' ago.  What if I wanted to eat then and there with a hungry child?  How ridiculous is that?

However, what makes me more mad......and sad really.....is the set menu choice, and I quote.......

"I can confirm the following dishes from our Christmas Set Menu which are gluten and wheat free are the King Prawn starter without Ciabatta Bread and the King Prawn Risotto."

Inspiring? Not very.  As it happens I am mildly allergic to shellfish.....I come up in an attractive red blotchy rash, but in small amounts I can eat them.  Even without this, I'm not sure I would fancy king prawns for a starter (without the bread - I eat carbs too you know!) and then king prawns for main.  This has to be the 'epic fail' Christmas Menu of the year.

To be fair to the company, I can eat off the Classic Menu, which means that I don't receive the Christmas Set Menu discount, but that's not really the point.  In what chef's kitchen, did they decide that the only set menu items that would be gluten free would be king prawn starter and a king prawn main? Even if one of the dishes were without prawns, that would be a little more adventurous.

The upshot of this is that it further convinces me the need for the KISS Campaign.  We need to inspire companies to cater for us.  It's not that hard to do and it makes eating out so much more pleasurable and less stressful.  Despite that I know I will have a good time out - but as usual, will probably eat before I go.......just in case......


This week's recipe is "Winter spiced fruit with a hot meringue topping".   For further information about our KISS Campaign, this recipe and others, please see www.glutenfreetraining.co.uk

Winter spiced fruit with a meringue topping

Droppa & Droppa’s KISS campaign – Keep It Simple & Safe

As Christmas draws closer, so the festivities begin.  This is, however, generally a coeliac’s worst nightmare.  I‘ve been to many a Christmas do in my working life and it’s fair to say that, at the majority of places I have been poorly catered for.  In fact it may shock a lot of people to know that I’m not the only coeliac who eats before they go out to eat…..just in case there is nothing for me when I get there. 

As a manufacturer of food, I totally understand how difficult it is to cater for special diets when you have to serve over 200 covers at once.  Fear not, I have a cunning plan.  I have produced some gluten, wheat and dairy free alternative recipes for caterers.  All the dishes are ‘naturally’ gluten free and use regular kitchen ingredients, so there is no reason why these dishes (or similar ones) shouldn’t be on the menu for all diners.  They are not intended to be followed to the letter – more inspirational than anything else.

So, my campaign is going out to as many caterers as possible.  Wouldn’t it be amazing to eat from a menu, where some of the items are gluten free anyway.  The kitchen doesn’t have to prepare anything special for you, you won’t feel like a social pariah and be made to feel different, but you can eat out safely.

Please let as many people know about the KISS Campaign as you can and then hopefully we’ll really start to make a difference.  The first recipe – two ways with rostis is already up on www.glutenfreetraining.co.uk//Pages/Recipes.html.

If you have any recipes that you feel would work in any kitchen, feel free to email them to me and I will test them out and post them on my website.  I’m after recipes that use normal kitchen ingredients, no fancy flours that are costly and hard to source.  We really want kitchens to buy into this, not make their lives more difficult and this can only be achieved by making it as easy as possible.

Christmas kisses to one and all.

Still getting it wrong......

We were out in town after school with our daughter the other day and decided to treat her to a meal at one of her favourite restaurants.  She’s eleven years old and, if she had her way, her diet would consist entirely of junk food and ice cream.  Anyway, she decided she wanted to eat at a well-known pizza chain (more for the availability of said ice cream and a variety of toppings!)  Groaning internally we agreed…..

Now don’t get me wrong, I, like others, welcome the fact that these big chains now provide gluten free pizzas so that I can feel ‘normal’ when eating out, but I just don’t like eating that kind of factory made, processed food and I particularly don’t like it for my children.  Unfortunately, my previous arguments of “mummy can’t eat there, so let’s go to X restaurant instead, don’t stand up anymore!”  I should have known better than to offer her the decision making responsibility, but hey ho…… So, off we toddled.

Having eaten in this establishment a couple of times in the last few months, I know that some of the toppings aren’t gluten free – or rather should I say were “made in a factory blah blah blah.”  So, when our waiter came over, I asked him to check the toppings that are gluten free.  “All of them” he said with confidence.  “Can you please check,” I said as I’m sure not all of them are….”

He duly went off to the Manager and came back brimming with even more confidence and said “I’ve just checked with my Manager and definitely all of the toppings are gluten free.”  This is when it gets awkward.  I know that’s not quite true, yet I don’t want to appear as if I’m being difficult, but I know he’s wrong.  At this point he tells me he’s only just started, which is absolutely fine - we all have to start at some point!  So what do I do?……husband to the rescue….!  It’s so much easier to be more assertive when it’s for someone else.  “Please can you check your ‘book’ as I know you have a full ingredients list with allergens?”

So off goes the new guy again and I turn around to see him and the manager discussing the matter at length.  Again he comes back and confirms that all toppings are gluten free.  The Manager still has the ‘book’ in his hand, so being very brave I get up and say “I’m really not being difficult, but it is very important as I don’t want to be ill.”  And I check the ‘book’ with him.  Lo and behold there is a contamination risk associated with the ham topping.  I point that out to the Manager and waiter and explain that the risk is too high and I would prefer not to have something with ham on (shame as I was going to order a Hawaiian pizza!)

As it happens, I had a Cajun chicken.  Sadly, I still had a dodgy tummy when I got home and two days later I was still feeling a little icky.  I get very tired, short tempered and experience an overall feeling of lethargy when I’ve been exposed to gluten.  Now therein lies the dilemma - deprive child from stuffing her face with pizza and ice cream for my sake; or just put up with it and make it my mission to try to train these establishments, so that they do not keep making the same basic mistakes……resolutely, I choose the latter.

New and temporary staff will always come and go, but the rules and regulations that surround the delivery of allergen information - is here to stay.  Appropriate training materials and systems are essential to keep your staff up to speed, keep the business compliant and above all your customers happy.

Apple 'Brumble'

As part of our gluten free training for caterers, we intend to provide some simple recipes that even the busiest of kitchens can produce, using ingredients that are to hand in most kitchens.

Please watch the video below and follow the recipe. 

Crumbles are extremely cost effective in two ways.  Firstly, this particular recipe allows you to make use of any stale bread in your larder (thus reducing waste); and secondly, seasonal fruits are cheap, in plentiful supply and should be at their best.  As with the Yorkshire Puddings (see an earlier Blog) the following recipe is very easy to make and all the ingredients can be easily sourced.

A crumble is best served hot.  Why not finish it with a generous helping of custard; a healthy dollop of cream; or a scoop or two of ice cream - there are dairy free alternatives available from most supermarkets.

The topping is quite sweet, so it doesn’t harm to use slightly tart / sharp fruits to give an excellent contrast to the dish.

The picture above shows an oval-shaped oven-proof dish measuring 11” x 7” and is enough to feed approximately four to six people.

GLUTEN FREE, WHEAT FREE & DAIRY FREE

Eight eating apples (or four cooking and four eating) or any seasonal fruit

125g golden granulated sugar

125g dairy free spread

125g golden syrup

250g fresh gluten & wheat free breadcrumbs

50g of nuts of your own choosing (35g ground and 15g larger chunks for added texture)

BE SURE TO CHECK – Nuts are inherently gluten free.  Processing can result in cross contamination, so check any labelling carefully to ensure there is no gluten present.

Butter can be substituted for the dairy free spread where appropriate.

                                                                                                                                           

Preparation time: 15 minutes

Cooking time: 30 minutes

Serves / makes: 4-6 portions

1.  Peel and core the apples.  Dice half the quantity of apples (or all of the cooking apples) and gently heat them in a saucepan with a little water.  Cook them until they are soft.  Dice the remaining eating apples into larger chunks and set aside in a bowl of water.

2.  Place the sugar, dairy free spread and golden syrup into a separate saucepan and once again heat slowly until all the contents have dissolved/melted.

3.  Once melted, stir into your breadcrumbs and nuts mixing thoroughly.

4.  Grease your oven-proof dish.  Drain your diced (non-cooked apples) and put them into the dish followed by the cooked apples.  Then pour the topping over and smooth down until you have an even covering.

5.  Place the dish in the middle of the oven for approximately 30 – 40 minutes.  Cook until golden brown.  Serve hot.

Saw it ...... nailed it!

Last week was my little girl's birthday.  As is the want of an eleven year old, she wanted a special cake, however she actually doesn't like cake (who doesn't like cake?  Must be from her father's side!), but she wants a party tea with a few friends and a pinata. Now call me a grumpy old woman, but over the last twelve years of having kids I have been to many a party with a pinata.  Sugar fueled hooligans bash the life out of a pink and purple donkey stuffed with more sugar.  Inevitably someone has been hit accidentally with the stick and moreover the thing never breaks, so dads step in and bash the life out of this poor thing causing all the sweets to scatter everywhere and children then push and shove each other out of the way to grab what they can. Utter carnage!

So in the interest of public safety, I decide against the pinata, but remembered the front cover of an Asda magazine recently.......hey presto all problems solved.

The inspirational picture on the front of the magazine can be seen here: http://issuu.com/asdamagazine/docs/asda_july_2014compressed.  The cake consists of coloured layers of sponge with a hole cut out of the centre and filled with sweets.  What a cool idea. 

So I toddled off to the shops to get some food colouring.  Got home after popping to Morrison's, as I had to pick up other stuff from there, only to read the back of the colouring to find that theirs "may contain gluten, wheat, shellfish, dairy etc".  Why?

Anyway, so I went to Asda (completely in the other direction) and picked up their natural food colouring.  I decided on orange, red and blue.  There wasn't any yellow, but I figured normal sponge would do.

The big day comes when I decide to make this cake.  I made up a double normal sponge mix and quartered it.  I then added orange to one quarter - not a bad orange colour (although I used more colouring than the recipe recommended).  I then mixed up the blue.  We now have a grey insipid looking sponge.  In the vain hope that it will cook up with more vibrance, I put it in the oven anyway.  The red looked more purple than red and I once again decided the colour may take more when cooked.  The big risk was that if I added even more colouring it would not only change the consistency of the cake, but also taste foul.

So, after cooking and cooling, we now have one plain layer, one orange, one grey and one grey/purple.  Not quite the look I was going for.  I cut the middle out of two of the layers, smothered butter cream over the layers so that they would stick together and filled with lots of sweets.  I topped it with the plain layer and then iced it with butter cream (I never professed to be a cake decorator!) and stuck loads of sprinkles, wafer flowers and gummy bears on the outside.

Although it wasn't quite the look I was aiming for, she was still absolutely bowled over by it and her mates thought it was the coolest thing ever...............not sure the parents thanked me for the sugar rush though!

The 'rise' of bread mixes

Pardon the pun but I just couldn't resist!

As you can imagine as a manufacturer we buy in our flours, nuts, seeds etc. from a couple of wholesalers.  I had to suppress a wry smile the other day when our sales representative from one of these companies was a bit put out that we didn't attend a 'gluten free' day at his premises.  The purpose of the day was to sell gluten free bread mixes to bakeries - the fact that we are specifically a gluten free bakery must have missed him.  He didn't quite get the point that we make everything from scratch and that we don't use mixes, but never mind.

Anyway that got me thinking about what follow-up is there re: these gluten free mixes?  If a wholesaler is marketing these mixes to 'normal' bakeries with a view to producing gluten free products, where's the education in making these products in a gluten free environment?  Do the bakeries concerned even know that they can't call the fruits of their labour gluten free without sending the products off to be tested for levels of gluten; or at least batch testing internally? 

I can only imagine the amount of flour that is flying around in a non-gluten free bakery.  We have traces of gluten free flour that cover every work surface literally minutes after cleaning as the flour is suspended in the air for long periods, especially really light flours like tapioca starch.  What must a 'normal' bakery be like?  And what about the bread tins that despite industrial cleaning still contain crumbs from years of use cooking bread products.

This is where the responsibility side has to kick in.  I hope that the company that produces these mixes provides at least basic gluten free training so that as many measures are in place to limit the contamination risk and that the purchasers of these loaves are made fully aware of the environment that they are produced in.

All in all I'm a little bit anxious about it.  Even if the bakeries used the correct terminology and stated that the bread was made with "no gluten containing ingredients", I personally would steer well clear, but I am extremely sensitive.  I really hope that those bakeries that buy the mixes are doing so with the best intentions and not jumping on the gluten free bandwagon.....

A little bit misleading ......

A few days ago there was an article published by The Daily Mail on the new European legislation in respect of providing foods with potential allergens. http://www.dailymail.co.uk  Fundamentally the law is changing in December this year and makes it an offence not to declare any one of the 14 allergens listed below in food products:

Celery, Cereals containing gluten, Crustaceans, Eggs, Fish, Lupin, Milk, Molluscs, Mustard, Peanuts, Sesame, Soy beans, Sulphur dioxide at levels above 10mg/kg, or 10 mg/litre, expressed as SO2, Tree nuts (such as walnut, hazelnut, almond, etc.).

As anti-European legislations go, the article is quite vociferous in its approach with its opening line on the legislation being…..

“Restaurants, cafés and schools are being forced by the EU to identify and list 14 potential allergens in their food.”

I love the word “forced” here!  Anyone would think that the experts from DEFRA (The Department for Food, Environment and Rural Affairs) and the FSA (Food Standards Agency) haven’t had a say in this legislation, which has been drafted, re-drafted, consulted on and honed for the last few years.  It’s not the EU putting a stamp on us at all, it’s about the European Community at large agreeing on some food industry standards to protect the consumers (and the businesses) that operate in the Union.

The premise of the law is that any food item sold, or provided at functions etc., has to be labelled (whether verbal or written) if it contains one of the allergens and that allergen needs to be communicated to the consumer.  I am very surprised that a ‘renowned cook and TV Food expert’ would think this a bad thing.  Surely any cook of any worth at all would be totally up to speed with what ingredients go in the food they cook?  Have we learnt nothing from the recent horse meat scandal?

As it happens I disagree that the small businesses will suffer.  Small businesses that buy in a lot of pre-prepared food will be ok as all goods supplied by manufacturers have to be labelled accordingly under the legislation anyway, so approaching the suppliers is not an issue.  Those small businesses that cook from scratch using fresh ingredients will also be fine, as they will know all the ingredients that go into each dish.  Yes it’s a bit of work initially writing out all the ingredients and highlighting those allergens, but even dishes of the day are repeated again and again.  I‘m also not really quite sure how listing an ingredient will 'kill innovation'.  I can’t imagine making a decision on cooking a dish being dependent on whether I have to declare it contains celery or not.

I do take the point that massive fast food chains will have it easier as they have standard food items and whole departments dedicated to writing out menus and ingredients lists.  They still also have to go through the process of raw ingredient traceability and ingredients listing and changing all labels and information sheets accordingly, but they have known about this change for quite a while now.

It is also quite misleading that the allergens need to be shown on the menus.  It has to either be made available verbally or be visible in writing, not necessarily on the menus.

According to the article the chairman of the Restaurant Association, the 7^th Earl of Bradford, stated:

‘What people who have allergies need to do is to alert the staff when they visit a restaurant. If the staff are trained properly, they will then be able to explain which dishes they will have a problem with,’ he said.

This is very true; however this is where the legislation falls down in my opinion anyway.  There are two sides to this. 

The first is that I’m not sure he understands what it is like to have an allergy or food intolerance.  I am a coeliac and thus cannot eat any foods containing gluten.  I hate ….and can I just emphasise HATE a little bit more…. going to eat in a restaurant and having to have the conversation about what food I can and cannot eat, the waiter/waitress then goes to have a chat with chef, then comes back to tell me what I can and can’t eat if they remove this that and the other from the meal etc. etc. etc.  Meanwhile my fellow diners are all a bit bored of having to discuss my diet yet again.  Then it doesn’t stop there.  The meals come out and I look suspiciously at the food handed to me (no-one mentioned the coleslaw…..is the coleslaw gluten free). Then we have the whole conversation again with the waiter/waitress. He/she then goes away and checks again.  Meanwhile everyone else’s food is getting cold.  I ask them to start.  I’m still waiting for confirmation and it’s either “no it’s fine” or, “oh we’re really sorry you can’t eat that bit”.  My food is now cold.  Everyone else has finished and I’m chewing my way through mine…… ! This is a normal regular dilemma.   

Does he have any idea how liberating it is to go to one of the, generally fast food, restaurants and order either straight off the special menu or specially labelled dish.  I can read what I fancy in my own time without numerous conversations with the staff.  I don’t feel embarrassed about being different and I can just enjoy eating out, because let’s face it, it’s supposed to be pleasurable.

The second issue (and this will always be true) is the contamination issue.  It saddens me greatly that some companies go to great lengths to provide a gluten free meal and then fall over in the preparation, cooking, plating and serving of it.  It’s not enough to know what is in the food, it is also how it’s prepared that is significant and the legislation does not take this into account at all.

There is a dire need for compulsory training of all staff on allergens.   There is so much blind ignorance as to the impact of consuming an allergenic foodstuff.  Phrases like “estimated 21 million Britons who claim to have food allergies” further add to the perception that we are all just fussy eaters and that a little bit won’t hurt us.

A further curveball is just around the corner.  The gluten free labelling legislation is being amended yet again in 2016….more on that to come I think!