Tag Archives: gluten-free food

Awesome alert

Posted on by
Reply

A typewriterSome super smart people with big hearts put together a peer-reviewed directory of more than 600,000 restaurants across the U.S. that includes menus (including gluten-free), allergen lists, certifications, nutritional info and more.

We need to invent some sort of award to properly thank people like this for service to the gluten-free community. (And all other people with allergies.) Maybe a giant gluten-free cookie? Or lifetime access to allergy-friendly pizza? Will have to think on this.

Anyway… here is the great Los Angeles Times article that brought the directory into my (and now your) life. Busy? Go straight to the good stuff.

Duane Reade goes gluten-free

Posted on by
Reply

So, I was walking home recently. It had been a long day and I was starving. After successfully avoiding Chipotle (a minor miracle) I stopped in Duane Reade to pick up some important items (contact solution, band-aids, ice cream).

I took a wrong turn somewhere between first-aid and dairy and ended up in new, foreign territory. It took at least two minutes to process what my eyes were seeing, but I finally realized that I wasn’t hallucinating because of hunger.

DUANE READE HAS A GLUTEN-FREE GROCERY AISLE!!!

Seriously. Not just a product or two. An entire aisle of high-quality, yummy tasting, “there to feed you when you didn’t manage to plan ahead and are on the way home and starving” gluten-free food. They have all types. Sweet treats, savory items, hard to find substitutions. Standing there for the first time, I felt like Charlie in the Chocolate Factory. Minus the golden ticket and the Oompa Loompas.

True, there is an awesome gluten-free aisle at my mom’s local grocery store out in the Catskills. But that store is larger than a city block. You can find gluten-free groceries at Whole Foods or health food stores, but you usually have to travel or plan (unless you are lucky enough to live right by one and/or enjoy spending your free time on mile long lines).

Now, it is convenient. I love that word. Convenient. Convenient. Convenient. That’s not something we gluten-free and wheat-free people expect or experience often. Generally, we are forced to plan ahead or do without. Those who fail to do so starve or cheat. Neither option is attractive. So discovering this aisle was like winning the gluten-free lottery.

I really, really wanted to take photos or record video for you, but thought I already looked crazy enough for standing in the aisle for a solid 5-10 minutes staring at the food. Stand by. More to come in a week or so, after they’ve had time to forget about me.