My Celiac Blog

Woo Hoo! Food scientists working together at Washington State University and Oregon State University are planning to develop a new variant of wheat that would not contain the gliadin proteins which cause trouble for people with celiac disease. This, if it comes to pass, would be earth shatteringly good news for those of us with grouchy tummies!

An article on the website Capital Press, which caters to the agriculture industry, reports the good news.

I'd like to thank these food scientists for caring about this issue, and wanting to help overcome this annoying disease.

Imagine sinking your teeth deep into a nice French Baguette like the one shown here, then pulling it ever so slowly away, teeth still clenched firmly, and watching as it stretches and then tears in a way that gluten-free bread just does not do at all.

Imagine eating bread that tastes like bread. Oh yes, I am so there. I might gain 10 pounds in the first week such a wheat-based gluten-free bread becomes available, but I would cherish each and every one of those pounds. Sock it to me, science!

Technorati Tags: celiac disease, celiac diet, gluten-free, food science, research, GF wheat, woo hoo!, gluten free bread

When you go food shopping chances are you do not know the names of the actual company that owns food brand names. As it happens both Morningstar Farms and Gardenburger, arguably the 2 leading providers of veggieburgers, are subsidiaries of the giant food conglomerate Kelloggs.

People with celiac disease have been raving for some time about the Gardenburger brand Grilled Veggie Burgers. But Kelloggs has now reformulated this product to contain wheat, so it is no longer a gluten free product.

No doubt it is purely a coincidence that just a few weeks ago one of the largest competitors of Kelloggs, General Mills, announced that they have reformulated their famous Rice Chex product to be gluten free.

The message I am receiving from Kelloggs is go away. While the message I am receiving from General Mills is, hey, we know you are there.

This seems to be an ideal case for the free market to decide, if Kelloggs does not want my business I will not buy any of their products. None.

If General Mills wants to acknowledge my existence and the special diet I must follow, then they can have my business.

This is sometimes called voting with your wallet. May the giant food conglomerate that wishes to make food I can eat be the winner.

Technorati Tags: Kelloggs, General Mills, Gardenburger, gluten free, Morningstar Farms, free market, veggie burgers