It seems like every time I go past a health food or natural food store, I see an ad for gluten-free this or gluten-free that.
What’s so bad about gluten that people want it left out of their food? I realize that some folks have an allergic reaction to gluten, but it’s like .5 or 1% of the american population, so it’s hardly a big market driving force.
My theories:
To that small percentage of sufferers, ingestion of gluten can be a really serious thing - it’s not like some other allergies and intolerances. Also, wheat-based products are such common staples that there really is quite a pressing need for alternatives, for those who can’t eat gluten.
Also, they might only be a small percentage of the population, but perhaps quite a significant percentage of the clientèle of a health food store - in the same way that you may see vegan or vegetarian foods represented there in greater density than the supermarket - health food stores are where people with special dietary needs shop, therefore their product ranges are biased in that favour.
Mr. Spondular, you make an interesting point. I guess gluten-free items are a niche market for the health-food industry.
My sister has celiac disease. She was always “sickly” as a kid, lost weight easily, etc. That’s because gluten damages the intestinal lining of celiac sufferers and inhibits the absorption of nutrients. She was in her 20s before she finally got diagnosed - by a nutritionist, who was trying to figure out why her bone density was reduced at such an early age.
Now that she’s on a strict gluten-free diet, having the slightest bit of wheat flour (among other things) mixed into her food makes her violently sick, so she has to be very careful to check food ingredients. Let me tell you, it can be unbelievably hard to find any sort of packaged food that doesn’t have some sort of gluten or related ingredient in it that would cause her trouble (and sometimes the food labels are sufficiently vague, like with the source of modified food starch, that she has to stay away to play it safe). She used to have to order basic things like corn or rice pasta online, but for whatever reason, health food stores and some of the regular shops have started carrying more gluten-free stuff. She’s really happy about that, believe me!
By the way, celiac disease is not that uncommon among people of European descent. This web site ( http://www.medicinenet.com/celiac_disease/article.htm ) says:
I would just like to clarify that a celiac disease, a.k.a. “gluten intolerance” and an allergy to wheat are NOT the same things. Celiac damages the intestinal lining and causes all sorts of problems. Wheat allergies will tend to manifest as skin rashes, itching, hives, wheezing, and possibly anaphylactic shock in extreme cases.
Of course, both categories of people should stay away from wheat products, although in theory someone with celiac could eat a wheat product with the gluten removed whereas a wheat allergic probably couldn’t without severe consequences.
I suppose it’s also possible to have both at the same time.
I work with a lady who last year went on a gluten-free diet for her arthritis. I rolled my eyes, but she can get her wedding ring on and off for the first time in years now. Clearly, for whatever reason, it works for her. (She also has been avoiding sugars.) Thing is, it’s hard to bake for office parties now. Some people don’t even make the effort - people brought regular baked goods for her birthday party. Rude!
Broomstick, it’s true that celiac /= wheat allergy, but sometimes it’s easier to explain it to people that way. When I’ve been out in restaurants with my sister, she’s had to send back more than one dish that turned out to have gravy made with flour, or fish dusted with flour, etc., even though she explicitly asks about wheat content beforehand. I guess either the waiter or the chef thought she must not be serious if she just said, “I can’t have flour.” If she says she’s allergic, though, people at least associate that comment with a bad reaction like anaphylactic shock or whatever and don’t try to give her anything she shouldn’t have.
Zsofia, there’s a company called Pamela’s that makes a variety of gluten free cookies as well as a gluten free flour mix ( http://www.glutenfree.com/item_detail.aspx?ItemCode=956039) that can be substituted for wheat flour in a lot of recipes. It’s a little pricey, but for special occasions like your co-worker’s birthday, it’d be a nice gesture, and it works pretty well (speaking from experience).
Last time I tried substituting a gluten-free flour made from garbanzo and fava beans to make apple bars. I was really nervous but they turned out awesome! The flour had kind of a nutty taste that wouldn’t have worked in a lot of things, but really complemented the apple bars. (I also cut the sugar in half.) I believe the flour I used was from Bob’s Red Mill.
Would you happen to have a recipe? I have a coworker with Celiac Disease and she always ends up getting left out when we have office things. I’d love to surprise her with those.
Just a coincidence. A coworker of mine told me yesterday that a nutritionist put her on a gluten-free diet. She does not have allegies or Celiac Disease. He just basically thinks that gluten is evil.
More coincidence: my brother-in-law, after over a year of constant illness, various tests, many medications to control symptoms, and general frustration, was told he might have celiac disease. He’s due to go in for testing in a month, but he went on a gluten-free diet a week before he visited Christmas just to see if he’d see any improvement. By the time he left for home on the 2nd, he was already looking better than he has in quite a while.
I was delighted to find so many gluten-free mixes at not only the health-food stores but even our regular grocery store. While the texture of the plain bread was a little odd, I was able to make gluten-free cookies, pancakes, muffins, and other foods he loves, so he didn’t feel at all deprived over Christmas. Pamela’s and Bob’s Red Mill were standouts among the brands I tried.
I think that’s why you’re seeing so much gluten-free stuff these days. There are a smallish number of people who have problems (such as wheat allergy or celiac disease) that do benefit from a gluten-free diet. But the woo-woos have glommed onto gluten-free as the latest fad diet to fix every problem under the sun, so a lot more people are looking for gluten-free stuff as well.
Sure, I think this is it:
1/2 cup melted butter
1 cup white sugar (I think I may have reduced this, it would of course depend on your apples)
1 egg
1 cup all purpose flour, which I substituted with the fava bean/garbanzo flour, which is I think what made them so good - there are more “normal” tasting gluten free flours, but this one has a nice nutty thing going on
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 cup apples, I like Granny Smith, peeled cored and chopped
I cup chopped walnuts, if you like nuts
Preheat to 350 and grease an 8x8 pan. Mix the melted butter with the sugar and egg. Mix in the dry stuff and stir in the apples and walnuts. (My apples wouldn’t really go “in” so I tried to kind of maneuver them to the bottom of the pan, which worked fine.) Spread the batter into the pan and bake 40 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
These got rave reviews from everybody, even people not worried about gluten. I think they may be a little more fall-apart than regular ones, but nobody complained at all and they were polished off before lunch.
ETA - haven’t some people claimed success with gluten-free diets for autistic children?
Thanks, Zsofia!
And yes, eliminating gluten and casein is sometime recommended for autism by members of that community.
And at the other extreme, I have an old (1970s vintage) vegetarian cookbook that describes gluten as a wonderful meat substitute and tells you how to make gluten ‘roast’, gluten ‘ribs’ and other delights. IIRC without digging through my cookbook collection to find it, it was published by the folks at ‘The Farm’. It was a gift from my hippie uncle.
I was never brave enough to try the gluten recipes in it, though some of the cookie and dessert recipes are pretty good and I still use them now and then.
I believe that’s what ‘seitan’ is.