What do you call a group of gluten free bloggers?

Judging by the volume of conversation over the last couple of days, the answer is probably a ‘chattering’.

We—4 bloggers plus 2 coeliac advocates from Coeliac UK—had been invited to Newcastle by Warburton’s for a tour of their gluten free bakery and a discussion of their products.

It’s always instructive to get together with other gluten free communicators, and this was no exception. The other bloggers were:

• Annie, who runs Annie’s Supperclub – a secret supperclub which is part of the growing underground restaurant scene here in the UK, and which is entirely gluten free
• Fiona, a gluten free campaigner, from Gluten Free Guerrillas, who runs a Facebook community for coeliacs, their families and friends
• Katie, a foodie blogger, baker and nutritionist, who runs Apple and Spice, a blog about all the good things in life that are gluten free and vegetarian.

We weren’t there to meet each other, though, or the Coeliac UK team, but to meet Warburton’s, who were very welcoming, friendly and generous hosts: Hannah Flannery, the Product Manager, Graeme Tough, the Manufacturing Manager and Leighton Byrom, Development Technologist, all responsible for the development, production and sales of the Warburton’s gluten free products. And we were there to offer our perspectives on their products (quality, distribution and availability), and on supermarkets provision of gluten free products, as well as discussing ingredients, health matters and more.

We were also offered the chance to taste products due to be launched in the future. I can’t tell you what they are, but I can tell you that we—all of us—loved them. Warburton’s also shared some of their plans for the future.

And I can truthfully say that the enthusiasm and passion for the products demonstrated by the people we met matches the brand promise of Warburton’s, the trusted family baker.

Leighton, the baker, has travelled to Canada and Finland to find best practices in gluten free bread baking, as well as regular visits to supermarkets and cafes around the country to see what is available on the shelves. He’s been tasked with continual improvement of the product – and apparently there are many potential new ingredients that could be used to further improve the bread. And it has improved since it first came on the shelves; we were impressed by the lunchtime sandwiches!

The tour of the bakery was fascinating. After we were all stripped of jewellery, watches and mobiles, and togged up in safety boots, coats and hairnets, with well washed and sanitised hands, we were allowed into the bakery itself.

This is a dedicated facility, demolished and rebuilt to be gluten free from the foundations up – no risk of cross-contamination from non-GF products in there. I’ve never been in a production bakery before, and found it an unexpectedly manual and relaxed operation. We saw the dough being scraped manually into a hopper from which it was extruded into baking tins and wheeled into the proving room, the oven and the cooler, in turn. It takes about 5 hours to produce a loaf from start to finish. At the moment, the factory is not working at full capacity, but obviously Warburton’s will be hoping to change that as they grow their share of the gluten free market.

Interestingly, but not surprisingly, none of the staff are gluten free. Not surprising, because the team is a small one; interesting, because Warburton’s need to find a way to get feedback on everything from the product recipe to the distribution and availability issues, without first-hand experience. I guess that’s what we were there for…

I hope that Warburton’s got what they needed from our feedback – they certainly got a lot of it over the 20 hours or so we spent with them!

Do you get cross if people assume you’re being picky about your food? It’s not as though diagnosed coeliacs have a real choice, after all; I confess to being very picky indeed about what my coeliac daughter eats….

Today I have a guest post for you from Michael Shaw, discussing just this topic, and arguing that you should be picky and proud of it!

Why Gluten-Free people are more Persnickety

Are you a persnickety eater? If you have a gluten-free diet, or something similarly high-maintenance, chances are you may very well be. I’m not saying that’s a bad thing, of course, it’s more a case of reflecting the reality that, at some point, you may become the object of some very mild ridicule: “Oh, you and your fancy, organic-fair trade-locavore-kosher-gluten-free diet.” But I have a theory: secretly, people will be envying your discipline and will.

At what point does the gluten-free movement reach critical mass? It seems like we’re still on our way there, but I’ve been hearing a number of conversations about it on National Public Radio (NPR)-affiliated shows over the last couple months, which perhaps signals something. As long as the public’s knowledge continues to evolve—from getting people to know what gluten is, all the way to getting people to actually start consciously eating less of it in their diet, which is something I strive to enlighten people about at No Flour, No Sugar Diet–we will, collectively, not only lower health care costs, we’ll also lead more satisfying lives.

The latest conversation I caught about gluten came on the killer podcast The Dinner Party Download, during which co-host Brendan spoke with gluten-free baker Erin McKenna of Babycakes NYC, which has bakeries in New York, Los Angeles and Disneyworld (I know- an odd third location indeed). You can listen to the interview here (go to 11:10 in the episode to hear the conversation about gluten)

McKenna does a great job of concisely explaining what gluten is, how she creates healthy substitutes for it in her own baked goods, and why so many people are recognizing gluten intolerances and adopting gluten-free diets.

Things get even better when Brendan suggests that these types of folks – these gluten-free followers and aficionados – might be considered…persnickety. McKenna acknowledges that in fact they are, but points out that these folks fall into two main categories: the parents who are being extra vigilant for the sake of their kids’ health; and the adults who self-diagnose and tend to be obsessed with eating healthy and organic. While this type of adult may very well get on some of their friends’ nerves, in my book, a quest to eat healthy is a noble pursuit indeed, even if does make frequent fodder for teasing.

As a population, some of us tend to be of the school of “I just want to eat what I want to eat” – not worrying about sugars vs. unrefined sugars, industrially-farmed vs. organic, gluten vs. gluten-free, or anything else of the sort.

But at the risk of sounding preachy, I have to point out that part of evolving as a species is making better decisions about what we eat and why. And, unlike so many other things in life, this is one thing that’s well within our own control. So, whether you have kids you simply want to thrive, free of unnecessary intolerances or allergies, or you’re an adult who wants to adopt the healthiest diet you can live with—so as to maximize your energy and the way you feel on an ongoing basis—then think of being persnickety as a badge of honor. And if you happen to take a little light ribbing for it, know that it’s all in good fun, and may even be an opportunity to educate those who could benefit from your insights. Because in addition to being something of a novelty, having a progressive (i.e. unusual) diet can be a great forum for educating those less persnickety than yourself.

Thanks Michael!

Michael Shaw writes about many things gluten-free as well as sugar-free, including suggestions for healthy pancake recipes, at his website, No Flour, No Sugar Diet.