Event Review: Celiac Awareness Tour: Philadelphia

This past weekend I had the pleasure of attending the Celiac Awareness Tour’s stop in Philadelphia, PA (technically, King of Prussia, PA). There were a number of featured speakers throughout the event but the real treat (at least for me) is always the vendors.

There were over two dozen vendors in attendance. There were some old standbys: Udi’s, Kinnikinnick, Conte’s, Caesar’s, Allergen Free Foods, and Bakery on Main. As well as some local stores/restaurants to the Philly area. (I obviously skipped any vendors that were only offering dairy containing products/samples.) The stand outs from the show were:

Rudi’s Gluten Free - they recently launched very thin sandwich wraps/tortillas. The gentleman manning the booth, demonstrated rolling the wraps without breaking them and how much effort it took to break them up to sample. I’ll definitely be trying these as soon as they are available near me and comparing them to my current favorite wrap.

Daiya Dairy Free Cheese

Daiya Dairy Free Cheese - I had previously seen Daiya’s new products in Wegmans but hadn’t yet bought them. Big mistake! Daiya has managed to produce a block of cheese that can be eaten like real cheese (i.e. without broiling first). They’re called Daiya Wedges and I tried both the cheddar and the Jalapeno Garlic Havarti (kind of spicy) and was amazed. Now, just like other ‘cheese’ substitutes these have little nutritional value (i.e. no calcium, limited protein) but if you are looking to do cheese and crackers plate or and a garnish to a salad cubing up these products can fit the bill. (All three are gluten free, dairy free, vegan, soy free, egg free, peanut free, nut free (contains coconut).) [I’ll be publishing an article shortly with a head-to-head comparison of Vegan Gourmet vs. Daiya Dairy Free Cheeses.]

New Planet Gluten Free Beer (Ale)

New Planet Gluten Free Beer - they were sampling their three beers: Tread Lightly Ale, Off Grid Pale Ale, and 3R Raspberry Ale. I tried the Raspberry just to report back (unfortunately, I can’t handle carbonation either) and it was quite good. If I could drink beer, I would certainly have this again.

Finally, I got to briefly meet Michael from Gluten Free Philly. GF Philly is an amazing resource and one of the blogs I follow. I’ve got a review of the site scheduled shortly, but in the mean time, if you are anywhere near Philly, I highly recommend checking the site out.

After the conference I took a quick tour of Valley Forge and then stopped at PB&U for lunch. PB&U is a quick serve Peanut Butter sandwich restaurant. So far they have locations in Wayne, PA and Moorestown, NJ. That review is also coming shortly too!

For more upcoming gluten free events don't forget to check out my Gluten Free Event Calendar.