Saturday afternoon I had the great pleasure of finally going to the Gluten Free and Allergen Free Expo. It was held in Renaissance Glendale's biggest ballroom, and had tons of booths available to guests. Each guest got an Enjoy Life! bag to carry around their sample goodies and literature.
I had the special opportunity to meet a few great ladies in the Phoenix gluten free blogging community. They were all really sweet and I felt special to be part of such an elite group. Here are their links:
I had the special opportunity to meet a few great ladies in the Phoenix gluten free blogging community. They were all really sweet and I felt special to be part of such an elite group. Here are their links:
- Kompromised Kitchen (Kara Pena)
- Nosh & Nurture (Mandi Leigh Pimental)
- My Plant Based Family (Holly Yzquierdo)
- Connect Gluten Free (MJ)
- Gluten Free Combat (Kelli Cousineau)
- The Cheeky Celiac (Kim Pebley)
I also got an opportunity to meet Jason Elmore, the creator of the Find Me Gluten Free app. The app finds gluten free options at restaurants (both regular and dedicated GF) near you so that you can travel and still find something good to eat. Jason created this masterpiece in 2010 after he got fed up with trying to find safe places to eat. I happen to use the app almost daily, and it was an honor to meet him.
Find Me Gluten Free also showed off a sample of their new gluten free mailing box, a monthly mailer that will offer various gluten free snacks in both trial and actual sizes. You can get a free month of the service by signing up at a GFAF Expo near you or by visiting the subscription box site here.
While nothing offered at the expo contained gluten, there was a dedicated side of the expo especially for those with peanut or tree nut allergies. These booths were red curtained, while those that were only gluten free were blue curtained. This sensitivity to allergies is one of the many reasons this expo is anything but "just about gluten".
Any booth that sold or offered any food type item was required to have this small placard visible on their table.
This is the one posted at Enjoy Life!'s booth. Their foods are all specially made without :
and are also all natural and non-GMO. Enjoy Life offered S'Mores Bars, Caramel Apple cereal bars, and Plentils, lentil chips. I liked the flavored Plentils, not much one for the plain as I do not actually like lentils. Enjoy Life makes tons of snack options and nearly all of them are delicious.
This is the one posted at Enjoy Life!'s booth. Their foods are all specially made without :
- wheat/gluten
- dairy
- peanuts
- tree nuts
- egg
- soy
- shellfish
- casein
- potato
- sesame
- sulfites
and are also all natural and non-GMO. Enjoy Life offered S'Mores Bars, Caramel Apple cereal bars, and Plentils, lentil chips. I liked the flavored Plentils, not much one for the plain as I do not actually like lentils. Enjoy Life makes tons of snack options and nearly all of them are delicious.
Speaking of children, at the expo I found out about a great group known as R.O.C.K. (Raising our Celiac Kids) and it did wonders to ease my mind about my future struggles of raising children with celiac disease. The group works in chapters, and at the chapter meetings kids enjoy gluten free snacks while parents are able to catch up with each other about new research and other things that go with having a child with celiac disease. Its a great idea and I hope someone may join a R.O.C.K. chapter themselves! This is their information website.
One of my favorite brands, Glutino, had a huge booth at the expo, sharing a space with Udi's. They collectively offered mini pancakes, quesadillas, protein shakes, and pretzel samples at their joint booth.
At the Glutino booth they had mini pancakes for sample, served up with awesome attitudes from the booth staff as you can see in the smiley photo above. Guests were invited to enter in a raffle to win a gift. Similar raffles were held in different booths throughout the expo, I entered a bunch so lets see how I do!
At the Glutino booth they had mini pancakes for sample, served up with awesome attitudes from the booth staff as you can see in the smiley photo above. Guests were invited to enter in a raffle to win a gift. Similar raffles were held in different booths throughout the expo, I entered a bunch so lets see how I do!
The Schar booth unfortunately did not offer bread samples, instead opting for cookie samples. While their chocolate chip cookies are a great replacement for Chips Ahoy!, I was disappointed to not be able to try their bread before spending $9 on a loaf. I guess that's why they gave out coupons.
All in all the expo was an incredible experience. I for one left with over 50 new products to sample and hopefully buy from one of the gluten free friendly grocery stores in my area using the coupons I recieved. It was a very well executed expo, and it looked like everyone was having a blast visiting the vendor booths, getting samples, and seeing all that the gluten free world has to offer.
I felt incredibly secure at the expo; nothing in that entire room was unsafe for someone with my condition to eat, and everyone there understood the difficulties of living without gluten. This expo showed me more of the hundreds of brands there are for snacks and replacements for traditionally gluten-filled foods, and going home to sample these treats is great because now I can buy the ones I like and already know how they'll taste when I get home.
I highly recommend attending one of the GFAF Expos if there is one near you. Its a fun place for families and even going solo like I did.
Love,
The GF GF
I highly recommend attending one of the GFAF Expos if there is one near you. Its a fun place for families and even going solo like I did.
Love,
The GF GF