Wanted: Research on Cause of Gluten Allergies
August 7th, 2010
Check out this article that just came out from LiveScience.com about the research to pinpointing the causes of gluten allergies. This article makes me so happy that there are people in the world doing the research to understand how it’s effecting the immune system and how to start helping people with it. They have a found that certain gluten peptides are responsible for generating most of their patients reactions.
After reading the article I can start seeing many connections to eczema as a form of symptom to a gluten sensitivity and/or full blown allergy. Finally someone is coming up with the true root cause of a problem rather than just trying to fix the aftermath of a breakout. The research is mainly held in Australia currently and news has spread around the world. Let’s hope they can learn more and come up with some solutions and connections to something like eczema and other immune reactions that people suffer from.
Taste Off, It’s Coco-nuts
April 1st, 2010
The lineup. Check out the cool coconut I got. It even had a spot to stick a straw in.
After my last post about the coconut water, I got a bunch of questions and interest from people. So I thought I’d do a little taste off to find out if all coconuts are created equal. If you know my blog by now, you know I love a good matrix chart to compare products. So here’s the line-up, 2 cans from Thailand, and 2 popular boxed drinks from Brazil. 6 people blind taste testing the drinks and giving their unedited comments about them. Let’s see what happens.
Turns out some people have never had coconut water (water and juice refer to the same thing) and they learned they aren’t big fans of this sudden fad. Others are intrigued by the city dwellers craze for this drink.
Real Coconut(13.5 ounces of water drained) C20
Pure Coconut Water, no pulp
17.5 oz Amy & Brian’s
Coconut Juice,
no pulp
17.5 oz Zico
Pure coconut water, no pulp
11.2 oz One
Coconut Water, no pulp
11.2 oz Origin Thailand Thailand Thailand Brazil Brazil Calories n/a 76 / 8oz 76 / 8oz 60 / 11.2 oz 60 / 11.2 oz Sugars n/a 10g 10g 14g 14g Potassium n/a 244mg 244mg 670mg 670mg Clarity Clearest of them all, least yellow of all Clear and slightly yellowish Clear and slightly yellowish Whitish murky, less viscous than Thai Whitish murky with little bits of coconuts Price $1.99 $1.99 $1.99 $1.99 $1.79 Real Comments “pleasant sweet”
“gritty, punch in face”
“tastes like yucky”
“fresh, smooth and sweet” “herbally sweet caramel”
“chrysanthemum”
“weird but drinkable” “tart and flowery”
“like sugar cane”
“Money!”
“like original but less sweet” “salty sweat”
“fish tank”
“starts off hard finishes smooth” “semi fish tank”
“worst so far”
“dislike aftertaste”
“wouldn’t tell if it wasn’t compared”
And the winners are…
A-Zico, B-C20, C-One, D-Amy&Brian's and the real coconut which had the clearest liquid.
Best Tasting: Amy & Brian’s (a few also felt C20 was really good if you like chrysanthemum) Best Thai coconut: The real thing. 2nd up Amy & Brian’s Best Brazilian coconut water: Zico Cheapest drink on the run: One Cheapest ounce for ounce: C20 & Amy & Brian’s depending on where you’re purchasing Healthiest: The Brazilians, Zico and One had the highest potassium and equal amounts of sugar as the Thai. Where does all that K come from? The K could be why they have an aftertaste. For those who missed chemistry, K is the symbol for the Potassium element. Best website: C20, we loved the cool little hammock that swings. One had a fun site too. Best packaging: Zico, it’s the cleanest looking with the calm beach. C20 was sort of old school looking but thought the name was clever enough to get us over the packaging. Amy & Brian’s probably had the worst, the logo is bad and the website needs better images that aren’t from the 80’s. Good thing they have a good tasting product. One, was still desirable with it’s shiny box.With the leftover coconut meat, scrape it out and toss it with some pineapple vodka and blend. It turns nice and frothy and makes for a good afternoon drink. The only problem with that is it dehydrates you, so you’ll have to load up on more coconut water. Happy gluten-free drinking, Cocoheads.
Soy Sauce 3 Way Bracket
November 30th, 2009
When I first started the switch to gluten-free I had to immediately find a soy sauce substitute. There was no way for me to give up things like sushi, basic stir-frys and using soy sauce for all kinds of marinades. Since trying the Bragg’s Liquid Amino Acid I also found San-J Tamari Wheat Free. I had a comparison and had a third party do a comparison with Kikkoman Light Soy Sauce. You can see in the picture that just by looking at the colors, each are very different from one another.
Here’s my comparison of each and using the standard Kikkoman Light Soy Sauce as the benchmark for the other two brands.
The line up.
From L-R: Kikkoman Light, San-J Wheat-free Tamari, Bragg's Liquid Aminos
(all in 1 Tbl) Kikkoman Light Soy Sauce San-J Organic Tamari, Wheat Free Bragg’s Liquid Aminos Color Medium Dark Brown Medium Brown Light Brown Sodium (mg) 575 940 960 Protein (g) 1 2 2 Ingredients (complete listing) Water, Wheat, Soybeans, Salt, Lactic Acid, Sodium Benzoate: Less than 1/10 of 1% as a preservative Water, Organic Soybeans, Salt, Organic Alcohol (To preserve freshness) Vegetable protein from Soybeans and Purified Water Only Taste Smooth, pungent, salty yet crisp Slightly sweeter than pungent, nicely salty Sharp taste almost like a Maggi Seasoning or fish sauce degree of sharpness Comments This is the norm and control subject and therefore used to compare the other two. This particular soy sauce style as milder than traditional soy sauce, very easy to have and a perfect replacement to wheat processed soy sauce. Most users would never notice the difference in using this product. I find I use equal parts from traditional soy suace even though it has a higher sodium content.Users prefer this over Bragg’s because it has no real amount of MSG which causes headaches and allergies to some. Additionally this Tamari has a milder less pungent taste than the Kikkoman brand. Liquid aminos follows a very natural fermenting process that I have read ends up creating a naturally occuring monosodium glutamate (MSG). This reaction causes that sharp taste that makes its’ dishes very flavorful and more comparable to something like Maggi seasoning. I find less in the range of 2/3 or even 1/2 is required in comparison to soy sauce or Tamari due to the strong flavor.Users prefer this due to not having alcohol and added salt in the process, but rather a more natural process.
I’m currently using the San-J Wheat-free Tamari because of it’s smoother taste than Bragg’s. If I need extra kick in a marinade I’ll add in the Bragg’s rather than Maggi’s seasoning. It’s hard to say which is better than the other but really a preference of whether you prefer more naturally occurring soy sauce or prefer the no MSG item. It’s a matter of taste.
Cafe Mariposa Bakeshop Sweet Sweet Gluten-Free
November 25th, 2009
Chocalate chip and nutmeal cookies from Cafe Mariposa. I want more!
In a rare find I was taken to Cafe Mariposa, a gluten-free bakeshop in Oakland, California. What, a bakery with gluten-free breads, desserts, bagels, cookies and pizza??! How is this so? This bakeshop was in a brick flanked building in a quiet neighborhood. What seemed quiet on the outside with an excess of hybrid and bio diesel vehicles, became a busy and bustling little bakeshop cafe on the inside.
I felt like I found a lost treasure. I was so excited I bought cookies, a slice of pizza, frozen bagels and frozen pizza crust. I went a little crazy. The cookies purchased were the chocolate chip and nutmeal cookies. In comparison to regular flour cookies, I really couldn’t tell the difference. Good chewy soft texture with nice sweetness are still in my mind. Ahhhh. The pizza was good too, the crust was a rice flour and didn’t crisp the way a regular pizza does but the cheese and toppings were flavorful and satisfying. Remember the lumpy one from Pizza Amore and Conte’s slightly better version. This one was cooked fresh at noon and the cheese was real cheese.
I still have the bagels and the pizza crust to try at home. If you’re in the neighborhood whether you’re gluten-free or not stop by and pick up a dessert. I have heard rave reviews of their flourless cake from non-gluten free (wheat loving) people.
5427 Telegraph Ave
Ste D3
(at 55th St)
Oakland, CA 94609
(510) 595-0955
Chez Panisse Is Tre Chic
November 22nd, 2009
Cava to start the night
It’s been a really good weekend. I started off with dinner at one of the top restaurant’s in the country, Chez Panisse in Berkeley, CA. Notable Alice Water’s restaurant is french-inspired with California local and farm fresh ingredients. Read the whole bio and story on their website here to get a true sense of what they’re about and how they put California on the restauranteur map.
My dinner and service here was so thoughtful and comfortable. With a gluten restriction, Chez Panisse did not even hesitate in their considerations of how they might alter their menu for me. The prix fixe menu only had small changes to exclude toast, cornbread stuffing and switching one of the dessert cookies. Their wait staff really paid attention to the menu and carefully consulted the chefs and had no hesitations in making it happen. Making non-gluten happen. I think it keeps chefs on their toes. Over the course I had a bottle of cava and the rest of the night is history. Here’s how the menu went…
Grilled Wolfe Ranch Quail
Appertif of olives, sliced meats and fresh radish.
Warm porcini salad with chicories and pork rilletes
Gulf shrimp risotto with golden beets and herbs (beets aren’t usually exciting, but it was really tasty and a cozy earthy taste)
Grilled Wolfe Ranch quail with huckleberry sauce, Savoy cabbage, and sunchoke-celery root puree. (I need to figure out how to make that puree, it was something I’ve had before, but each time is better than the last)
Bittersweet chocolate ice cream and pear sorbet with meringue. (The pear with light, fresh and matched so well with the chocolate)
I will go back and I believe this was one the nicest dining experiences I had, the food order to delivery times and the courtesy of everyone there and just the ambiance were of another class.
Not contrived, not forced, just well done. It blew away the stiff places I went to in New York and felt like true cooking again. Fine dining is easy when you’re gluten-free.
Chez Panisse Chez Panisse is a Berkeley, California restaurant known as the birthplace of California cuisine, a style credited to its co-founder,… more » Founders: Alice Waters, Paul Aratow Get one for any topic! #fbtb7852143545789654929{position:relative;color:#666}#fbtb7852143545789654929 * div, #fbtb7852143545789654929 * img{text-align:left;vertical-align:baseline;font-family:"Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:11px;font-weight:normal;font-style:normal;line-height:1.3;border:0;outline:0;padding:0;margin:0}#fbtb7852143545789654929 a{color:#17b;text-decoration:none;border:0;outline:0;padding:0;margin:0}#fbtb7852143545789654929 a:hover{text-decoration:underline}#fbtb7852143545789654929 .fbtb-frame{width:432px;height:265px;background:#eee;-moz-border-radius:5px;-webkit-border-radius:5px}#fbtb7852143545789654929 .fbtb-title{padding:5px 10px;font-size:13px;font-weight:bold;line-height:1.6}#fbtb7852143545789654929 .fbtb-content{float:left;border:1px solid #ccc;margin-left:5px;height:210px}#fbtb7852143545789654929 .fbtb-pane{float:left;width:210px;height:210px;overflow:auto;border-right:1px solid #ccc;background-color:#e5e5e5}#fbtb7852143545789654929 .fbtb-pane-last{border:0px}#fbtb7852143545789654929 .fbtb-get{clear:both;padding:5px 8px;line-height:1.1}#fbtb7852143545789654929 .fbtb-get a{color:#888;display:block;text-align:right;background:url(http://res.freebase.com/s/3d10f26e26813bcedbb56174b29ad822c5c38dae9614c3118d88052305ce4dec/resources/images/freebase-widget-attribution.png) no-repeat center left}#fbtb7852143545789654929 .fbtb-get a:hover{text-decoration:none;color:#f71;background:url(http://res.freebase.com/s/3d10f26e26813bcedbb56174b29ad822c5c38dae9614c3118d88052305ce4dec/resources/images/freebase-widget-attribution-over.png) no-repeat center left}#fbtb7852143545789654929 img{border:1px solid #fff}#fbtb7852143545789654929 .fbtb-more{text-align:right;padding:4px 0 0 0}#fbtb7852143545789654929 .fbtb-properties{border-top:1px dotted #ccc;clear:both}#fbtb7852143545789654929 .fbtb-property{border-bottom:1px dotted #ccc;padding:4px 6px}#fbtb7852143545789654929 .fbtb-label{font-size:9px;font-weight:bold;color:#444;padding-right:4px}#fbtb7852143545789654929 .fbtb-image-pane{text-align:center}#fbtb7852143545789654929 .fbtb-img-150{width:150px;height:150px;margin:28px 0 0 0}#fbtb7852143545789654929 .fbtb-articleprops-pane{background:#f8f8f8}#fbtb7852143545789654929 .fbtb-articleprops-pane .fbtb-description{padding:6px}
Austin Coozies and Bacon Wrapped Shrimp
November 9th, 2009
Bacon wrapped shrimp makes me happy. Overexposed photos, not so much.
I just got back from Austin, Texas having a ball at an engagement party enjoying friends, dancing, music, buying coozies at the tourist shops and of course some eating. I missed the barbecue when I got there…. boo, I’m sad Anyways during the dinner I had a lot of good gluten-free food including different curries, bacon wrapped shrimp with a spicy cheese and fruit dessert bar with caramel, chocolate sauce, nuts and whipped cream as high as I wanted. It was a good weekend, but good to be back to my green fridge.
I Had a Gluten-Free Dream Last Night
October 31st, 2009
This sounds really strange, but I had my first gluten-free dream last night. I usually don’t remember my dreams and I’ve never flown properly. I flap my arms like wings rather than glide. Back to my gluten-free dream. I was going to some modern art museum with a friend and we needed to eat. There was only a hot dog stand outside and no other cafe or food anywhere in sight.
I go up to the stand with low expectations of having anything I could consume. I ask, “I can’t have any gluten, like wheat or flour, do you have anything?” A young woman in the stand tells me they do have a gluten-free type hot dog that is made of almonds and some other things. (I can’t remember her full elaborate description, there were some words that I felt like I’d never even heard of before.) I’m thinking, wow I’ve never heard of that and at that moment it sounded really good. I ordered one and when it came out, it was the most amazing thing ever. Imagine a churro type bun that is slightly fried and sweetened but less gritty, and over a foot long with a hot dog that actually seemed to taste almond like. Two of the best streets food combined into one and it was mind blowing. I woke up and remembered it, thought it was so cool, and then thought, I am so weird, why would I be dreaming about churro hot dogs. I guess I really am living every aspect of my life including dreaming about being gluten-free. I am so lame.
Acai is So Hot Right Now
October 27th, 2009
I just picked up an Acai fruit blend juice because it has so many antioxidants and is really good. It’s the Lakewood Acai Amazon Berry, totally organic and gluten-free juice with no added sugars. Paid $5.19. You can tell by the picture it’s fairly thick and filled with naturally occurring Omegas – 3,6,9. Lots of them. That’s because not only does it have acai, it has pomegranate and even goji berry which is a redness reducing fruit. The vitamins in this are endless, from 280mg of Potassium to various Vitamin B’s and even 12% of Vitamin K.
I had acai last time I was in Brazil and it was crazy good there, probably because it was loaded up with sugar. Acai is really gritty, dark, thick and actually pretty bitter in its’ natural state.
Frozen Acai from Brazil last year.
At some point in the past I’ve had some of those other popular drinks such as Tahitian Noni Juice and XanGo Mangosteen Juice which both are similar in the effects that the acai fruit has. During those times I couldn’t tell if they did anything since nothing was really wrong with me then. Noni and XanGo are more concentrated so you only drink a shot or two of them daily. Also the price is about $18-$30 a bottle. I have yet to really analyze and compare each drink for total overall benefit.
Since drinking the Lakewood Acai, I have been sleeping better and just slightly less itchy, but still not doing the trick. In the mornings now I have less than a glass of the acai and sometimes almond milk on the side. I’ve really realized that vitamins cannot replace the vitamins that occur naturally within what we eat. There is just something different about eating living food.
PS. I just noticed freaking Oprah posted about this too! She has to stop copying me! Click Here for more.
Hump Day Fish Feed: Tilapia
October 22nd, 2009
It’s fish day today. Going back to my roots of lots of lean fish and good veggies. Today’s catch, Tilapia, which is apparently a very sustainable fish. Fish industry is apparently a total mess, so getting something that is raised in a sustainable way is always good in my mind. Anyways, Tilapia is a white flat fish. You’ll often see it fried or filleted and sauteed. I went for lightly pan fried with some fresh green snow peas and carrots. Another easy dish to make. You’ll notice I never get complicated when it comes to cooking and leave it to the Michelin restaurants to really show me some skill. For 2 people.
1 lb Tilapia filleted and de-boned, sliced in about 1-inch strips (rule of thumb is 1/2 lb per person and de-boned is great so you don’t choke the ones you love) 1/2 lb snow peas cleaned and ends removed 2 small carrots peeled and sliced diagonal 1/2 cup Rice wine 4 slices ginger
Apple Half ‘n Half
October 9th, 2009
Sweet and Tart
As I’ve cut back a bit on sweets, good fruit always gets me through. Green tart apples are my favorite and while they’re in season, strawberries. Of course fruits are all gluten-free and super filling and seem to do the trick. I think this is helping me get my fiber too. You can never get enough. I sort of hate red apples. Does anyone else think the skin tastes like nail polish? Weird I know, but I swear I smell it. I did just catch this random apple story from the UK, where an apple grew exactly have green and the other half red. Pretty weird, and somehow amazing. Read it here.
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