Friday, June 02, 2006

The state of GF/CF foods

When I started my stint as a vegetarian 14 years ago, the options that were available were pretty slim and a lot of them were positively ghastly. The worst offenders were those that attempted to replicate the texture and flavor of meat. Here's a hint: you can't, so don't bother. Now, of course, there are a gazillion choices for meat-free alternatives and not surprisingly the best are those that have embraced the goal of making something that tastes good in its own rights.

The situation today with gluten and casein free foods is very much like it once was with vegetarian foods. There are many attempts at producing a gluten-free version of a wheat-based staple -- such as cakes, muffins, and pancakes -- but the truth of the matter is that most of them s**k. Once again the best ones don't try to be exact replicas. More companies need to focus not on how to make a gluten-free cake mix, but on gluten-free alternatives to cake. No doubt it will take a lot of experimenting, but with the rise in diagnoses of ASD, here's hoping that we start seeing more palatable options!

No comments: