Topic: Gluten Free Madness

[aelthric]

Nothing to see here...

[smokester]

I always look at the gluten free section the same way I do the low fat section. For it to taste any good you have to add whatever is missing.

I remember a closing sequence to an episode of Rosanne once when Becky was making cheese melts. John Goodman commented that she was using low fat spread so she had to use double.

[Alfonz]

aelthric raises a good point, to the unwary consumer, "gluten free" can be misconstrued as an encouragement to buy their product whereas most people should already be aware that gluten refers to wheats, yeasts, and derivatives of.

[6pairsofshoes]

It's so nice to see you on here, again, aelthric. 

I remember my brother downing about a half gallon of frozen yogurt once with the confidence of it being a "fat free" food, so, from his perspective, there was no danger of getting fat from it.

I chided him by telling him he could just serve a big bowl of white sugar and make the same claim.

My sister in law has all kinds of stomach problems and eliminating gluten from her diet has helped her, but her daughters have climbed on the bandwagon, as it is a fad and they'd hate to be left out.  There are people with serious food allergies, and, like aelthric, very real health concerns about the ways that different foods metabolize.  To the extent that labeling helps them, great.  But I agree that labeling potatoes or oat cereal gluten free is a little silly.  It may indicate that the processing took place in a plant where no wheat products are prepared so as to avoid dangers of cross contamination.

[kayos0826]

*trained Culinary professional*

the whole gluten free is a pile of horsedung. if you have one of the diseases that cause reactions to gluten, then yes, dont eat it. but as for removing it from your diet and being healthier, nope nope nope.

GF's middle sons GF comes to dinner one weekend, says she needs gluten-free cause it upsets her tummy, and then after dinner asks if we have any beer....   

[Alfonz]

*trained Culinary professional*

the whole gluten free is a pile of horsedung. if you have one of the diseases that cause reactions to gluten, then yes, dont eat it. but as for removing it from your diet and being healthier, nope nope nope.

GF's middle sons GF comes to dinner one weekend, says she needs gluten-free cause it upsets her tummy, and then after dinner asks if we have any beer....

That's hilarious, did you have gluten free beer? 

[kayos0826]

Miller Lite (which has LOTS of gluten)

[smokester]

I'm allergic to worrying about what I eat. It makes me sweat E numbers.

[6pairsofshoes]

And a lie: Wheat, Oats, Barley & Rye are natural gluten sources.

General Mills markets a cereal, Cheerios, that is made with Oat flour.  They're marketed as "gluten free."  It's not clear how or why they make that claim.  I once worked for General Mills in a factory as a summer job in college.  I got to see how Cheerios were made.  It was pretty amazing how the dough-mixing machines produced the little loops that were shot through a natural gas fired tube, cooked, sprayed with vitamins and sent via chutes to the next floor down to be boxed and then shipped.

One day, I had the horrible job of sitting in front of a conveyor where empty open cereal boxes flew past me and I had to chuck the prize into the bottom of each box.  I got the total guilt trip lecture from my supervisor in the morning "just think of the kid who had their heart set on the prize finding none in the box." 

It was more fun to sweep up the cereal after the machines went awry and ripped the boxes open.  The cereal got put  into rubber trash cans marked "Certa Mix" which was actually sent to another plant for processing into dog food.  Having been on the floor, it was no longer fit for human consumption, but Fluffy could still enjoy the slightly soiled Trix, Wheaties, Total, etc.

[Alfonz]

General Mills markets a cereal, Cheerios, that is made with Oat flour.  They're marketed as "gluten free."  It's not clear how or why they make that claim.  I once worked for General Mills in a factory as a summer job in college.  I got to see how Cheerios were made.  It was pretty amazing how the dough-mixing machines produced the little loops that were shot through a natural gas fired tube, cooked, sprayed with vitamins and sent via chutes to the next floor down to be boxed and then shipped.

One day, I had the horrible job of sitting in front of a conveyor where empty open cereal boxes flew past me and I had to chuck the prize into the bottom of each box.  I got the total guilt trip lecture from my supervisor in the morning "just think of the kid who had their heart set on the prize finding none in the box." 

It was more fun to sweep up the cereal after the machines went awry and ripped the boxes open.  The cereal got put  into rubber trash cans marked "Certa Mix" which was actually sent to another plant for processing into dog food.  Having been on the floor, it was no longer fit for human consumption, but Fluffy could still enjoy the slightly soiled Trix, Wheaties, Total, etc.

Great info! I love "how it's made" 

[kayos0826]

your story about the Cheerios on the floor reminded me of a time I was working in a cracker factory. belt on a transport/cooling line broke so it jammed up but crackers kept coming down the chute. we had to clean up a ton (the weight) of crackers...

[6pairsofshoes]

That sounds pretty funny in retrospect, although I'm sure cleaning it up wasn't exactly great entertainment.

[8ullfrog]

I know this is necromancy, and apologize, but,

My mom does not pay attention to labels on food. She buys what she thinks is the right thing, but by accident, she bought a "gluten free" pizza.

Gluten free pizza is a lie, like "meatless burgers", or "almond milk", or "tofu hotdogs". Companies got away with that lie, and put those shitty products on the shelf, but they will never be what they claim to be.

Happy ending though, the car shop got the car back to us about an hour after that cowpoo non-pizza came out of the oven, so actual, decent pizza was purchased.

[6pairsofshoes]

I don't know if it's a lie, but I give gluten free pizza a wide berth.  Gimme gimme gluten.

I frequently eat veggie burgers made with black beans, grains, nuts and often textured soy proteins.  There are many that are quite good.  Beyond Meat burgers are the most like regular meat, MorningstarFarms Spicy Black Bean burgers are really good, especially on a bun with some salsa, and Gardein makes one that's similar.  We often talk about making our own, but haven't gotten around to experimenting.

Aidell's makes a good series of chicken burgers, one with carmelized onion that's pretty tasty.

[mishca09]

Doesn't it also mean the items processed where not processed in the same as gluten?  That's just what I assumed