PRODUCT WATCH: WHOLE FOODS. Healthy Pleasures continues to offer the Gluten-Free Bavarian Bread at $3.99--a dollar more than it charges for gluten breads from the same brand. But Whole Foods has a fresh stock of the bread that it's offering at a lower price. Yesterday the sticker price was $2.59, though the cashier initially rang it up at $3.59. My guess is that Whole Foods is also trying to charge an extra dollar for the gluten-free variety, but that the clerk applying the sticker price failed to make the distinction.

At Whole Foods, I also spotted a couple of items that I don't think I'd noticed previously. The Lemon Poppy variant of EssenSmart Soy Cookies is gluten-free and serviceable--strong-flavored but expensive at $3.69 for about 8 individually-wrapped cookies. In different freezers I found Belo pizza as well as a Belo pumpkin pie. The former was fine--comparable to the pizzas made by Gillian's (I think) and Foods by George. I look forward to sampling the latter at some point.

On a tip from a non-gf friend who lives in Boston, I asked whether Whole Foods sells any gluten-free beer. Not at this time, I was told.

BREADWATCHING. When it comes to gluten-free bread, my current favorite is Genuine Bavarian's Gluten-Free Whole Grain Bread, a thin-sliced brown bread that is utterly authentic in taste and texture--after it's been toasted, of course. It is nearly identical to bread packaged under the Glutano and Drei Pauly brand names, but it's considerably less expensive in the United States. In Manhattan, I've found it at $2.99 at Westerly Health Foods and even $2.29 at Healthy Pleasures. But lately the price seems to have been going up. It's now being sold at Fairway and Healthy Pleasures for about $3.99--a dollar more than those stores charge for the other, gluten-containing, breads produced under the Genuine Bavarian brand name.

I'm concerned that I might be at fault for this, as the price increase came on the heels of my contacting the bread's manufacturer and distributor and telling them how much I enjoy it.

WELCOME TO GLUTEN-FREE NYC! I am launching this blog hoping that it will act as a useful guide to New York City for individuals who maintain a gluten-free diet.

Even though I will try my best to keep this blog accurate and up-to-date, I must offer this disclaimer: None of this information is medical advice; also, I cannot take responsibility for errors or misinformation that might appear here. I therefore encourage all visitors to confirm information to their own satisfaction.