DECEMBER EVENTS

Here are two upcoming events in addition to the Holiday Cooking Class fundraiser scheduled for Monday, December 2, 2007 and the Westchester Celiac Sprue Support Group meeting scheduled for Sunday, December 9, 2007.

Both of the following events are fundraisers for the National Foundation for Celiac Awareness (NFCA).

Lest you think this is just another boring event post, check out the videos at the end. They feature exciting footage of two celebrities involved in the second event. Wowee!

Raising Our Celiac Kids (ROCK) Holiday Party
Wednesday, December 5, 2007
Morris County Library (less than a 5-minute cab ride from the Morristown train station)
30 E. Hanover Avenue
Whippany, NJ
6:00 to 8:30 pm
This event features a magician and some great vendor sampling. Joan's GF Great Bakes will bring bagels and English muffins and pre-orders. You can also order items right away (by day's end November 29) at Joan's website, choosing the "no shipping" option and putting "Dec. 5 ROCK event" in the comments section. (Sorry if I'm late in posting this—I suppose you can always contact the bakery and beg....)

Preorders are also available from Everybody Eats, which will bring samples of pizza, baguettes, cinnamon buns, and chocolate chip cookies.

Other vendors: Conte's Pasta (ravioli, pierogies, and other Italian specialties), Gluten Free Joy (local GF catering company with dishes including manicotti and macaroni & cheese), The Grainless Baker (featuring graham crackers and muffins), Cinderella's Sweets/Shabtai (kosher treats that are gluten, casein, lactose, soy & dairy free), Celiac Specialties (featuring donut holes), Blackwell's Organic (gelato and fruit sorbetto), Food Allergy Gourmet (holiday sugar and gingerbread cookies), and some place called Whole Foods (GF Bakehouse pie crust and sandwich bread).

Through December 11, 2007, you can also help to raise money by purchasing kitchen stuff through vendor The Pampered Chef by following these directions: "If ordering any product, you will be asked whether you have been invited to a show. Put in 'ROCK' in the organization line and press the search button....you will then see the Morristown ROCK group listed on the left hand side. Click on this link and this way any product you order will be counted toward the NFCA fundraising event."


Gannascoli Winter Wonderland
Saturday, December 15, 2007
48 Davison Ave
East Rockaway, NY
6:00pm
Suggested Donation: $25

Joe Gannascoli—Vito from The Sopranos—and his family host a Winter Wonderland block party also featuring Kevin Covais from American Idol.

There will be food sampling, a cooking demonstration, and appearances from magicians and Mickey Mouse. Dress warmly!

Here's a 2006 Sopranos tour with a cooking demonstration from Joe Gannascoli.



Source (3:57)

And here's Kevin Covais auditioning for Idol.



Source (2:02)

HOLIDAY COOKING CLASS

On Monday, December 3, 2007, from 6:30 pm until 9:30 pm, the Celiac Disease Center at Columbia University (CDCCU) will host a gluten-free holiday cooking class at Cooking by the Book (13 Worth Street, New York, NY).

The event includes a talk from Dr. Peter Green plus a Wine and Hors d'Oeuvres Reception, a Three-Course Gluten-Free Meal with Seasonal Wines, Professional Cooking Instruction, Personalized Aprons, and Gluten-Free Recipes. Cooking by the Book and its director, Suzen O'Rourke, were involved in the celiac disease episode of Keeping Kids Healthy that aired in the metropolitan area over the weekend.

Tickets costs $220 per person, with a percentage going to The Celiac Disease Center at Columbia University. To register, contact Cynthia Beckman at 212-342-4529 or cb2280@columbia.edu.

ADDENDUM (November 28, 2007) Thanks to Ben on the NYC Celiac Disease Meetup Group message board, I see that The New York Times says the dishes will include a chocolate roulade with mocha-whipped cream filling and that $55 of the cost goes to the CDCCU.

KEEPING KIDS HEALTHY: CELIAC DISEASE


















The celiac disease episode of Keeping Kids Healthy turned out to be an outstanding opportunity for families to learn about celiac disease, so I'm very sorry I didn't post about WNET's Saturday morning broadcast sooner than Friday night.

You can, however, get an idea of the episode in this very post and the episode's web page, and even order the episode on DVD for private or public screening. The segment used two case studies—one revolving around a little girl (Emma Teitelbaum), the other involving a teenage boy (Colin Leslie)—to discuss symptoms of the condition, the length of time that can pass before doctors even suspect it, ways that families can adjust to a gluten-free diet, and the reasons for family testing and continued family vigilance even when tests come out negative. (Celiac disease, which has a strong genetic association, can manifest at any time.)

Among those appearing on the segment were the show's host, Dr. Winnie King, as well as Dr. Peter Green (pictured), Dr. Govind Bhagat, and Cynthia Beckman of the Celiac Disease Center at Columbia University (CDCCU), and George Chookazian of Foods by George.

Like Susan Cohen's video Generation Gluten-Free, this episode of Keeping Kids Healthy seems very comfortable with its subject matter. Just about my only quibble is that it refers people to the Celiac Sprue Association but doesn't mention more organizations, such as the Gluten Intolerance Group (GIG), that have a better track record in terms of accuracy.

Photo of television: David Marc Fischer

GLUTEN-FREE TV: KEEPING KIDS HEALTHY


















Some publicity came in recently from the Celiac Disease Center at Columbia University (CDCCU):

Keeping Kids Healthy, a children’s health television series produced in association with Thirteen/WNET New York, will air a segment on Celiac Disease (Show #807) featuring the Teitelbaum family, the Leslie family, and Dr. Peter Green. Many of the air dates are below. Please check your local station for additional programming.

11/24 Saturday 6:30am WNET (NY, NJ, CT)

11/24 Saturday 7:30am WLIW (NY, NJ, CT) [unconfirmed]

11/24 Saturday 8:00am/4:00pm WCNY2 (Syracuse, NY)

11/26 Monday 11:30am KRCB (San Francisco, CA)

12/01 Saturday 4:30am WTVS (Detroit, MI)

12/01 Saturday 9:00am WHUT (Washington, DC)

12/06 Thursday 9:00am WYBE (Philadelphia, PA)

12/06 Thursday 6:30am KRSC (Tulsa, OK)

12/09 Sunday 11:00am KRSC (Tulsa, OK)

12/16 Sunday 10:00am WFYI (Indianapolis, IN)

12/23 Thursday 10:30am KUEN (Salt Lake City, UT)

Photo: David Marc Fischer

A VERY GFRAP THANKSGIVING


















At this time of year I'd like to offer thanks to a special group of people who have made New York City a much better place for gluten-free dining. I deeply appreciate the Big Apple restaurateurs who agreed to join the Gluten-Free Restaurant Awareness Program (GFRAP) and abide by its guidelines for serving gluten-free food, but the people I'm about to recognize are the GFRAP volunteers who have served as the liaisons and resource people who help the restaurateurs stay on the gluten-free path.

It might come as a surprise to some readers that these volunteers were originally organized by a group outside the city: the Westchester Celiac Sprue Support Group (WCSSG). According to the WCSSG August 2007 newsletter, the volunteers (and restaurants) were as follows:

Lynn Hyman
Candle 79
Lumi
Risotteria
Sambuca
Tini

Pam Goodman-Rogers
Bistango
Bloom's

Elyn Rosenthal
Gus' Place
Risotteria

Danielle Valenti-Smith
Asia de Cuba
Peters'

Doug Meadows
Sambuca

Thanks to Lynn, Pam, Elyn, Danielle, and Doug for their great and important work. And thanks also to Pat MacGregor for founding the GFRAP program, and to current area coordinator Liz Lebo for her own crucial work, which is certainly appreciated in these parts.

BONUS Check out this entry in WNYC'S Cartoon Cornucopia Contest.

Photo: David Marc Fischer

GLUTEN ON CAVEMEN


















Gluten played a supporting role in last week's episode of the ABC series Cavemen (with Austin native Julie White!).

Thanks to a note buried in this post at Gluten Free Blog, I watched the online capture of the episode, "Rock Vote" (Season 1, Episode 6, November 13, 2007), and (to my surprise) found it amusing, although I have mixed feelings about the gluten aspect.

Here be spoilers: The episode revolves around a state political contest involving perennial loser Caveman candidate Red Goldreyer and his possibly anti-Caveman opponent Jack Whitman. Goldreyer turns out to see gluten ("the stuff that's in bread") as his key issue: "[I]t's not just bread. It's everywhere! Gluten is attacking our immune system! It's poisoning our minds! But you'd never know it because Big Gluten doesn't want you to know it." (Amen to that!) Goldreyer hands out a drink, saying "This water is gluten-free," but really goes over the top when he asserts that only after "purging our bodies of gluten" will "peace between nations" be possible. Impressed, Andy the Cavemen jumps on the anti-gluten bandwagon, stocks up on Glutino pretzels and something from Bob's Red Mill, and starts ridding his home of gluten although there's no indication he even got himself tested for celiac disease. Holding up a jar of peanut butter, he asks, "Gluten? No gluten? What do you think?" (No one really answers that, but of course it's likely that it's contaminated by the process of spreading peanut butter on bread and crackers. Okay, back to the synopsis.) After another caveman brings Andy to his senses, calling Goldreyer "a lunatic," Andy complains about gluten-free cookies, crying "They taste like dirt. Okay? Dirt!"

I kind of like much of the phraseology, which resembles verbiage that comes up often in gluten-free circles. (I can take a little ribbing!) And I don't know how aware writer Chris Kelly might be regarding the historic/evolutionary undermining of a gluten-free Paleolithic diet, but I'm sort of impressed by the idea of a Caveman candidate taking a stand against it. Possibly clever! I just feel a little bummed that, while the storyline offered a reasonable basis for Whitman's too tough anti-crime stance, the very sound basis for being concerned about gluten got shorter shrift, making gluten concerns come across as kookier than crime concerns while also perpetuating the cliché that gluten-free cookies suck. So overall I thought the episode was okay, but not on a par with the movie Sydney White.

Coincidentally, the episode featured the song The Underdog by the Austin band Spoon. I first heard it at Risotteria, which recently received a small shipment of two beers from Green's: Quest Tripel and Discovery Amber. It looks like the restaurant also started tagging pizzas that are gluten-free, for better identification.



Source (3:51)

Photo: David Marc Fischer

LILLI AND LOO: THE GLUTEN-FREE MENU

Manhattan's pan-Asian GFRAP restaurant Lilli and Loo recently posted its gluten-free menu online.

Offerings include a Fresh Saigon Roll (rice paper wrapper with fresh mango, avocado, iceberg lettuce, cucumber, rice vermicelli, and spicy mint dipping sauce, served cool and not fried), Tom Yum Seafood soup (hot and spicy lemongrass kaffir lime broth with shrimp, scallop, squid, okra, tomato, and mushroom), Green Papaya Salad, Pad Thai, and teriyaki chicken and salmon. Also available is sushi with gluten-free soy sauce.