Living a gluten free diet and lifestyle is hard. Those who
have to live this diet usually do it because they have to. It is medically
necessary. The month of May is Celiac Awareness Month. For those who are trying
to serve the celiac community let me give you some info. The things I am going
to list below are irritants and really get under our skin. If you want continue
business it might be in your best interest to avoid these things. It may sound
like I am complaining. However, I am just offering some simple suggestions that
would make the lives of you customers better.
One of our top peeves is not labeling ingredients clearly.
When you are trying to live gluten free you become an expert in reading labels.
It would help if you keep the text in a readable form so you do not need a
magnifying glass. We also like to see ingredients we understand. When you start
having words that look like a chemistry experiment you scare us away.
Furthermore, when we spend money on a product we expect it
to be edible. It is beyond frustrating when you find that you spent 6 dollars
on a loaf of bread just to find out it tastes like sawdust. It has us thinking
have you even tasted your product? By the way we do talk to each other. We do
tell each other about the good and products we have tried.
When we eat out at a restaurant we enjoy having a menu that
explains our options. When you go through the trouble of making a menu for us
please put the prices down. It is frustrating to look at two different menus. Whatever
you do please do not bring out that awful food allergy book. We did not choose
to come to your restraint to read a chemistry textbook.
Finally, if you are going to make a gluten free item we
suggest you learn to avoid cross-contamination. It does not make sense to go
through all that hard work just to end up with a product that we can’t eat. We
also hate when a company hides behind the legalese of a disclaimer. That sends
a big red flag up in our heads.
I am going to list some companies that have done some great
work. This way you can see follow their example.
Find Me Gluten Free; www.findmeglutenfree.com
Gluten Free Calendar; www.glutenfreecalendar.com
Jason’s Deli; www.jasonsdeli.com
P.F. Chang’s; www.pfchangs.com
Gluten Free Consumer; www.thegfconsumer.com
Bob’s Red Mill; www.bobsredmill.com
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