Call To Scrap Gluten-Free Food Prescriptions
This article on the BBC’s web site, talks about a call in a learned journal for gluten-free prescriptions to be stopped on the NHS.
I have had gluten-free prescriptions in the past, but quite frankly, living where I do now, to take them would be a waste of my time and the NHS’s money.
So what specific gluten-free foods do I buy?
1. A few ginger cakes from Waitrose, as I find they help my dry throat. I can’t make cakes any more and to be fair, I haven’t got any cake tins.
2. I usually have one loaf of Genius bread a week, which I can buy from any number of outlets locally, like Waitrose, Sainsbury or the Co-op.
3. I’m not much of a biscuit person, but I probably eat one pack a fortnight. I actually prefer genius toast with Benecol and jam.
4. As you see from this blog, I do buy the odd ready-meal like the venison from Marks and Spencer. But these are the standard product.
5. I buy some of the EatNatural gluten-free breakfast cereal. I get through about a packet a week.
6. I do buy a specialist gluten-free beer called Celia over the Internet.
If I take out the beers, which are £2.10 each, I probably spend under ten pounds a week on specific gluten-free food. Although of course, I do spend quite a bit more on quality fish, meat, vegetables and fruit.
If I had to get gluten free food on prescription, it would mean going to the surgery and back. Probably I’d walk, which would be good for me, but I have better things to do with my time. I’d then have to go to the pharmacy to collect it.
So for people like me, this would be no inconvenience at all.
Obviously, for those on a very limited income, it might be more of a problem.
But the real key to a successful gluten-free diet is to eat lots of natural foods like meat, fish, fruit and vegetables. None of these cost more if you are a coeliac, as they’re all naturally gluten free.
The expensive gluten-free items to buy are bread, biscuits, cakes, sandwiches and beer. But it could be argued that most people eat too much of these anyway.
If gluten-free food was stopped on the NHS, the only people who would complain, would be the chattering classes, who are probably allergic to nuclear power, HS2, fracking, the Supersewer, the Congestion Charge and using public transport. Many though, like me, will probably have their lunches in upmarket cafes like Carluccio’s.
I would apply the money saved in the NHS, by using it to subsidise the cost of quality gluten-free bread, pasta and perhaps some cakes and biscuits. So for example a gluten-free loaf would then cost very much the same as a quality gluten-rich one.
That way all coeliacs would benefit.
It would also create jobs. Just think of the quality sandwich shop, where the owner makes his own sandwiches to order. So you want gluten-free bread? – No problem!
We don’t have a coeliac health problem over diet in this country. We have a health problem over diet. So let’s solve them all together with a proper integrated policy to get everybody eating well.
You won’t get everyone to eat better, but at least you’ll get some avoiding the problems of a bad diet.
Eating Off The Menu
On Saturday in Manchester, I noticed that Carluccio’s were serving vitello tonnato as a starter. Now it is one of my favourites.
So today, when I ate with my son in their restaurant near Oxford Circus, he negotiated a large portion for me, to eat as a main course. It went down a treat.
Coeliacs like me, often find that what is on the menu can be easily modified by the removal of an ingredient, from a dish with gluten to one that is totally gluten-free.
A part of Carluccio’s gluten-free menu is created by taking the standard dishes and removing something like bread and it is a technique used in quite a few restaurants.
But some restaurants aren’t so flexible, when it is obvious to those with rudimentary cooking skills like me, that simple changes can make a meal gluten-free.
These will not get my custom!
I’ve talked here with respect to coeliac disease, but it equally well applies to other dietary and other preferences.
I also remember a few years back, when I spoke on the radio to a well-known celebrity chef about his attitude to providing gluten-free food. He said, that providing you need it, when you book the table, no good restaurant should ever refuse to provide something suitable.
He said, that if they do, then they are not a good restaurant! And they are not worthy of your custom!
Marks And Spencer Get Their Timing Right
Last night, I tried one of Marks and Spencer’s new FullerLonger meals.
Marks And Spencer’s Venison
As you can see it’s slow-cooked venison in a red wine and onion sauce.
It has only been about a couple of weeks and note the “New” on the packaging.
With all the horsemeat problems, this problem just says impeccable timing by Marks and Spencer, although there is some beef stock and gelatine in the product. And the only allergen is a small amount of skimmed milk!
And Now The McCamembert!
This product (?) is being launched in McDonalds in France and the row is reported here in The Australian, although I first saw the story in The Times.
It’s certainly one, I won’t be buying as camembert is not one of the cheeses I like. But I haven’t been into a McDonalds except for a Coke or some fries for about fifteen years.
The Best Food I’ve Ever Tasted
I’ve eaten in some amazing restaurants and I’ve also eaten very well in my own house or those of others.
But whether, I’m talking about meat, fish, fruit or vegetables, all good food has one thing in common.
It has been cooked from the finest ingredients, that have been grown or gathered with the utmost care.
I remember eating some vegetables once in guest house in a small stately home, that was owned by the local farmer somewhere near Bishop Auckland. He had grown the vegetables in the kitchen garden and didn’t serve any vegetables he didn’t grow. I’ve also eaten vegetables and chickens raised in the same way on a West Indian island and the taste couldn’t be faulted.
I actually don’t think either of these places were certified organic, but they were just grown, by someone who knew their stuff.
And this is the key fact, when you are growing food. It’s all about knowledge and careful husbandry.
I’ve also had beef, that was illegally home-killed by the farmer. But as he shot the animal in the field, there was no stress. It was without compare!
The trouble is that most people don’t know the taste of real food! To find out the difference this summer, try a few strawberries from a proper farm or garden, where they are grown with care and compare them to those in the local supermarket.
I don’t like parsnips. But three years ago, we did a favour for a farmer, who grew them for the supermarkets. He brought round a tray of just harvested and hand washed parsnips from the field, as part of the thanks. Because they were quality vegetables, just an hour or so out of the field, they were unrecognisable when compared to the product sold in any supermarket. And yet they were the same!
In my view, the only reason to buy organic food, is that the farmer has put more care into its production. So for a start they’ve probably grown it in their best field, and as they get a premium price, they’ve made sure, it’s had the best of husbandry.
Apparently, It’s Romanian Horsemeat!
According to this report on the BBC, the horsemeat at the heart of your burgers and lasagne is of Romanian origin.
What the article doesn’t say is that the reason why horses are being killed in Romania because they are now no longer allowed on the road. This was said by an expert on the BBC News.
So these horses and our consciences are the victims of a Road Safety campaign in Romania.
At least the horses are dead before they are transported all the way across Europe. This couldn’t always be said for some of the meat we export, as it is exported live, so that the recipients can say it is locally killed.
It just shows how stupid everybody involved is, as to take a given number of animals to somewhere in Europe, takes three animal trucks or one refrigerated one. I’ve also taken a competition horse all the way from Suffolk to Scotland, and this needs stops on the way and a good rest in a field or large stable with lots of straw at the end, to make sure the animal is in the correct state to compete.
A farmer friend, who rears top quality meat for Waitrose and others, told me that, the law should be that all meat should be shown as EU-killed in the shop, so that the French, Greeks and Italians, couldn’t say it was locally-killed.
But then when did the EU do something sensible, where animal welfare is concerned.
The Other Side Of French Horsemeat
We may get worried about horsemeat appearing in burgers and lasagne, but I don’t think that those like me, who choose their food with care, have much to worry about, as I said here.
But one point about the French and horsemeat has been quietly forgotten. The French, like we do, love their heavy horses. And coming from Suffolk, you don’t forget that horses like the Suffolk Horse are on the endangered list. Quite frankly, they are just so expensive to keep!
The French have a pragmatic solution to keeping their heavy horses alive.
They eat them!
I remember an article in the equine press some years ago, which said that the French heavy horses, were in much better health than the British ones, precisely because of their role in the meat trade.
Kids-Free Zones
I can’t see what all the fuss is about! I’ve never ever had a problem on an aircraft with other people’s children, except for two thirteen year olds, who wouldn’t even take notice of the stewardess. But it was Olympic.
Now I’m a widower, who has also lost a son, which means I have no contact with my well-behaved granddaughter.
So don’t knock it! I must admit though, that I do avoid certain restaurants at certain times, but that’s not the kids, it’s the buggies.
Following The Horsemeat
The horsemeat in food saga goes on and on, with Findus lasagne, the latest product to be cheval-rich, according to this article on the BBC.
In all of the problems reported, there doesn’t seem to have been one, which has occurred with a gluten-free product.
It is also reported that a drug called bute is found in some of the meat. This led to some wag on the radio, saying that these products will be good for your gout.
It will be interesting to see, if we’ve changed our eating habits in a couple of months.
I haven’t! But then, I never knowingly buy or eat food from the bottom of the pile and I doubt most of the restaurants I visit, source their meat in that area too!
Clocks At Carluccio’s
Every Carluccio cafe seems to have a large clock.
C would have approved, as she didn’t have a watch to wear. Even if someone had given her one, she wouldn’t have worn it.
The Anonymous Widower 