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!
Twenty Three Celias
I’ve now unpacked all the beer and they’re sitting on the kitchen worktop.
Twenty Three Celias
There was twenty four, but one got drunk.
My Celias Arrived Yesterday
At about ten on Wednesday morning, I ordered 24 bottles of Celia lager from DeliDevine.
Last night just as I was sitting down to my supper, there was a ring at the door and on looking out of the window there was a van from Fedex.
I opened the door and the jaunty driver put the 24 bottles inside.
I know you might get served a little quicker down the pub, but just over 24 hours to get a heavy parcel delivered, isn’t too bad in my view.
The Celia lager is very much worth drinking and I’m starting to add used bottles to my recycling box.
As it’s also available in some pubs, you can actually try before you buy, as I did a few days ago.
It’s also better than the Estrella Damm Daura, that I have to carry home from Waitrose.
Subway Are Against The Tax On Toasted Sandwiches
Surprise! Surprise!
I saw this in the window of the Subway next door to the Harris and Hoole in Southgate.
Toast The Tax
I can understand their corporate anger, but it still doesn’t get round the fact, that their shops have nothing to offer a coeliac like me.
So how about a gluten tax, based on the amount of poison in the product? Or even just a simple bread tax? The latter would only be applied to non-real bread of course.
To Southgate For a Cup Of Tea
This morning, I took the Piccadilly line to Southgate to try out one of the new Tesco-financed coffee-shops called Harris and Hoole.
The tea was excellent and properly served in a pot. Note the triple-barrelled tea timer, which could time your tea to exactly 3, 4 or 5 minutes. If they’d sold them in the shop, I’d have bought one, but they don’t at present. But they are available on-line from here!
The staff were attentive and if they can replicate this style, the company may have created something like an updated traditional coffee shop, that you still see occasionally in places like Harrogate. It certainly has a better ambience than Starbucks and is laid out with quite a bit of space.
At present, they don’t have any gluten-free offerings, but apparently, they’re working on it. They do though have EatNakd bars.
Overall it’s a good concept and I wish them well, despite the Tesco connection. My allergy to the supermarket chain stems from a business run-in years ago and where there are alternatives I go elsewhere.
In the 1950s and 1960s, when I was at Minchenden Grammar School just up the road, the only coffee bar was the Mayfair a few doors towards Cockfosters from where Harris and Hoole is now. That place was beloved of teddy-boys and served coffee in those shallow Pyrex cups. It was off-limits during school hours!
A Beer Called Celia
I just had to try a gluten-free beer called Celia, as that was my late wife’s name. I found that they served it in a pub called The Regent in Liverpool Road, Islington. It just happened to be Liverpool Road, didn’t it? As of course we met in Liverpool in 1966!
A Beer Called Celia
It wasn’t a bad beer at all and I shall be drinking more of it.
But how long will it be, before we see a proper gluten-free real ale on draught in pubs. I suspect it’ll be there by the end of this decade.
Quinoa
I’ve never knowingly tasted quinoa, but it does come up occasionally on the gluten-free lists I belong to.
I was thus drawn to this article about the grain in the Guardian. The title
Quinoa: good, evil, or just really complicated?
Probably sums it all up well.
Gluten Free Bread Hunting In Brixton
By accident I heard about WAGfree in Brixton, which sells wheat and gluten free products in Brixton Village underneath the railway line. so I just had to go and find them and buy some bread.
It wasn’t difficult to find and these are some pictures I took, together with some of the bread, when I got home.
I liked the bread, although some might find it a little bit cakey. In some ways it was a pity I arrived when I did, as I was too early for their savoury products like quiches.
On the other hand, they can’t be doing too badly, as they just opened an outlet in Selfridges.
I thought that upmarket shop was one place, that certainly isn’t WAG-free! Certainly one footballer I know off, who is married to a coeliac, will probably be visiting.
I shall go to Selfridges myself next time, as it’s an easier journey.
The Anonymous Widower 