By Ken Ishii

I was working as a chef in a restaurant 15 years ago when I first heard about celiac.  One of my regular customers, a good friend who I’ll refer to as ‘Kate’, managed to maintain a healthy slim appearance at a time when so many other patrons struggled with tabbed binders, charts, and food points just to keep their pants zipped.  It’s not that Kate limited her portions (she often ordered more than her husband who’s twice her size), she just avoided anything with starch including certain noodles, floured meats and vegetables, and foods with fried coatings.  She would also ask how sauces were made for nearly everything on the menu.  Naturally, I started to think Kate was on the no-carb diet phenomenon that swept the country off its feet at the time, but then I realized she ate plenty of rice, soba, and potatoes.  Over time we grew close enough that I could come right out and ask what kind of wicked diet she was religiously chained to.  Over a few drinks (rice wine sake) behind bolted restaurant doors after hours, the whole staff shared laughs with Kate and her husband over all the crazy ideas we concocted for years about her eating habits which, in the end, turned out to be a disease that prevented Kate from eating anything made with wheat.  From that night on I went on a quest to create dishes and find ingredients Kate could eat that didn’t contain any wheat, rye, barley, malt, or oats.  This proved to be a greater task than I imagined.  The term gluten-free was foreign to supermarkets and specialty markets that actually had celiac-friendly products often kept them in sections that were small, isolated, over-priced, and of inferior quality.  Today, the gluten-free food market is alive with healthy variety, competition, and experience.  Stores both large and small are catering to an estimated three million US celiac sufferers with products that have broken out from cramped dusty shelves in misfit aisles to sharing spaces next to wheat-loaded counterparts in every aisle, on every shelf.

One enthusiast voicing gluten-free awareness is Silvana Nardone.  Silvana is the former editor in chief of Ever Day with Rachel Ray magazine, a food columnist, cooking instructor, and author of Cooking for Isaiah: Gluten-Free & Dairy-Free Recipes for Easy Delicious Meals which she wrote after adjusting her entire family’s eating habits to accommodate the needs of her son Isaiah who lives with celiac.  You can also visit the author’s website, DishTowelDiaries.com, for recipes, tips, and stories with and without the wheat.

More recently, Silvana Nardone has been gearing up for a culinary event coming to Philadelphia, PA on Sunday, October 24th.  Foodies will want to mark their calendars to make sure they don’t miss the annual Appetite for Awareness 2010 festival sponsored by The National Foundation for Celiac Awareness.  Silvana will be among several special guests attending and will be signing copies of her book and inviting visitors to sample gluten-free treats featured in her book.  Additionally, dozens of local restaurants will participate in gluten-free food and beverage samplings and products will be showcased from over 85 gluten-free vendors from across the country.  For more information including pricing for this event, swing on over to the NFCA website at www.CeliacCentral.org.

Now for the part you’ll REALLY be into! FSB Associates will be accepting entries for our contest where we’ll be giving away free tickets to Appetite for Awareness 2010 and Silvana Nardone’s cookbook, Cooking For Isaiah! (tickets valued at $75 each)  To enter, simply leave a comment (preferably food related) with your email address and/or Twitter handle so we can contact you if your entry is drawn (fret not, we will never sell or give away any of your contact information to outside parties or vendors) by Friday, October 21st at 11:00 am EST.  Want to boost your chances?  Add one entry by becoming a fan of our FSB Facebook page and leaving a comment under our contest giveaway post.  Add another entry by following us on Twitter, @FSBAssociates, and retweeting this message:

Big @FSBAssociates giveaway! Free tickets to AppetiteForAwareness in Philly, PA! Details on blog. http://ht.ly/2T31J #GF #AFA #NFCA

You must first post a comment on this blog to qualify for additional entries.  Two grand prize winners and two runners-up will be drawn on Wednesday, October 24th.  Runners-up will receive a copy of Cooking For Isaiah.  Grand prize winners will receive a book and instructions the following day by email for obtaining registration to the event for each winner plus one guest.  You heard right, two winners plus one guest each will be given free access to Appetite for Awareness 2010, Philadelphia’s spectacular culinary event!  Good luck!