Can you tell what this is? It’s a… GLUTEN FREE WAFFLE WRAP from Wolf and Waffle and it was my Saturday morning Brooklyn Breakfast , I’ll be reviewing it soon. 🙂

I spend the afternoon Saturday at Spritzenhaus Beer Garden, which has a variety of gluten free options, I’ll share more in a separate review. 

The Gluten Intolerance Group of Long Island‘s Sixth Annual Vendor Fair was this weekend, and Mike and I attended Sunday. We had volunteers last year, but weren’t able to this year because I didn’t know my schedule. These types of events gather local restaurants and businesses, as well as companies catering to gluten free individuals, and are a perfect way to learn about what’s out there in the gluten free market. 

The place was packed full of energetic vendors, and eager customers. There were so many free samples, and while there were many well known companies I stumbled across from new products!

For Example:

Udi’s newly released Granola Bars in several flavors, they were soft, crunchy, and full of flavor!

Kinnikinnick very recently released their new line of breads and buns, made with a new recipe that makes them sturdier and best of all softer! These new products have not yet rolled out in all stores, but should be available soon. (Company Correction 4/29/13: I was advised that the new products available are the soft and chewy Bagels, not the breads and buns which have been available for some time. The bagels can be found on the website, and will roll out in stores with in the next couple weeks).

Garden Lites is a company specializing in vegetarian and gluten free frozen souffles and dishes, and has recently rolled out a line of vegetable muffins. That’s right Muffins complete with vegetables. If you didn’t know this was the case, you would have NO idea that these muffins contained vegetables. That’s a really good way to incorporate vegetables if you hate the taste! Unfortunately, the products are brand new and not yet available in all stores. 

There were so many more great items, both old and new, at this fair. Too much in fact to share it all! To conclude I’ll leave you with a sampling of my favorite things which I found at the fair.

There were many local gluten free businesses present including Strictly Gluten Free and Joan’s Great Bakes. One of the most interesting finds for me however was the fact that there is a distributor (Health by Design) right in my town who specializing in distribution of organic and gluten free products to local stores, supplies, and individuals. A great thing to support to support local business!

Another favorite product of mine was from Steadfast Beer Company. This is a smaller and newer gluten free company based out of Albany NY, whose beer was DELICIOUS, specifically their Golden Blond Ale (although Mike would disagree and say the Pale Ale was the best). I have never been much of a beer drinker, even before diagnosis but this was good! They are planning to come out with new seasonal ales this year and I will surely give them a try. What I like most is the name, Steadfast, meaning to stay Resolutely firm or unwavering. It’s a good name for a small company seeking to improve the gluten free beer options! 

Finally, my MOST favorite product wasn’t really a product at all but an idea devised by product companies: The Product Request. This can be a form or piece of paper you can give to any company requesting that they carry the products you want. I don’t recall these being common last year, but many companies seemed to have them this year. To me this is a formalized form of Self-Advocacy, a real way to shape the environment around you into what you want as a gluten free customer. I LOVE IT! I am going to try to see if they are available online from companies, and make a separate post outlining what I found. 

Until next time, hope you are having a happy and healthy gluten free spring! 

Celtic Celiac @ http://celtic-celiac.blogspot.com/