Beware "Morally Superior" Food

One thing you learn when living with celiac disease and are forced to shell out the additional funds for the less tasty gluten-free versions of foods, is that the packaging of several gluten-free foods also like to broadcast their "moral superiority" with a lot of buzzwords and catch phrases. You can pretty much count on seeing "organic". "Nut free" or "dairy free" don't quite fall into this category, since they address other dietary allergies, but it does often seem that the more things of which the food is "free", the more likely it will also be fairly "taste-free". I have learned to be especially on guard whenever a food is advertised as being "vegan".

If the packaging tells about the family members that own the company or gives a short biography of the free trade farmer who harvests the grains for the resulting product, but doesn't say anything about the taste of the product, there is usually a reason. If, instead, more emphasis is placed on phrases like "eat positive", "give back", "be well", "tread lightly", "protein purity", or a "balanced, plant-based lifestyle", I have found that, even if "chocolate" is mentioned as one of the ingredients on the front of the package, it will be more likely to have the taste and consistency of shoe leather.

Fortunately, Sara, in her grocery shopping expeditions, has found some gluten-free foods that are actually very tasty. They tend to mention only what allergens they do not contain, rather than getting too much into the biography or philosophy of the makers. And, many of them are very reasonably priced and available at ALDI or Costco, with others only a bit more expensive at Trader Joe's and other local supermarkets.

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