Oh goodness. No gluten?

Gluten-free diets: Better understanding and diagnosis of celiac disease means its not the next ‘trend,’ but permanent reality.

Don’t be surprised if you start to get more customers asking if their entrée’s gluten free. That is, if that request hasn’t happened already. Food being as fickle as fashion, it seems that there’s always something that’s going in and out of style, and you can typically witness its arrival (or departure) by scanning the shelves of your local grocery store—or even just magazines in the checkout lane. Right now, the star of the shelves is anything gluten-free.

It’s not quite fair to lump the increased availability of these items in with things like fat-free or low-carb crazes. It’s more likely that more accurate diagnoses of things like celiac disease—an autoimmune intestinal disorder—can be attributed with this rise in consumption of gluten-free items. The National Institute of Health puts the number of people suffering from celiac disease at about 3 million, which is far higher than the number that would have been given that diagnosis even just five years ago. Plus, that’s a number that doesn’t account for people with your more run-of-the-mill gluten intolerances or wheat allergies. For all wheat watchers, one bite of wheat, rye, barley or other cereal grains can mean intestinal discomfort and other maladies, and for those suffering from celiac disease it can even lead to more serious afflictions, such as early onset osteoporosis and Type 1 diabetes.

Small wonder then that, according to a recent article in the Los Angeles Times, Nielsen tracked a 20 percent increase in gluten-free foods available, and other sources estimated that was likely to increase by 15 to 25 percent each year for the next few years. I’ve witnessed the rise in items at local co-ops and saw that many of them were locally made. Not long after that a friend mentioned that she and her gluten-free houseguests stopped by Cooqi, a St. Paul bakery specializing in gluten-free items, to grab treats for themselves and urged me to go and sample the goods. I tasted the brownies at Cooqi at her recommendation, and then went on to try granola and flatbread at MadWoman and double chocolate chip cookies at Bittersweet. They were delicious and, frankly, that wasn’t at all what I expected. After all, if you’ve tasted gluten-free food in the past you’re aware that most of it tasted like carpet padding and cardboard.

Lareen Narva—the owner of Bittersweet Bakery in Eagan who was diagnosed with celiac disease 25 years ago—shared that low opinion of gluten-free goodies. Because of that, and the fact that her husband and three children share the affliction, Narva picked up a cookbook years ago and began tinkering with recipes. She wanted to make things that tasted good and said it took her about ten years. (Since the family is a sensible and frugal lot, they ate all the items that didn’t taste so hot over the years, so you can imagine how relieved they must have been when things became palatable.)

She started Bittersweet with her daughter and two sons four and a half years ago after sharing the cakes, cookies and breads of her labor with friends (gluten-free and not) and getting a great deal of encouraging feedback. “Our goal has always been that it shouldn’t taste gluten free. It should taste ‘normal’,” says Narva. In order to ensure that this goal is met she always has people who are not gluten-free taste test her products.

She ruffles just a bit at my intimation that gluten-free is the new food trend. “Unfortunately, that’s the word that’s being used. I think that the medical field is just getting better at diagnosing things like celiac.” She goes on to respond to my questions about what kind of customers Bittersweet attracts: “We have a very good mix of customers. We have a lot of people that come right from their doctor’s office after being diagnosed, but there are also a lot of people coming in that have diseases and conditions that are related to gluten intolerance.”

There are more of those groups coming forward to experiment with a gluten-free diet, as well. Though research varies on the impact, a number of conversations taking place over possible connections between gluten intolerance and its role in exacerbating the symptoms of any number of conditions, from gastrointestinal issues to autism to MS.

With this increase in conversation, chances are good that restaurants will get hit with requests from customers for gluten-items, or at the very least questions about ingredients so that they can self-monitor. In Narva’s estimation, both restaurants and culinary schools are going to have to start picking up on what will become a customer demand.

If you’d like to get a little bit ahead of the curve, visit northlandceliacs.fastmail.fm or stop by one of these bakeries to sample some delicious gluten-free goods and get more information from their well-educated owners:

Bittersweet Bakery, Eagan; www.Bittersweetgf.com.

Cooqi, St. Paul; www.Cooqulglutenfree.com.

Madwoman Foods Bakeshop & Foodery; Madwomanfoods.com.

Saint Honore Gluten Free Bakery, Minneapolis; 612-822-2709.