Monday, January 28, 2013

The Dessert Table




A good friend of mine has an annual party for the AFC and NFC championship games.  Four attendees this year were celiacs and so there was a 50-50 mix of gluten-free and gluten containing desserts.

I brought a gluten-free Apple Cake from By the Way Bakery in Hastings-on-Hudson.  One person bought a hazelnut flour based torte with whipped cream and cocoa from a different bakery and another person made gluten-free snickerdoodles and ginger snaps.

The hostess pointed out to my son the gluten-free offerings in front of everyone and so people started backing off the gluten-free desserts.  I don’t know if they felt that they shouldn’t eat them because the four of us couldn’t eat the chocolate cake or the chocolate chip cookies.  Maybe they felt the gluten-free offerings would not taste as good as the regular desserts? Who can say what the reasons were, but the reaction to leave the gluten-free desserts on the table was unanimous from the gluten eaters!

One woman had been in mid-slice of the apple cake and then pulled back when she heard it was gluten-free so I insisted she try it.  The cake was outstanding and no one would have ever known that it was anything other than moist, spicy and really fluffy.  She did try a slice and insisted everyone else try some as well.

I did the same thing with the gluten-free ginger snaps and snickerdoodles…they were just delicious cookies and I made sure everyone got a taste.

From now on I am not going to announce loudly which items are gluten-free, I will quietly tell the person who needs to know and then let everyone partake in the sweet or savory item.   One way to dispel the myth that everything tastes like cardboard is to share the really delicious food out there that just happens to be gluten free!

Kendall Egan

3 comments:

randcw said...

I used to get the same reaction from my family but that was 12 years ago. The flours and products are so much better now. My favorite gluten free flour is Sugar & Spice Market gluten free

Laney said...

Too funny-I am always the one to offer up that it is Gluten Free and my husband rips on me because I should wait and see what people think before offering what its made of! He brews GF beer and I have a hard time telling the difference, I need to stop telling people its GF so they can judge it correctly!!

Holiday Girl said...

I can't understand people's squeamishness at eating GF as we have to do it day in day out. In the UK we have sugar packed or cardboard breads and cakes that I make my own and stay as far away as possible from anything labeled GF, in the shops, simply because they are so high in calories. I love my desserts but try to eat as healthy as I can!!