First Thrifty’s gluten free list, then Safeway’s gluten free labeling, and now Thrifty’s is stepping it up again? http://www.thriftyfoods.com/EN/main/cooking/nutrition.html#gluten
Go ahead, Safeway and Thrifty’s, keep battling for my patronage!
Love it.
Thank you Tim for the heads up on the Thrifty’s website.
“Apparently, we’re paying for hipster foodies to eat better than us.” -Jeff Miller, after quoting this wretched reason article.
Most people generally approve of the food stamps program. It’s not terribly expensive. It contributes to local economies. It decreases malnutrition and related costs. And it allows its impoverished beneficiaries a measure of dignity and choice.
Unfortunately, some people don’t consider that last one a benefit. A lot of people seem to get very nervous when the poor have dignity. It almost makes them start sounding human.
The food stamp recipient in question received benefits of $200 per month. Have you tried eating on $200 a month? It’s possible—but you have to be pretty smart about it. It comes down to about $1.00 per breakfast, $2.50 for lunch, and $4.00 for dinner. And if produce goes bad or milk goes sour, you’re either over budget our underfed.
If the hipster in question had spent that $200 on a pre-packaged breakfast burrito, a plastic tray lunch of limp lasagna and a Coke, and a frozen pizza, nobody would raise eyebrows. Instead, he decided that he had some time to cook, perhaps some decent budget choices, and, yes, ate quite well. If you’re willing to do most of your cooking yourself you can eat much better at a much lower price.
So where is the problem? Is it that our hipster bought food at Whole Foods? Probably not. If you’re careful about what you buy, Whole Foods isn’t much more expensive than another chain. If you get your produce at a farmers market, you can get more and better produce less expensively. Is it that he spent what little money he had to supplement his food budget instead of wasting it on the lottery or cigarettes or some other stereotypical mark of poverty? Is it that he knows how to cook? Is it that some of the vegan hipsters choose different food than we do? Do we think choice should be limited to the affluent?
Or is it simply that we want to make sure our poor people maintain a consistent misery so we never have to envy anything about their lives?
(via squashed)
In the words of the sempiternal Heather Chandler, KU-DOS to this rebuttal.
Heaven forbid this person also have celiac disease, and not able to buy cheap mass-produced ramen noodles for dinner every night. Getting food stamps: not a reason to undercut your nutrition.
Also: the word “hipster” should be retired. It refers to people who dress alike and like the same music, not people who are wealthy and faking it, as the above rebutted article suggests.
I’m hungry right now. Hungry for real, and hungry for a more efficient, better-serving food system.
Food Security Info-Graphic:
Feel free to start experimenting on that new system in Victoria. Thanks.
Also: “cultural factors” should be “cultural and medical factors” - but who’s watching?
New Coffee Shop in Estevan Village!
Maria Elwood and her husband opened Crumbsy’s two weeks ago in Estevan Village. They have one gluten free cupcake (seen on the right), and are in the top three for the best coffee in town, according to my coffee-connoiseur best friend.
I do not engage in eating sugar often. Baked goods are just not on my radar. This cupcake, though, has been on my mind for a day and a half - since I took my first bite. This glorious thing was slightly bigger than a golf ball, a deep chocolate colour, and so, so tasty. Its flavour wasn’t based on sugar, like other cupcakes; it had so much more integrity than that. I had to eat it super slowly to make the feeling last.
I spoke to Maria, after my friend and I enjoyed our cupcakes, americanos and pellegrinos on the (apparently controversial) patio. She gets her ingredients from For Good Measure in Cadboro Bay, so the food is as local as she can get it. She also told me that they are working to get sealed bags of ingredients - thereby evading For Good Measure’s chancy bulk bins.
Maria was concerned about cross contamination with flour when she was baking in the kitchen. I told her about The Joint’s baking practices - they make their gluten free dough in the morning and wrap it up before they start cooking with wheat flour. That way, there is no air-borne gluten flying around their precious gluten-free pizza. She seemed open to the suggestion.
So I like Crumbsy’s, and intend to take more friends to coffee. It’s also really close to where I live - if they had a wifi I’d be there every week. It also could be the next location of a GFC meeting. We could call in advance to make sure Maria’s chef cooked up some extra cupcakes!
The gluten free chef apparently has some of the same issues as me.
Both celiac and anorexia sufferers miss meals
Once a patient finds out she has celiac, and her body has recovered, she may still not eat when she should.
Personally I find myself missing meals for a number of reasons, but weight issues do not normally enter the equation.
Being highly sensitive, the smallest amount of hidden gluten that finds its way into my diet can cause me pain and diarrhea. The stress of worrying that I may have an accident can prevent me from eating breakfast before leaving the house.
In a similar vein, it can be easier to wait until I get home before stopping for a meal. This sometimes results in my evening meal being the only food I eat in a day. Not a healthy way to live!
Although the gluten free diet is by its very nature restricted, it is important to eat a variety of allowed foods. It can be difficult to get the enthusiasm for food when what you are served doesn’t look appetizing or is the same as you ate the day before.
It can also be easy to fall into the trap of thinking that food on a gluten free diet takes too long to prepare. If you have to make the bread before you can go and snack on a sandwich it can seem like too much effort.
Fatigue, another symptom I suffer from, can also play a part in the not eating cycle. If you are too tired to cook it is easier to go without. But if you miss a meal the fatigue can get worse, starting a vicious circle.
These are two issues that I deal with on a daily basis: (1) eating and (2) not eating. When I wake up in the morning hungry, I have to wait to eat for at least fifteen minutes before I start to eat or it will hurt. I also wake up and look very slim every morning. The moment I start to digest food, my intestines start to swell and I begin to take on a slight pear shape. The more I eat throughout the day, the further away from my morning figure I look. It also depends what kind of food and whether I eat very very slowly or not. Taking one bite more than I need will make me feel pain, look bloated, and generally feel more inwardly blah for the rest of the day. I hardly ever mention that food makes me feel this way because the people who I have told have said that it is all in my head, and that I should get over it and keep eating. It’s not in my head. It’s in my intestines. And eating a lot only stresses them out and makes it harder for them to heal.
So I continue to snack slowly throughout the day. I prefer vegetables -salads do not make me feel too bad. Cereals of all kinds are negative for me - from potatoes to rice to corn. I eat them because they are convenient, but my they also end up being salty and I usually end up over-eating when I eat them. They make my stomach swell up the most, along with sugary juices and fruit.
That is my rant. I acknowledge that my pseudo-anorexic tendencies exist, and I’m working through them. If you eat with me, be prepared to eat vegetables and protein (I eat meat happily). And don’t ever tell me it’s all in my head.
This GF girl has wonderful recipes. She makes me want to buy a breadmaker -then I snap back to reality and realize that I barely cook these days, let alone bake. I’ll have to wait until May at least.
These recipes would make wonderful dishes for the next GFC meeting!
This Gluten-Free kid was energetically running up to the drink display case asking his mum: Mummy! I’m I allergic to this one? What about THIS?!?!?! Mum! Can I eat this please?
It was really cute. Both the beautiful mother and her two sons are on a self-diagnosed gluten-free diet. She says it has made a big difference in her life.
Lifestyles Market has gluten-free snacks. This kid in the picture is eating a gf muffin. He has never eaten gluten in his life. I’m so jealous.
The GFC in its beginnings.
