We watched Bedtime Stories last night. It was cute, but I'm glad we caught it on a Starz free weekend rather than paying to see it in a theater.
One thing in it _seriously_ bothered me, and it's something I'm seeing more and more of. Apparently, "gluten-free" has joined the ranks of rice cakes and tofu as comedy shorthand for "healthy but disgusting." Bedtime Stories and iCarly both used "gluten-free" as a punchline for food, and Bedtime Stories seriously Did Not Do The Research: the cake at the girl's party in the beginning is called a "gluten-free wheat grass cake." Um, for the most part, wheat grass isn't considered gluten-free because it can contain seeds that CONTAIN GLUTEN!! Also, same character also regularly fed her kids WHEAT GERM. Um, yeah, GLUTEN.
Also, on Facebook, twice now I've seen the initial reaction to something gluten-free being automatic disgust. Food2 posted a link to Alton Brown's gluten-free chocolate chip cookies, and people were replying, "Ewww, why would you do that?" Several people with celiac or gluten intolerance gave well-worded replies, but the "Eww" reactions continued. A friend of mine posted that she made gluten, dairy, and egg-free cupcakes for her daughter's preschool class. First reply? "I hope you made her some real ones later!"
Just because something is gluten free, dairy free, and/or egg free does NOT mean it's disgusting! I've been living gluten-free for three years now, and when I make a dish or dessert to take to an event, it's going to be gluten-free. I have a co-worker with dairy and peanut allergies, and we trade recipes back and forth. He's made a few gluten-free dishes (including that Alton Brown cookie recipe!), and he likes them. I subscribe to multiple mailing lists and a magazine devoted to allergy-free cooking. Very rarely do I come across a dish I'd label as "disgusting." The fact that I haven't really lost weight on a gluten-free diet must mean that the food's pretty good. :-)
And as for whether or not they're "real," think of it this way. If you were to make a wheat-flour, butter, and egg-based cupcake for a child with celiac, dairy allergies, and/or egg allergies, that would be tantamount to offering that child a pretty little cup of poison. For him, that gluten-free, dairy-free, egg-free cupcake IS "a real cupcake." And I know the mix my friend used. It's as good as a standard mix. I've had a gluten-free cake mix, Pamela's Decadent Chocolate Cake, that I think is better than a wheat-based mix, and several non-allergic friends have said is the BEST chocolate cake mix they've ever had. It's very moist, very rich, very dark chocolate.
I know my ranting won't stop the world from thinking alternate baking methods are "weird" or "disgusting." But it helps me get it off my chest.
But for now, I think I'm going to have some gluten-free biscuits with turkey and gluten-free gravy.
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