News & Notes

Post-Appetite for Awareness, it's a shorter News & Notes post this week. On Wednesday, I recapped last week's event at the Wachovia Center in Philadelphia. I promise to add the participating eateries to the Gluten Free Philly restaurant list in the coming weeks; the restaurants have been trained on protocols for gluten-free food preparation and serving through the NFCA's GREAT Kitchens program. About 1,200 people attended the event, which raised more than $300,000 in funds to be used for celiac awareness campaigns and programming. For the second year in a row, Vetri’s chef Brad Spence won the cooking competition and the title of "Best Gluten-Free Dish." His Pork and Ricotta Meatballs with Smashed White Beans and Ricotta Salata received "Best in Show" from the judges. Also repeating as the "People’s Choice" award winner was chef Pasquale Masters of Pasta Pomodoro, who prepared Pollo Alla Vodka with Gluten-Free Penne.

I did add one restaurant to that list this week. Vintage Rose Tea Room in Millville, New Jersey offers a gluten-free menu with 24 hours notice.

Congratulations to reader Sherazada, who's the winner of last week's Goodies Giveaway featuring Betty Crocker fruit-flavored snacks.

I received a email from the regional distributor of French Meadow Bakery products letting me know that the company's brownies and chocolate chip cookies are available at Philadelphia-area Acme Markets.

GoPicnic, which makes ready-to-eat gluten-free meals that I wrote about last month, has a great deal running now through Sunday on ExploreMunch. That's the package with a turkey stick, cheese slice, applesauce, snap pea crisps, sunflower seed crunch and gummy bears, and it's on sale for $1.99 each (regularly $5.99 each). You can use promotional code KIWI for an additional 20% off your order.

Udi's Gluten Free Foods, which I reviewed last week, is offering 25% off shipping charges. The promotional code is 25 Percent Off Shipping.

Have a great weekend - go Phillies!