My Top Ten Highlights from the Coles Gluten Free & Healthy Living Expo 2015
Posted by | Categories: Attractions, Events, Featured, Food and Wine Festivals, Perth
This year is my second year as the official blogger for the Gluten Free and Healthy Living Expo. The expo was held this weekend over two days at the Perth Convention Centre and received a fantastic turn out on both days. The stallholders have caught on to the concept that people love free stuff and at nearly every exhibit there was something to try. I strongly recommend arriving at the expo with an empty stomach! For those who make the mistake of having breakfast beforehand, there are some great discounts so you can fill up your show bag and enjoy them later on.
It makes such a pleasurable experience to attend a food expo and to not have to worry about cross contamination with gluten! 2015 brought a number of newcomers to the expo to join all the gluten free fun and I was pleased to see there were also a number of new FODMAP friendly products available.
Here are my top ten highlights for 2015. For my full album of photos head to my Facebook page.
1. Lupin Foods – www.lupinfoods.com.au
After my involvement with last year’s WA Signature Dish I am no stranger to Lupin Foods. It was used by Rhiannon Birch as one of the hero ingredients for her winning dish of Dorper lamb with a lupin and za’tar crust.
Rhiannon Birch from Lupin Foods
Lupin Foods is a proud Western Australian company founded in 2012 and have grown to a high level of popularity in a short space of time. Lupin is not only gluten free but high in protein and dietary fibre in addition to being very easily digestible.
They had a couple of different options to taste at their stall including sweet apricot balls and a variant of hummus made with lupin instead of chickpeas. They were also the proud winners of the Expo’s best Display Award for this year.
Lupin Foods Pomegranate and lupin salad
My favourite sample was their pomegranate and lupin salad which was made to be like a couscous salad. It is the first gluten free “couscous” I have had that isn’t gluggy and had a wonderful fluffy texture. I made sure to go home with a bag of Lupin Flakes to make this dish for myself at home.
2. Turban Chopsticks – www.turbanchopsticks.com.au
Turban Chopsticks are another Western Australia company that drew the crowds at the show. With a constant stream of hot food pouring out of their tiny makeshift kitchen it was hard to walk past the stall without drooling.
Photo courtesy of Turban Chopsticks
Turban Chopsticks are a family business who have helped simplify meal preparations for busy people with food intolerances. Their meal kits make it so easy to conjure up dinner without too much effort but still with maximum flavour. Their tropical Thai coconut rice was highly addictive and I cannot wait to make some more.
Dr Sue Shepherd
3. Sue Shepherd – shepherdworks.com.au
I was very excited to see Dr Sue Shepherd lecturing this year. Dr Shepherd is an Advanced Accredited Practicing Dietician and Advanced Accredited Nutritionist and is recognised as one of the world’s leading dietician in the areas of Coeliac Disease and irritable bowel syndrome (IBS).
She is one of the pioneers in researching and understanding the low FODMAP diet which in turn has helped so many sufferers of IBS around the world. She gave talks on the FODMAP diet and on Coeliac Disease versus IBS to a full audience. There wasn’t a spare seat in the house.
Kez’s Kitchen Gluten Free Cereal Bites Low in Fructose
4. The huge range of new fructose friendly products that are available!
Many of you will be familiar with Kez’s Kitchen gluten free products. They make a range of gourmet gluten free biscuits sold in major supermarkets however most of them contain dried fruit making them not suitable for those on a low FODMAP diet. They have now brought out a product called “Cereal Bites” that is low in fructose and has received the FODMAP Friendly logo to prove it.
Kez’s Kitchen Free & Naked Gluten Free Choc Mud Bar (note this isn’t FF)
Another new product I discovered was Rick Grant’s Seasoning Mixes. Rick has brought out a range of gluten free, onion free, and garlic free seasoning mixes to please both Coeliac and FODMAP bellies. I bought myself all four to try; Tempura Batter mix, Wedges Seasoning mix, Chicken Seasoning mix and Fish Seasoning mix. I will let you all know how I go!
Rick Grant giving a cooking demonstration
Well & Good
5. Well & Good stand – www.wellandgood.com.au
The Well & Good stand are strong performers at the expo every year with a guaranteed chance at sampling most of their premixes all freshly baked.
There is often queues of children lining up for their free cupcakes and I cannot help but smile that these food intolerant kids can finally get a chance to do what some take for granted.
Well & Good Rye-less Rye bread
A new Well & Good product I hadn’t seen before was Rye-less Rye bread. It has the added goodness of spirulina and sunflower seeds and had a wonderful texture and flavour.
Well & Good Carrot Cake
6. Vintage Style Cakes & Cookies – www.vintageglutenfree.com.au
I may be a little biased in my love for Vintage Style Cakes & Cookies as they are a regular attendee at our local Vic Park Farmers Markets. The company was only established last year and has since hit cult levels of popularity for some Perth residents. My favourites include their carrot cake, lemon slice and the jelly cakes. I will often confuse my in-laws when I bring some of these cakes along to family lunches as they don’t believe me that they are gluten free!
Vintage Style Cakes & Cookies
7. Solomon’s Cafe – solomonscafe.com.au
Solomon’s Café is based in Mount Lawley on Beaufort Street and serve delicious gluten free, dairy free, organic meals made from scratch in their kitchen. The Boy and I ate a meal at Solomon’s earlier last year where I got to enjoy gluten free gnocchi and healthy raw zucchini noodles. At the Expo they offered some meals for hungry punters.
Buckwheat wrap and juice from Solomon’s Cafe
We tried their buckwheat tuna wraps made with cashew cheese and salad. I washed mine down with a carrot and ginger juice adapted to be fructose friendly by the omission of apple.
8. Coles Supermarkets
Being the main sponsors for the Expo the Coles stand was a buzzing hive of activity. In addition to a having a mini-store selling all their Coles-branded gluten free products there were a couple of stands offering free sampling.
There was also a main stage with Master Chefs Michael Weldon and Courtney Roulston performing cooking shows held throughout the day. They also engaged in some popular interactive cupcake decorating classes for the children.
9. Barilla – www.barilla.net.au
Barilla only launched their gluten free pasta range last year and are slowly rolling out to selected stores across the state. I was lucky enough to be sent samples to try and made vegan truffle mac and cheese and creamy vegan mushroom pasta.
I have been busting to refill my pantry with more Barilla pasta as it is the closest to “normal” pasta that I have tasted since going gluten free. I have been told that the Barilla gluten free range is now stocked in Woolworths and it will not be long before they will start appearing in Coles too so look out for them on the shelves!
10. Delish Ice – delishice.com.au
Our final pit stop at the Expo was for a cooling ice-pop from Delish Ice. This is one of my favourite food trucks in Perth; the girls are always uber-cool, dressed impeccably suave, never stop smiling and pump out some seriously delicious flavours. They always have something in their freezer that will be gluten free and fructose friendly and are more than happy for me to taste test before I buy.
Delish Ice
Disclaimer: Chompchomp attended the Coles Gluten Free & Healthy Living Expo 2015 as the official blogger and received a free double pass to attend the event. This year’s event was held as part of the Eat Drink Perth Festival.
Competition: Coles Gluten Free & Healthy Living Expo 2015
Posted by | Categories: Attractions, Events, Featured, Food and Wine Festivals, Perth
This year is my second year to be chosen as the official blogger for the Coles Gluten Free Food & Healthy Living Expo for Perth. For many individuals, the diagnosis of Coeliac Disease or gluten intolerance can be very overwhelming. Not only do you have to learn in detail what you can and cannot eat, but additionally you have to scrutinise every meal that you don’t prepare yourself for fear of it being cross contaminated with gluten. It only takes a tiny crumb of gluten to set off a Coeliac’s symptoms with simple things like shared toasters and cutting boards being common culprits.
Although I found sticking to an exclusively gluten free diet challenging at first, once I started to feel my health and energy levels return I realised that this diagnosis was one of the best things that has ever happened to me. My anaemia resolved, my skin rashes healed and my mind never felt more clear.
Master Chefs Michael Weldon and Courtney Roulston
Being strictly gluten free, it is a rare luxury to be able to attend a food expo where I can eat everything safely. This year Perth’s annual Gluten Free Food & Healthy Living Expo is held on Saturday 21st and Sunday 22nd of March 2015 at the Perth Convention and Exhibition Centre and everything at the event is 100% gluten free.
The expo will be even bigger and better than last year with over 50 exhibitors including some new comers such as locally based Vintage Style Cakes & Cookies, Delish Ice and Solomon’s Café.
Rawsome’s Carawmel slice
There will be twelve seminars given over the two days and I am most looking forward to listening to Sue Shepherd. A Coeliac sufferer herself, Dr Shepherd is one of Australia’s leading expert dieticians. She will give two talks; “The FODMAP Diet” and “Coeliac Disease vs IBS: The Importance of the Correct Diagnosis”.
There will also be some lively cooking sessions from ex-Masterchef finalists Michael Weldon and Courtney Roulston who return to the Expo again this year. There will also be some cooking demonstrations with Laila Gampfer from Rawsome, Rick Grant and Latasha Menon from Latasha’s Kitchen.
For those who haven’t attended a Gluten Free Expo before, check out my top ten favourites post from last year’s Gluten Free Expo here.
For your chance to WIN a free double pass to the Coles Gluten Free Food & Healthy Living Expo plus a massive hamper filled with goodies from exhibitors at the show, share with us who your favourite exhibitor at the show will be and why in the comments section below. Good luck!
The lucky winner of this competition will receive:
- ● A double pass to the Gluten Free & Healthy Living Expo 2015
- ● Plus a hamper containing gifts from exhibitors at the show:
- ● Lupin Foods
- ● 2 x 480g bags of Lupin Flake
- ● Orgran
- ● 3 x Orgran Pasta packs
- ● Leda Nutrition
- ● 1 x Gojos, 1 x Choculence, 1 x Minton, 1 x Rumballs, 1 x Multipack – Strawberry, 1 x Multipack –TripleBerry, 1 x Multipack –Apple, 1 x Dunkies, 1 x Choc Chip 250g,1 x Arrowroot, 1 x Gingernut, 1 x Golden Crunch
- ● Loni’s Allergy Free
- ● 1 x Loni’s Allergy Free Cookbook
- ● Rawsome
- ● 2 x Carawmel Slice, 2 x Choc Mint Slice, 2 x Rawkus bites, 2 x Raffa Jaffa, 2 x Lovebite Slice
- ● Barilla
- ● 1x box of Barilla Gluten Free Penne, 1x box of Barilla Gluten Free Elbows, 1x box of Barilla Gluten Free Spaghetti, 1x jar of Arrabbiata sauce (gluten free)
- ● 1x Barilla vintage pasta tin, 1x Barilla apron
- ● Lupin Foods
Competition Terms and Conditions
Competition is open to all Chompchomp readers who have an Australian postal address. The winner will be chosen by myself and the Boy based on the most interesting and creative answer written in the comments section below. Entries close 5.00pm Wednesday 18th March 2015.
THIS COMPETITION IS NOW CLOSED!
Coles Gluten Free Food & Healthy Living Expo
Saturday 21 & Sunday 22 March, Perth Convention Centre, 21 Mounts Bay Rd, Perth | 9.30am-4pm
Pre purchase tickets: Adult $12+booking fee, Coeliac WA members $5 www.glutenfreeinwa.com.au
My Top Ten Highlights from the Coles Gluten Free & Healthy Living Expo 2014
Posted by | Categories: Attractions, Events, Food and Wine Festivals, Perth, Raw Food
The Gluten Free & Healthy Living Expo held at the Perth Convention Centre over this weekend was a feast for the gluten intolerant with numerous free tastings of all sorts including biscuits, cakes, beer, raw foods, popcorn and gourmet condiments. Four separate stage areas provided both captivating entertainment and educational sessions making it easy for us to stay for most of the day. Having been to many food festivals it was such a nice change to not have to ask if anything was gluten free! Make sure you go to the expo on an empty stomach because there was so much free food on offer you will be glad you have the room. Better still you can do what we did and make the most of all the discounts on products and buy extras to take home and eat later! For the hungry punters with larger appetites there were also more substantial dishes for purchase. We both had a busy and fun day out and look forward to seeing what is on offer next year!
Here are my top ten highlights of this fantastic day out.
Tasty Bites
1. The aroma from Tasty Bites
The luscious cooking aroma from the Tasty Bites stall hits you as soon as you walk in the entrance. Throughout the day they were cooking a variety of tastings using their Asian and Indian ready meal packs. For example they made a very moreish omelette using the Mumbai Mushrooms pack which literally vanished in seconds. Later in the day we sampled a san choy bow that was equally scrumptious. Both dishes contained small amounts of onion so for those with fructose malabsorption you should be careful on intake depending on tolerance.
Mumbai Mushroom omelette at Tasty Bites
Sang Choy Bow at Tasty Bites
2. All the cakes at Well & Good
The Well & Good stall was very popular and we had to fight our way to the front to see what the fuss was about. And once we did we realised why. Nearly every type of their cake mix had been baked for free sampling with chunks of carrot cake, chocolate mud cake, jam rolls and other delights. All were soft and spongy. All were moist and delicious. They even do a dairy free, gluten free custard mix. Neither of us could help ourselves and we made the most of their special offer buying the Chia, Linseed and Sunflower Bread mix, the Chocolate Mud Cake mix and the All Purpose Cake mix for a total of $15.
The crowd at Well & Good
3. Everything at Hot Pot Popcorn
It is true; I am an incurable popcorn addict and have already been well acquainted with the Perth based poppers Hot Pot Popcorn. Make sure you try their caramel and sweet chilli flavours, but be prepare to eat the whole bag because you will not be able to stop at one handful. They had an expo special of three bags for $15 so of course we bought three!
4. The beautiful smiles at Slendier slim
In our household we are regular eaters of the brand konjac pasta called Slim Pasta and we use it as a replacement for noodles and rice in order to minimise calories and maximise our fibre intake. Slendier Slim were kindly giving away free recipes and packets of pasta to all expo attendees.
5. The entertainment at the Stage Sessions
We attended a number of the stage sessions and I loved the variety and scope provided. We saw the Master Chefs Michael Weldon and Courtney Roulston cooking up a storm, listened to seminars on Coeliac disease by Dr Jason Tye-Din and the low FODMAP diet by nutritionist Lindsay Peacock. We ended our day watching Kim McCosker cook up some family favourites using just 4 Ingredients.
Dr Jason Tye-Din talks about Coeliac disease and gluten intolerance
Master Chefs Michael Weldon and Courtney Roulston
6. It tasted like real bread at Strange Grains Bakery
This was the first I had heard of this Leederville based company called Strange Grains Bakery. They make all their own breads on site and none of them contain soy flour which is great for me as I react to this flour in breads. Their breads are light and fluffy on the inside with a great chewy crust. Even my cat Rollie approved as he snuck onto the bench, ate through the plastic and devoured a big hole in the middle of the loaf! So naughty!
Strange Grains Bakery
Strange Grains Bakery
7. The sauce even Rob Brodfield loves at Sayaka’s Kitchen
The team from Sakaya’s Kitchen were enthusiastically cooking up a storm and were very passionate about their product. Their gluten free Teriyaki sauce is made with an authentic 100 year old family recipe and its flavour profile goes well beyond any complexity I have tasted in teriyaki before. Apparently it even gets the tick of approval from Rob Broadfield! Bottles of it sold like hot cakes and you can be sure one made its way into our busting bags.
Sayaka’s sauce in action
8. Rawsome
I love that the raw food movement that is taking off with such a high velocity in Perth. However whilst all Rawsome’s stunning sweets are gluten free there were no fructose friendly sweets on offer. After already sampling some food containing onion from Tasty Bites I didn’t want to push my limits and reluctantly missed out. The non-intolerant Boy happily took a hit for the team and tried a sample of their Carawmel slice. It was a total hit and as a result he insisted that they scored a spot on our highlight list. Next year I’ll bring my glucose tablets to the expo so I can try them with him.
Chris from Rawsome
Rawsome’s Carawmel slice
“Lola” by Rawsome
The team from Simply Paella were cooking up a storm with a number of Spanish dishes for purchase including gazpacho, meatballs and paella. The meatballs at $5 were a hit and had already sold out by lunchtime. I was lucky enough to get the last serve and it felt like Christmas being able to eat them as meatballs are so rarely made gluten free. They were so tender soft and flavoursome and you would have never guessed I had already been eating all morning as I demolished them in a heartbeat. The Boy’s paella wasn’t as tasty and for $10 per small serve he would have liked more seafood than just one calamari ring.
Simply Paella
THE Spanish meatballs
10. Finding a beer even I enjoyed at O’Brien Beer
Please don’t judge me but I hate beer. This dislike is greatly biased by the fact that I cannot drink most of it as it is not gluten free however it is a great source of disappointment for my beer swilling husband. We stopped at the O’Brien Beer stall and I was pressured to at least try one so on recommendation I tried their Pale Ale. It actually wasn’t THAT bad! It tasted like sparkling fruit juice with a slight but not unpleasant taint of beer. This description of mine did get a few one brow raises and exposed my naivety to beer drinking but I actually liked it enough to drink the whole sample which is a first. I may even consider buying myself a whole one next time I’m down at The Precinct. My first beer, what a concept!
Our purchases!
Coles Gluten Free Food & Healthy Living Expo Perth March 15 & 16, 2014
Posted by | Categories: Attractions, Featured, Food and Wine Festivals, Perth
This year I am very excited to be chosen as the official blogger for the Coles Gluten Free Food & Healthy Living Expo in Perth. My journey into a gluten free lifestyle was one I wished happened earlier in my life. Right from early childhood I was plagued with severe skin disease and gastrointestinal problems. I saw multiple dermatologists and immunologists, lathered myself in steroid creams until my skin turned paper thin until finally in my early thirties my iron levels plummeted to dangerous levels and I was referred onto a gastroenterologist.
Despite the initial difficultly of converting to eating an exclusively gluten free diet, within weeks my energy levels improved, my brain became clearer, my gut deflated and became much happier but most obviously; my disfiguring skin disease all but vanished. No longer did I feel like I had to hide under a paper bag! In addition to having gluten intolerance I also suffer from fructose malabsorption along with some other family members of mine however fortunately my symptoms relating to this condition are comparatively mild.
Photo used with permission from Gluten Free in WA
This year the Coles Gluten Free Food & Healthy Living Expo is held on the 15th and 16th of March at the Perth Convention and Exhibition Centre. The weekend will be an action packed two days with over 50 companies on show; including both local and national businesses. There will be gluten free food available to buy as well as gluten free beer and wine.
Over the day there will be several seminars held on varied topics including coeliac disease diagnosis and treatment, FODMAPs and healthy eating for weight control.
There will also be some lively cooking sessions with ex-Masterchef finalists Michael Weldon and Courtney Roulston hitting the stage in addition to sessions with Laila Gampfer from Rawsome and Kim McCosker from “4 Ingredients” fame.
For your chance to WIN a free double pass to the Coles Gluten Free Food & Healthy Living Expo, share with us who your favourite exhibitor at the show will be and why in the comments section below then head over and like my Facebook page and sign up to receive my Chompchomp updates by email. Good luck!
Competition Terms and Conditions
● Competition is open to all Chompchomp readers who have an Australian postal address
● The winner will be chosen by myself and the Boy based on the most interesting and creative answer written in the comments section below in addition to liking my Chompchomp Facebook page and signing up for Chompchomp updates by email.
● Entries close 5.00pm Thursday 6th March 2014
