The Allergy and Free From Show
18:44
At the weekend I went with my family to the Allergy and Free From show in Liverpool at the Exhibition Centre. Inside the hall were tables and stalls set up with different brands and their 'free from' products, along with a load of samples! There were also chats and demonstrations you could watch and take part in too. I however got lost among all the stalls as it was my kind of foodie heaven.
Amy's Kitchen
On my way round, one of the stalls I visted was Amy's Kitchen where I was greeted and told about the background of Amy and how she started. The lovely lady who chatted to me asked about my dietary requirements and took me through each and every product, telling me which ones I could eat. I took away three different soups to try.
Dove's Farm
Dove's farm are organic flour specialists, and if you're gluten intolerant, the chances are you'll have heard of them. Their baking products are my favourite out there and you definitely can't go wrong with them. The team were there, not only offering advice and knowledge on their products, but giving baking demonstrations for gluten free cakes, brownies, pies and pastry. They had a huge wall of their products which was amazing as opposed to finding a small section in the free from aisle in a supermarket! I picked up a few things (that went into a very apt bag) and entered their competition to win a huge supply of their goods - fingers crossed!
Primrose's Kitchen
I visited Primrose's Kitchen, which was probably one of the ones I was most looking forward to. Primrose herself was there, greeting people and sharing her knowledge on her products. It was great meeting her, she's so passionate about what she does and I think that's so important. She's created a range of muesli, granola, nut butters and superfood powders that are all gluten free and vegan, some being orangic and nut free. I ended up coming away with two boxes of muesli and one pack of granola. I can't wait to try them and will definitely have a post up soon specifically on them.
Mr Popple's Chocolate
Next I came across Mr Popple's Chocolate. I met the man himself, Ben Popple, and he talked me through his products. His passion came across strongly, he told me his intentions were to use only tasty, natural, and healthy ingredients, not adding any fat or refined sugar and by sourcing only ethically grown ingredients. We bonded over just how much we liked raw cacao and it's benefits and I had a taste of a few of the different kinds he had and was amazed at how nice it was and what makes it better is the fact it's guilt free! My favourite has got to be the 88%, although I'd like to eat the full bar, I think it may go straight to my head...
The Primal Pantry
The Primal Pantry were there too. Another stall I was rather excited to find with testers of each of their paleo bars. There bars are made with 100% natural ingredients, especially great for anyone following the paleo lifestyle. They are free of grains, dairy, refined sugars and vegetable oils but defintely not free of taste. These bars are one of my favourite snack bars out there so I obviously had to stock up on a few whilst I was there.
Ugg Foods
I then came aross a new manufacturer that I'd never heard of before, Ugg Foods. They offer guilt-free, superfood baking mixes for breads and muffins. They give the recipe for you to create the products on their website, along with many others. Whilst checking them out though, I realised that they included egg and with me being intolerant to egg, it seemed a bit of a problem to me. I had a chat with one of the team there, Neil, (if I remember correctly) I told him how I'd tried different egg substitutes in baking and wondered if it would work with the chocolate chia muffin mix. So after discussing baking and different egg substitutes I came away with the mix and an experiment in mind. Hopefully, all will be revealed (if it goes according to plan) on a blog post coming soon!
Delicious Alchemy
Another brand that do baking mixes are Delicious Alchemy. All of their food looked amazing to try, unfortunately though, I couldn't due to them having egg in. But all of their mixes, from cakes to bread are gluten free and suitable for coeliacs. They even offered a Christmas cake mix - which looked delicious! Oh, and don't even get me started on their brownie...
Make It Gluten Free Limited
This stand had two different ranges of gluten and dairy free mixes for cakes, muffins, cookies, bread mixes etc. 1 2 3 Gluten Free and Simple Mills Again, the testers that were out included egg so I was chatting to the man on the stall who then produced the most amazing, fudgy, eggless brownies I've ever tasted and he'd created that from one of these mixes! I then, however, spied the pizza base mixes and was torn between the two. It's been so long since I've had pizza I decided to opt for the pizza base mix by Simple Mills. I'm quite looking forward to experimenting with that!
Free-From Heaven & Gluten Free Heaven
Free-From Heaven is a UK based magazine that I get every issue of so it made sense, when I came across their stand and were offering a special discount if you subscribed to them there and then, that I went ahead and took advantage of the opportunity. They also offer a gluten free magazine and a one for paleos. Each magazine is filled with recipes, advice, competitions and all the latest products. They're definitely worth checking out, especially if you're struggling or need inspiration on foods to eat - if you aren't already finding that here on my blog that is.
There were so many stalls and so many nice people I chatted to but I'm not going to go through every single one I went to, however you can find out more about each exhibitor here.
I will however have to mention Goodness Me Foods. They were the first stall I went to, and so friendly and helpful. I even found a rocky road I could eat! They're definitely worth checking out!
I didn't realise at the time, but when setting out all the products I got when I came back home, I realised I may be stocked up for quite a while! The Free From Market was possibly to blame for most of this...
 |
| Perkier - these bars are amazing and nutritious! |
 |
| Rawr Chocolate. Vivani Chocolate. Creative Nature |
 |
| Primrose's Kitchen |
 |
| The Raw Chocolate Company |
 |
| RAW HEALTH |
 |
| Rice Dream |
 |
| The Primal Pantry |
 |
| Nature's Store |
Overall, it was a really informative and helpful day. Being in a room full of stalls that could cater for my needs when I'm usually struggling to find places to eat really was quite a different experience. That and being surrounded by people in a similiar situation to me was really quite comforting, to know that you're not the only
0 comments