Why?

I have a couple of gripes about food that I have to get off my chest. Recently I have been even more OCD about reading labels than I had been and I'm starting to get really annoyed by some things. Here is my short gripe list.

1) Why does heavy cream need to have mono and di glycerides in it??

2) Why does cottage cheese have guar gum and Modified Food Starch in it??

3) Why does chicken, beef, pork and other meat have added sodium in it??

4) Why does yogurt have so much sugar and fat in it??

5) Why does ANYTHING have MSG in it anymore??

6) Why do products that are marked "Gluten Free" on the front also have a warning about potential cross contamination in the facility it was manufactured in on the back?

7) Why DON'T they HAVE to declare that a package of ground beef may have ammoniated beef in it?

8) Why does processed cheese even exist when there are so many great cheeses out there?

9) Why do they put wax on fruit?

10) Why aren't other people asking these same questions?

It seems to me that we have all become complacent about the things we put in our bodies. I got news for you, the FDA and the USDA DON'T necessarily have your health in their best interest. They are more concerned with the bottom line and whenever money is involved, you better think twice. People need to start advocating for themselves when it comes to eating well. The pendulum has swung far too much in a direction toward foods that are more concerned with shelf life and appearances than with health and nutrition. Next time you are in a grocery store, don't just assume that all things being equal sugar is sugar and cream is cream. Turn those containers, bags and cartons around and read the labels. You'll be amazed at the chemicals and crap you are actually consuming. There are options and you can avoid these chemicals, you just have to be aware and be a savvy consumer.

Are Gluten Free Food Manufacturers Doing a Disservice to those with Gluten Intolerances?

This past weekend I had the opportunity to attend the Gluten and Allergen Free Expo in Chicago. It was an eye opening experience on multiple fronts. When my mother in law was diagnosed with Celiac disease in 1997, knowledge about gluten intolerances was little and gluten free foods or labeling scarce. She and I learned what she could and couldn't eat sometimes the hard way. Much of this has changed particularly over the last 4 or 5 years. Gluten Free labeling has improved quite a bit. It isn't perfect, but it is better than it used to be. AND, perhaps more importantly, gluten free foods have started popping up in even the most mundane of grocery stores like Walmart. No longer do you have to travel to a big city where there is a Whole Paycheck or a Trader Joes to find gluten free products.

BUT, and here is the big but, are all these gluten free foods really helping those with gluten intolerances or actually hurting them? In my humble opinion, they are in fact hurting them. If you read the labels on these mostly processed and packaged foods, you will notice a lot of other ingredients besides wheat and wheat derivatives. The ones that particularly concern me are sugar, fat and salt. I was mortified upon reading many of the labels on these products how many of them were absolutely loaded with refined sugars, unhealthy fats and tons of salt. Sure you won't have an allergic reaction to these foods, but in the long run, will eating them be even worse for you than the wheat reaction would have been to begin with. I maintain in many ways yes.

Just because tons of cakes, cookies, pies, crackers, sauces, gravies, cereals, sweets, etc. are available to you that are gluten free doesn't make them any healthier. I feel like some individuals take a little license to indulge thinking that because they are gluten free they MUST be healthier alternatives to their non-gluten free counterparts. Many of the individuals I saw there were indeed on the plump side and probably needed to be cautious in particular about fat intake as well as glycemic index. What was even more disturbing to me was the almost obsessive nature with which people flocked to demos about these tasty treats using pre-packaged mixes that had things in them that they most certainly should be wary of.

I appreciate the fact that awareness of Celiac Disease and gluten intolerance has increased and I think it is wonderful, but I think that manufacturers see an opportunity to exploit people who are already vulnerable just to make a buck without thinking of the consequences in the long run. Creating a group of individuals who are not only unable to eat certain foods but are now suffering from other medical complications that are directly attributable to what they can and are eating is unacceptable.

We as advocates for those with food allergies in general have to also be advocates for health in general. People need to be made aware of the dangers of these foods and to read labels hyper sensitively. They also need to be made aware of the cash cow that the gluten and allergen free industry is to many manufacturers. Be suspect of all pre-packaged or processed foods. I understand convenience and believe me I am not such a huge food snob as to think that people are going to cook and bake from scratch every day. I get that. But helping people come up with ways to feed themselves quickly yet healthily is imperative if we are to see a decline in diet related illnesses. That's what I was trying more than anything to do in my own gluten free cookbook. Stop obsessing on desserts and those foods that are not necessarily the best choices for you to eat daily and focus on those things that are tasty, healthy and fulfilling. I think this is the direction for the future of gluten and allergen free lifestyles.

The Making of a Foodie

Jeff and I were chatting the other day about the concept of being a foodie. It dawned on me that at some point this term became popular and something everyone knew, even though it isn't even in the dictionary. Where did it come from and what does it mean I wondered? Well, the exact origin is hard to pinpoint but I have my suspicions.

Foodie, from my perspective, refers to someone who is obsessed with food, cooking, shopping, restaurants and everything having to do in general with the topic of gastronomy. These are people who subscribe to cooking magazines, read articles and blogs about cooking and food, seek out restaurants before anything else when planning a vacation, enjoy grocery shopping and trying new "gourmet" items, and are always planning their next meal before they even finished the one they are consuming. I am in the purest sense of the word a foodie, and one who has been fortunate enough to make a living at it.

It seems to me that the first time I ever heard this term was about 10 or so years ago on the Food Network. I think it may be a case of the chicken and the egg. Whether the term grew out of the network or the network grew out of the term is irrelevant. The fact remains that the popularity of food shows, food magazines, reality/competition shows revolving about food, food blogs, and food radio shows has skyrocketed.

When deciding upon a new marketing angle for our bed and breakfast it dawned on me that what we have created here is a haven for foodies so I incorporated it into our website, print ads, etc. If you type in the search term "foodie" on Google, you'll see over 13,000,000 search results. This is no small number. People who are foodies seek out other foodies to share their ideas with, meals with and ultimately to learn about the latest trends, flavors and even restaurants.

Several times over the last few months we have been told by various friends that they don't know of any other friends who are foodies like them and would appreciate a meal at a particular restaurant for whatever reason, be it cost, extravagance, unusual cuisine, strange ingredients or even quantity. This is something I am proud of. I like being known as the person who will probably know the answer to some random food question or has the latest scoop on an ingredient or restaurant. It is my passion, my creative outlet and ultimately, it tastes darn good.

One of the greatest joys in life in my opinion is experiencing new foods and flavors. I get practically giddy when I eat something truly great. When at Robuchon's in Las Vegas, the masterpiece of artwork that was the bread cart virtually brought a tear to my eye and the term "foodgasm" came to mind several times during a particularly memorable meal we had at Binkley's in Cave Creek, AZ.

This is even more incredulous considering I came from a background as a ballerina who did everything she could to avoid food and had a less than ideal relationship to it. When I met Jeff, however, that all changed. His courtship revolved around introducing me to new foods and flavors and from that a beautiful marriage was born. One in the literal sense and one in the figurative sense.

Once I began working on my Master's in Cultural Anthropology I found the topic of Food and Culture to be particularly interesting which only furthered my obsession. It always struck me that the words "You are what you eat" are not just a stupid catch phrase. They are the foundation of many of the basic tenets in our lives. We all have to eat to survive and ultimately how we fulfill this need is shaped by where and how we grew up. In this way, we are all interconnected. It is the one constant in life that sees no boundaries between race, gender, religion, economics, politics or anything else.

If there is only one legacy I leave on this planet when I die I hope that it is a greater appreciation for food. I hope that those who I cook for know that what they are consuming comes from a place of passion, love and respect. And I hope that in some way it sparks in them a sense of passion, love and respect for food that they can carry with them.

Customer Service Part 2

So, what sparked my rant on customer service? Our recent vacation. We spent 2 weeks in Arizona and Las Vegas. We drove to and from and spent a couple of nights on the road as well. Our experiences with the vast majority of the places we stayed and ate at were tremendous.

The Tropicana, which happened to be under construction was great. The staff helpful, friendly and wanting to go out of their way to accommodate us even though there was the noise of jack hammers from about 7am till 5pm. None of that mattered. We were comfortable and well cared for. Ergo, an experience where a not totally ideal situation was made up for by good customer service. We will go back and we will refer others to them.

The many great restaurants we dined at all had tremendous customer service. Binkley's in Cave Creek, AZ, Mix at Mandalay Bay, Robuchon at the MGM Grand, Aureole at Mandalay Bay, all were superb and of course the food remarkable. Even the customer service at the Howard Johnson's in Oklahoma City en route to Arizona was great.

Then, the last night of our vacation, we stayed at the Super 8 in North Platte, Nebraska and the whole thing was stained with one lousy experience. We had spent 15 hours on the road, through a snow storm, rain and a long day. I called in advance to notify them that we were arriving later than anticipated. The girl on the phone said no problem. When we arrived at approx. midnight, the girl at the front desk was less than hospitable. At first she demanded we pay for the room, which we had booked online through Travelocity, which is always pre-paid. We hassled with that for about 5 minutes. She then proceeded to put us in a smoking room, when the hotel was half empty. When we requested she move us she said "the room is pre-paid, I can't change it." Well that sent Jeff and I over the moon. Jeff eplained he is allergic and we cannot sleep in a smoky room. She reluctantly agreed to move us 2 doors down to another non-smoking room. Needless to say, about 30 mins of lousy customer service to deal with after an exhausting day. The next morning, we requested that they take a copy of our confirmation letter stating that the room was pre-paid and print out a receipt saying we didn't owe anything or shred the the imprint of the credit card they took. They refused to do both. I have never stayed at a hotel that didn't give us a receipt for services rendered. They were rude, uncaring and made us feel like we were an imposition. The room itself was fine. Comfortable, clean, etc. But, the entire stay was ruined by two crummy attitudes.

It was an unfortunate end to an otherwise great vacation. And an always good reminder that customer service is everyone's job and of the utmost importance.

The ABC's of Customer Service

In my book, customer service is probably the most important job anyone can have. I maintain that a restaurant with just ok food but great service is always preferable than one that has great food but mediocre service. This goes for anything. A spa, a hotel, a retail shop, you name it. Most people will remember an experience where they were treated with respect and their needs catered to even if there were other aspects of the experience that were less than perfect. My basic rules for customer service are simple.

A) Always put a smile on your face. I don't care if you had a bad day, a fight with your spouse, bounced a check, have a stomach ache, whatever you may be feeling. A smile is worth a thousand words. And I guarantee it'll make you feel better. If your job entails answering the phone, this is even more important. Believe it or not, that smile reads through the phone receiver.

B) The customer is always right, even if they aren't. We all know that sometimes dealing with the public can be a challenge. We are all human and everyone has a bad day. BUT, it is easier to win them over with honey than with vinegar so stop, listen and always do anything you can to help or rectify a situation. It isn't worth the headache or negative PR you may get just to prove that the customer was indeed wrong.

C) My automatic answer to all requests is Yes. Even if I am not sure how I can accommodate something, I will assume there is a way, say yes and then figure out how to accommodate the request later. It isn't a customers problem if you haven't thought of everything, because there is no way you ever can. BUT, showing them your enthusiasm for coming up with a solution will mean more to them than the end result.

D) Finally, keep in mind, a happy customer may tell 10 people about their experience. An unhappy one will tell 100. Isn't it worth it to take care of someone the first time around and capture the 10 than to lose the 100 you never met??

Speaking of happy customers. Here are some recent guests of ours at the inn.

Why I Care About Bees

I'm sure by this point most of you have heard that we have a serious problem with bees. I'm not talking about killer bees, which seem to have appeared in places they really shouldn't exist. I'm talking about pretty yellow and black striped honey bees. It is called Colony Collapse Disorder and it was recognized to be a problem in 2006. Suddenly large populations of bees simply disappeared and nobody seemed to know why. Over the laste few years, several hypotheses have surfaced, none of which can completely explain the phenomenon, but all of which are plausible.

Some point toward disease as the culprit. Some have suggested that killer bees have squeezed honey bees out of their normal habitats. However, two of the theories that seem most likely to be causing the phenomenon are cell phones and pesticides. It has been suggested that cell phone signals somehow interfere with the signals honey bees use to communicate, in essence causing them to get lost. Unable to find their hives, they simply die. As far as pesticides are concerned, this is again, not a far fetched idea. Pesticides and insecticides are regularly used, particularly on commercial farms. While the flowers the bees feed from may not actually be sprayed, runoff and wind can carry these chemicals quite a ways, contaminating their food sources and killing them.

Why should I care?? Well, we should all care. Honey bees are responsible for pollinating a huge number of crops that we all rely on regularly. Without them these crops would disappear. Some of these include: onions, cabbage, peppers, melons, cucumbers, almonds, strawberries, soybeans, apples, avocadoes, eggplant, vanilla, tomatoes and grapes. The list goes on and on.

What can we do about this?? I for one make it a point to support local honey bee farms by purchasing their honey so that they can afford to keep the hives going. Beekeeping is tricky work. It can be expensive and fickle. One of the farms I frequent has 4 hives. They treat them equally and all 4 are located in the same spot on their farm. They tell me that every year for whatever reason one of the hives simply dies off and they have no idea what they did differently to cause that hive to perish when the others do perfectly well. So they buy new bees and repopulate the hive and start from square one.

The second thing you can do is to get involved in beekeeping yourself. Many people are putting up hives on their properties and letting the bees do their work. For those who are allergic to bee stings, this may not be a popular idea, but for those who have the space, the money and the desire, it can be an incredibly rewarding hobby and one they know is actually having an effect upon the environment and our future.

Ironically the company who has done the most to support research on Colony Collapse Disorder has been Haagen Dazs. Many of their flavors rely upon honey and crops pollinated by honey bees so they have created a special research fund to determine the cause and help fix the problem. Hopefully their efforts will help curtail the perpetuation of CCD and develop a course of action to help eliminate it.

Diagnosing Celiac Disease: A Work In Progress

I am currently reading yet another book about Julia Child called "As Always, Julia" by Joan Reardon. This is a collection of a series of letters written between Julia Child and her friend Avis Devoto. In one letter, Avis Devoto describes having suffered from anemia for twenty-five years. As I was reading this a red flag flew up in my mind which had celiac disease written all over it. Let me explain. My mother in law, who was finally diagnosed with celiac disease in 1997 suffered from chronic anemia to the point that she was getting recurrent iron shots which didn't seem to really help her. As it turns out, the anemia was a symptom of celiac disease but because doctors were not aware of or not accustomed to testing for this disease, they missed it and so she suffered for years without a real explanation.

Other very common symptoms that went misdiagnosed for years because of lack of knowledge were gastrointestinal problems, such as IBS, skin irritations, migraines, failure to thrive, fibromyalgia, neuralgia and any number of other diseases which involved lack of energy, stomach discomfort and a general sense of feeling ill. Many of these individuals went on to take medications for these ailments, which gave them only minimum relief and mostly just resulted in a sense of despair, a feeling that they would never feel "right" again.

I hear these stories over and over from those who have spent years getting a proper diagnosis. Ironically, most, if not all, feel an immediate sense of relief as soon as they eliminate wheat gluten from their diets. For some, these symptoms may not have appeared in their youth, but later in life. This represents basically two kinds of celiacs, those who are immediately affected and those whose effects are cumulative, meaning the build up of exposure to gluten over a period of time will eventually cause discomfort. My mother in law is the first kind. She knows within minutes and has violent reactions.

So what is celiac disease exactly?? Essentially the proteins in wheat gluten cause inflammation of the villi or hairlike projections in the intestine. These hairlike projectsions are largely responsible for absorbing the nutrients ingested from food. When they become inflamed, they shrivel up and the end result is essentially malnourishment which manifests itself in the above mentioned symptoms. These villi will grow back once gluten is eliminated from the diet and therefore celiac disease is perfectly managed through diet, not requiring any medication for most.

It is important to mention that celiac disease should not be called an allergy in the true sense of the word but rather an intolerance. An allergy by definition creates a histamine response, which causes inflammation in the whole body rapidly and may result in not only rashes, but anaphylactic shock where ones throat will close up causing them the inability to breathe. These kinds of responses can be severe and can result in death. There ARE those who do suffer from wheat allergies. An intolerance like celiac disease may result in death over the long term, mostly from lack of absorption of nutrients, but is not immediately deadly. It also cannot be treated with medication, such as an epipen, to alleviate symptoms.

Diagnosis is simple but not foolproof. Usually it begins with a simple blood test to determine a preponderance toward celiac disease. Once a preponderance has been confirmed an endoscopy is required to confirm the damage to the villi for a true diagnosis to be made. Part of the problem that has been encountered by some is that once they receive a positive blood test they eliminate gluten from their diet and then have an endoscopy. Since the villi will grow back after the removal of gluten, they will show a false negative from the endoscopy.

There is also the issue of self-diagnosis. Celiac disease and wheat intolerances have become somewhat of a fad lately. Many are jumping on the band wagon so to speak, attempting to treat a number of different ailments with the assumption that they must suffer from a gluten intolerance. This is not to say that they won't feel better, as many will actually reap the benefits of eating more whole foods and less processed foods, but the result may not actually dictate the cause. In my mind, how you feel is enough to encourage you to continue on a wheat free diet, but to truly be sure, one should discuss this with a trained medical practitioner and particularly one who is familiar with testing for and diagnosing celiac disease.

For more information on how to eat gluten free, check out my cookbook "Let's Party: Gluten Free Entertaining for Everyone." The book was inspired by and tested on my mother in law. Log onto www.chestnut-inn.com/retail.