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Concerning Karen in Arizona's post:

I'm betting the price difference between gluten free and wheat flour bread
has more to do with wheat and corn being heavily subsidized by the U.S.
gov't which makes it artificially cheap for manufacturers to purchase wheat
flour, corn syrup and corn meals and flours.

I doubt that the current political climate will support subsidization of
tapioca and rice flour, even if we did produce a lot of it (a topic I know
nothing about, but I assume tapioca is produced more in the tropics and
that rice production is most viable in Asia). It seems more likely that the
wheat and corn subsidies would be pulled making the prices more similar,
perhaps. I'm sure that would not be your preference!

I think we're comparing apples and oranges, though. Yes, these products are
baked into similar shapes, but that's where the similarity ends since they
are completely different ingredients, farmed and sourced in completely
different ways.

And I do wonder whether celiacs actually do end up spending more on
substitute products... Do we actually buy as many baked goods as we used to
when we could eat wheat. A lot of us, like me, choose to forego that
high-carb stuff, and I have heard others say that they'll portion out their
bread slices over weeks since it's a heavier bread and not as flexible to
use as wheat products (has to be toasted, doesn't go as great with peanut
butter and jelly, people don't like texture, etc.)

I remember several list members trying to keep track of their purchases of
substitute products to see whether they would get the tax deduction and
found that it wasn't worth the effort. I don't know if that's because it's
so time intensive to do or if the difference in money spent over a year
wasn't large enough...?

I do understand the frustration of having to pay more. This is an
exasperating illness to negotiate, and the final insult of having to pay
double or triple after finally finding a good-tasting product just fee;s
like being kicked when you're down!

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