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Maybe I am hopelessly out in left field, but I just don't understand this
obsessive preoccupation with gluten contamination in packaged foods.  Most
of those foods are over processed, over packaged, over advertised, and thus
horribly over priced.  I don't consider most of them fit for human
consumption.  And we all know what veterinarians think of the standard
American diet and it's suitablility for pets.  However, I was raised this
type of diet.  When I got on my own, I learned about food quality, and
gradually worked myself away from all such foods.  Once I re-educated my
taste buds, I discovered that almost all of these foods are really second
class and you can frankly taste it after you have cultivated the taste of
quality foods prepared from scratch.  I believe the only reason people eat
the packaged stuff at all is it is heavily seasoned/flavored and they don't
know what excellent quality food tastes like.  But once you learn about
fresh herbs and how to season properly yourself, you can't be bothered with
those poor quality seasonings/flavorings, either.  For example, I still
can't get over how I used to love velveeta as a child.  I thought it tasted
wonderful.  Now I can't bear that product. Another example: I occasionally
enjoy ranch dressing.  Nothing I ever purchased in a bottle or a mix packet
had half the flavor of what I mixed up from scratch using fresh, original
ingredients.
 
When you cook everything from scratch, using only the best quality
ingredients, the gluten problem becomes far more manageable.  You readily
know the sources of everything and can easily omit any possible
contamination from the very start.  Why not make other foods that taste so
good that you don't miss the breads, pastries, gravies, etc. etc. ad
nauseum?  I am talking about not even trying to make the imitation
gluten-containing foods. As far as I am concerned, those imitation foods are
no more interesting and appetizing than the imitation meat products marketed
to vegetarians.  It has been found that these foods are lacking in
nutritional quality, and I have never found them suitable replacements.  I
am vegetarian, and instead focus on cultivating a taste for foods that are
good in their own right, not second best, and not trying to be what they
aren't and never will be.
 
I have strong opinions about this all, and I suppose I am stepping on some
toes.  I worked in several health food stores for well over a total of ten
years.  I was very familiar with all the gluten free products, in addition
to products of every kind.  Time and again, I found that freshness was a
real problem.  You can't believe how much stale food is for sale in both
healthfood AND grocery stores.  Few customers ever notice. I constantly
detected not only stale, but even rancid foods on the shelf offered for
sale.  What really concerned me is that I would test the lot and find that
every package opened was spoiled.  Yet we had *sold* some of these items
before I caught it. But I don't remember a customer ever bringing the
product back with complaints, as they should have!!!  I know of no other
store owner or clerk who was similarly vigilant.  The heart of the problem
is once you smash or process foods in any way, degradation begins.  Most of
those flours that you buy in the health food stores, and I don't care what
source you are talking about, just don't hold a candle to anything freshly
milled.  And when you are shopping for foods as obscure as gluten-substitute
items for imitation breadstuffs, you are really asking for freshness
problems. There just isn't good turnover of most of these items.  And not
only do they sit on shelves of stores, they sit in distribution warehouses,
too. Nitrogen flushing means little when the packaging is not a metal can or
glass with sealed lid.
 
Just forget all that packaged stuff. Get cookbooks that teach you how to
prepare basic foods, like meats, fish, eggs, diary(if you can tolerate it,
legumes, potatoes and sweet potatoes, yams, squashes, nuts, seeds,
vegetables and fruits.  There is such a world of truly good, nutritious and
wholesome foods available.  Who needs that other stuff?  We only think we do
because we see too many commercials!!!!!
 
Lynn in Ellensburg, Washington
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