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Thanks to all who sent suggestions for visiting Montreal. Had to share my
findings since I feel like x-mas came early this year. I had the wonderful
experience of visiting De-Ro-Ma: the Food Intolerance Center just outside
Montreal. I was so excited to walk into a place where not only did I get the
incredible aroma of muffins that I could actually eat (the carrot raisin ones
were delicious) but there were shelves and a freezer packed with all gluten
free goodies. I could hardly contain myself and it was an hour later with a
full carton in hand that I had to force myself to leave the store. I've only
been back less than 24 hours and I am already worried that I didn't buy
enough- since I ate a bunch of goodies on the way home and will devour the
rest quite quickly I am sure.

For those of you who are lucky enough to live in the vicinity- the tel# and
address are 910 Boul. Jarry-  Laval, Quebec  Canada  Tel# 514-687-2287
or for my fellow US Celiacs- call 1-800-363-DIET to receive a catalog or
place a mail order. I highly recommend the new pizza snacks (almost as good
as those delicious crunchy pretzels), the muffins were moist & tasty, crunchy
wonderful crackers and biscuits, prepared frozen pies and cookie dough, a
huge assortment of pastas and so far one of my favorites- the strawberry
jelly roll that I devoured for breakfast this morning.

Merci' Marco- if you ever make your way to the states, you'll find a friend
in the Big Apple!

And For those of you who already new of De-Ro-Ma's existence and asked me to
report any new discoveries.....

I ate at a delicous restaurant that was quite helpful in accomodating me,
even with the Saturday night crowd they had.....Wienstein & Gavinos-  1434
Crescent, Montreal  tel: 514-288-2231

There were also a few health foods stores that carry a limited amount of gf
products:
Sesame Natural Foods- 5550 Sherbrooke West-  tel: 488-9886
Optimum Natural Foods-  630 Sherbrooke West (Corner of Union)  845-1015
which brings me to a final story before I end this post. My friends
constantly joke about me being a celiac magnet- that I seem to discover
people right and left and I have often written to the list wondering wether
it is coincidence or are there many more Celiacs than we are led to believe.
While I was waiting at Optimum to purchase a gf item that I can't locate in
NY anymore- I was standing next to a French couple that were speaking to the
Pharmacist. I didn't pay much attention until I heard the women say "celiac"
well I figure her name must be Celia and I started to eavesdrop even though I
don't speak french. Well, the next word I hear is the woman's husband saying
something about gluten and I couldn't hold back any longer. Pardone mioa, "do
you speak English?"  Very little the man replied. I leaned over and asked the
woman if she had Celiac and she looked shocked and said oi! and you? I said
yes and then we proceeded to use the Pharmacist to translate as I told her
about De-Ro-Ma and the Canadian Sprue Assoc and then I took her by the hand
and brought her downstairs to show her what she could eat (she had just been
given the antibody tests the day before and the Dr. was almost 100% sure of
the diagnosis so he told her to start the diet while he waited for the
results. Well she was so thankful and I felt wonderful. What's better than
finding a new Celiac is one just diagnosed and in need of guidance. Fate or
just another wacky coincidence?
Leslie-NYC