Some great news from Wildfire in Chicago via The Chicago Tribune.

Chicago and suburban locations of Wildfire restaurant are teaming with the University of Chicago Celiac Disease Center to present a series of gluten-free wine dinners this week.

Every evening from Nov. 8 through 12, Wildfire restaurants will feature a four-course, four-wine dinner composed of gluten-free ingredients.

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Get ready for a fabulous time! Appetite for Awareness 2010 will be spectacular. The National Foundation for Celiac Awareness (NFCA) is preparing an extraordinary event full of fun, food and gluten-free delights!

This annual fest and Philadelphia tradition has something for everyone!

Children’s Pavilion

Vendor Marketplace

Gluten-Free Cooking Spree

Appetite for Awareness brings the best of gluten-free dining and delicacies under one roof. Attendees can sample gluten-free goods and get a taste of the hottest restaurants catering to celiac needs. During the event, prestigious chefs and top doctors will team up in a cooking challenge to produce the best gluten-free dish.

Event Website »

I love baking and recipe contests — especially those that enable gluten-free artisans the chance to compete with their “gluten-enabled” colleagues. Maybe I have a chip on my shoulder, but I’m always looking to show people that gluten-free can and often times does taste better than the ordinary gluten-filled stuff. It might be a little more challenging to get there, but it’s definitely possible.

Well, here’s another contest that’s a perfect fit for this scenario. The Scharffen Berger Chocolate Adventure Contest. This time around they’re theme is cupcakes. Besides the obvious of using Scharffen Berger chocolate, they have a list of “Adventure Ingredients” the contestants must use at least one of. One of the Adventure Ingredients happens to be Almond Flour — something that lends itself to some amazing gluten-free cupcakes. I am truly looking forward to see what comes from the gluten-free community for this event.  I will undoubtedly be following this event and sharing the best of the gluten-free entries.

Until then…

Scharffen Berger Chocolate Adventure Contest: Cupcakes!

This year, the Chocolate Adventure Contest is all about cupcakes. So go ahead — bring cupcakes to new levels of delicious. There’s $20,000 in prices and the chance to fly to New York City to bake and share your cupcake from a beloved Sweet Truck. Plus — the winning recipe will appear in Food Network Magazine.

It’s September 13 and it’s National Celiac Awareness Day in the U.S. — in honor of Dr. Samuel Gee, a British physician who was the first to find a relationship between celiac disease and diet. He once said, “if the patient can be cured at all, it must be by means of diet.” In 1888, he even published the first modern description of coeliac disease (celiac disease was mentioned much earlier by Arataeus of Cappadocia in ancient Greece).

Considering celiac disease was first mentioned over 2,000 years ago and very accurately described by Dr. Gee close to 120 years ago, I have to say that I’m curious as to why in 2010, celiac disease is such a mystery to most general practitioners and pediatricians. Why is it is so under diagnosed? I have so many theories on this, I wouldn’t even know where to start. Hopefully, a day like today will help spread awareness of celiac disease just a little more and help more people whose health is not so good get a proper diagnosis and start down a road to recovery.

Today would be a good day to do your part and mention celiac disease to a friend, a neighbor, or a co-worker and explain to them what it is and what a wonderful life changing event a celiac disease diagnosis really is.  It’s a gift of life that should be cherished and something that opens your eyes to the importance of good wholesome food (and no I’m not talking about all of the gluten-free baked goodies that are constantly shown on the Celiac Handbook Facebook page :)

While National Celiac Awareness Day is in honor of Dr. Samuel Gee’s birthday, we should also give thanks to Senator James Inhofe of Oklahoma and Senator Ben Nelson of Nebraska for sponsoring the resolution that made this day a reality back in 2006. Let’s hope that this day really does bring more awareness and in turns helps a lot more people find a relatively simple solution to big problems in their own lives.

Anyhow, Happy National Celiac Awareness Day.

Uber-networkers Kim and Kelly started the Celiac Chicks blog back in 2003 and have produced one of the largest collections of relevant gluten-free information on the Internet. Restaurant visits, event reviews, celiac awareness, giveaways, gluten-free travel, product reviews, and so much more — there is so much to read here, that you will walk away “in the know” about what’s happening in the world of both celiac disease and the gluten-free diet.

I can never guess what they will write about next as their is so much variety in their posts. Their knowledge is enviable and their access to important figures in the celiac community continue to make their work both important and a great resource for anyone wanting to learn more about the gluten-free diet.

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