Gluten free. It seems those two little words are everywhere lately, from tabloids gossiping about celebrities, to mainstream restaurant chains offering gluten-free items. So what is the big deal about being gluten-free? May is Celiac Awareness Month, so let’s look at some of the basics about Celiac, and why we take being a 100% gluten-free restaurant to heart.

What Is Celiac?
Celiac disease is an autoimmune disease that attacks the small intestines when the body consumes gluten. The gluten protein that creates this reaction is found in wheat, barley, and rye, and the symptoms are often severe stomach pain and digestive problems. Celiac can be detected by a blood test, and the only known treatment for Celiac disease is a gluten-free diet.

Benefits of Being Gluten Free
You don’t have to have Celiac, or have a gluten intolerance, to benefit from a gluten-free diet. Cutting gluten out of your diet often means cutting out processed, pre-packaged, and fatty foods, and instead eating more fruits, vegetables, and foods high in fiber and protein. This simple change can make a huge impact, which is why fad diets, like diets that restrict carbohydrates, can mean dropping weight quickly. Eating a gluten-free diet also means one more important thing: most food you eat is prepared from scratch, so you know exactly what goes in. When you are preparing food from scratch, it is much easier to stay lean and feel healthy.

Why We’re Serious About Gluten-Free
To some, gluten-free might sound like just another lifestyle choice, but for one with Celiac, is a serious, lifelong disease. We have found that many kitchens don’t take gluten intolerance as seriously as they do peanut allergies, for example, even though the consequences for someone with Celiac can be identical. Our kitchen is 100% gluten free; we make every dish, every sauce, every stock, and every drink from scratch so that we know exactly what goes in. For us, being gluten-free is more than just how we cook; it is a way of life.

We would like to continue to share our efforts and resources with you all, to help you in maintaining a satisfying gluten-free life. We will be sharing recipes, ideas, inspirations, articles, news, and upcoming events. We hope that this will become a resource for those that share our ideals: gluten-free, locally produced food and beverages, and eco-responsibility. These are our mainstays; they are who we are, they are what make us passionate, they challenge us, and we strive to maintain a standard of excellence that we want for ourselves, our kids, our community, and more meta: our world.