Some Food Allergy Free Treats to Try-Out on Saturdays

I noticed a couple food allergy friendly foods last Saturday when I was cutting through Cow’s Lane in search of Vitamin C to counteract my unfortunate milk mistake... so if you’re dairy free, egg free, gluten free, raw, vegan or sugar free today’s post is about some food allergy finds in the Temple Bar Food Market.

1. Why is the Temple Bar Food Market scattered about Temple Bar and sharing space with the Cow’s Lane Fashion & Design market instead of being nestled away in its regular Meeting House square location?
- Because it seems that in efforts of making Meeting House Square more rain-friendly by building retractable canopies a Viking Settlement (www.archaeologydaily.com) was stumbled upon! So needless to say, it will be a while until things are back to normal – if ever...

2. Where is the Temple Bar Food Market:
- Previously/Usually located in Meeting House Square, Temple Bar, 12 East Essex Street, Dublin 2
- Temporarily distributed between Cow’s Lane, East Essex Street and Curved Street all, of which are in Temple Bar (As cozy as the Square was, I actually think this is an improvement to the area – it makes a great buzz and helps the Fashion and Design Market in Cow’s Lane)
Web: www.templebar.ie/Market/Food_Market

3. When is it: Every Saturday from 10:00 to 16:30

4. When will I get to the food allergy friendly foods that can be found in the market:
- Now!

Piece of Cake Bakery – Belfast
I didn’t get a chance to chat and research this too much because the stall was quite busy and I was on a mission that sadly didn’t allow me to hang around but if you’re gluten free I think that they might be worth checking out. There were 3 or 4 clearly marked gluten free foods that looked delicious. One of which was titled: Polenta Lemon & Almond Cake – how tasty does that sound?! ‘Piece of Cake Belfast’ have been working away at their business for years and years and their popularity doesn’t seem to falter (judged by some online reviews and the amount of stock) so I imagine that there gluten free offerings must be in good shape. From the looks of things I would say that they use a lot of corn flour or maize for their gluten free products but that’s just a guess – Please correct me if you know different! Also note: perhaps be aware of cross-contamination when you're choosing as everything is stacked side by side on the stall...

If anybody tries them out this weekend (past, present or future weekends too!) Please share with the rest of us – I am sometimes limited to ogling due to my own multiple food allergies but I would love to know if looks were deceiving or solid gold or even just 9karat!

Darko Marjanovic
‘Piece of Cake’
53 Springband Ind Estate
Belfast
Web: www.facebook.com/pages/Piece-of-Cake-Bakery-Belfast

Other markets/suppliers:
St. George’s Market
May Street, Belfast, BT1 1NN
Tel: +44 28 9024 6609

Natasha’s Living Foods
If you have looked around almost any city centre health food store in Dublin you will probably have come across Natasha’s Living Food range. She makes a range of Raw-Vegan foods covering cakes, sweets, snack foods, dips and salads and has a strong branding which is both visually alluring and luxurious. Although I might be considering cutting back animal protein from my diet, I’m definitely not raw, nor likely to become raw in the near future. But that doesn’t mean that I can’t have some too! When eating raw confectionaries I think that it’s important to erase any traditional mental associations you have to things like brownies and cakes before taking the first bite. This is also relevant to raw chocolate because there is a distinct difference in the taste and sometimes the texture but that’s not necessarily a bad thing… it’s just different. The biggest reasons for trying out some of this living food is because

1. it’s all the rage, dahling
& far more importantly
2. Raw foods just happen to be very food allergy friendly!

Natasha’s Living Foods guarantee to be:
- Dairy free
- Wheat free
- Egg free
- Vegan
- Vegetarian
- Free from chemically processed and/or pasturised ingredients
- Fair-trade where possible
- Organic
- Free from flour (of any sort)

The most popularly stocked items (in shops) seem to be her chocolates, hummus and squares but the Living Foods range has: Ganache Tarts and Tortes, Chocolate Truffles, Hummus, Agave Nectar, Cocoa Spread, Crackers and Snack Mixes, Cocoa & Coconut Squares and Protein/Energy Squares. But if you’re on a limited budget you might want to think up of an occasion because these tempting raw products don’t come cheap. Although sometimes it feels like the entire ‘free-from’ world in Ireland is a luxury lifestyle – but that’s a gripe for another day…

‘Natasha's Living Food’
Unit B3, Spade Enterprise Centre
North King St
Stoneybatter
Dublin 7
Tel: 01 6174 807
Web: www.natashaslivingfood.ie

Other markets/suppliers:
Also available at the Dublin Food Co-op (Newmarket Square, off Cork St, Dublin ) & Dun Laoghaire Sunday Market (The People’s Park, Dun Laoghaire, co. Dublin)
Nourish, The Hopsack (Rathmines), Restore (Camden St), Art of Eating (Dun Laoghaire), Blazing Salads (Drury St), Evergreen Green Grocers (Wexford St), Select Stores (Dalkey), Down to Earth (South Great Georges St)
Ukiyo Bar (Exchequer St) and Yamamori Sushi (The Quays) and Yamamori Noodles (South Great Georges St)