York Gluten Free Food Fair – May 2015

This weekend I returned back to my home town, York, to see my family and to attend the York Gluten Free Food Fair, organised by Coeliac UK.

The Gluten Free Fairs are definitely one of the best events you can attend if you are Coeliac, or even relatively new to living free-from. It’s also a great event if you are gluten intolerant, or even dairy intolerant.

I’ve known about my dairy intolerance for 3 months now and I sometimes struggle to find new, exciting and different food.

The York Gluten Free Food Fair was held at York College, which is my old college where I studied before moving to Sheffield for university. Entry cost £2 per person, with entry included into the raffle.

I didn’t really know what to expect from the event, but I was pleasantly surprised by how many different stalls there were. I must add, the room was absolutely packed, it was very busy. I did notice some pushing and shoving from people try to get to the stalls.

I’d never realised until today that Orgran products are dairy free whilst also free-from many other foods. Orgran were offering products at 3 for £5 and another batch of other products at 50p each. Bargain!

I also spotted one of my local free-from pie companies, Voakes Free From, who had their delicious pork pies on sale for £1.95!

One of my personal favourite stalls was the Tesco Free From stall. Even though there weren’t many dairy free products on their stall, I love their range. I thought the gluten and wheat free cakes were amazing.

Before leaving, we decided to have a coffee in the college canteen. I was pleasantly surprised to see free-from and vegan wraps available. Everything in the college canteen was gluten free, done especially for the event. The wraps looked absolutely delicious.

I spoke to a lovely man on The Gluten Free Kitchen‘s stall, who explained to me how, even though they have “gluten free” in their company name, they also offer a lot of products that are free-from wheat, dairy and egg. All the muffins looked amazing, but I decided to treat myself to just one!

I’m gutted I missed out on seeing Udi’s stall, as they turned up shortly after I left.

We only spent £10 but it was all we had on us at the time. We didn’t quite realise how many brilliant companies were attending.

I’m so pleased with the variety of products I brought home with me from today. I bought cereal, biscuits, croutons, pies, cupcakes, beer, wraps and hummus crisps. All dairy free and gluten free! Some of the brands I’d heard of and others I hadn’t heard of before but I was impressed.

If there’s a Gluten Free Food Fair in a location near you, I would highly recommend attending. You won’t regret it! I can see why these events are so popular. People travel from all over the country to attend. Most stalls had their products on special offer, which meant lots of bargains!

Future Gluten Free events:

16th – 17th May – Gluten Free Festival at Camden Market, Camden Lock Market
16th May – Liverpool Gluten Free Food Fair, The Old Police Station

6th June -South Wiltshire Food Fayre 2015, South Counties Aution Rooms
11th June – Croydon Coeliac Day, Croydon
13th June – Lincolnshire Food Fayre 2015, Wellingore Memorial Hall
20th June – Wetherby Coeliac UK Gluten Free Food Fayre 2015, Wetherby Racecourse

3rd – 5th July – The Allergy and Free From Show London, Olympia Grand
18th July – Gloucester Food Fair, The Pavillion

5th September – Beds and Mid Herts Food Fayre, Weatherley Centre
12th September – Glasgow Food Fayre 2015, Renfield Centre
19th September – Hereford Free From Food Fair, Halo Leisure Centre
26th September – Birmingham Food Fayre 2015, Harvestfields Centre

3rd October – Wessex Gluten Free Food Fair, Guildhall Winchester
10th October – Carlisle Food Fair, Carlisle Racecourse
17th October – Fenland and District Gluten Free Food Fair, Peterborough Regional College

7th -8th November – The Allergy and Free From Show Liverpool, Exhibition Centre
21st November – Bath Food Fair, Bath Racecourse

(Source: Coeliac Sanctuary)