Kicking for Celiac

There are some mighty cool people in this world doing some mega cool things. Take, for instance, my friend Craig Pinto. Craig is the field kicker for the New Jersey Revolution, an arena football team. Craig has Celiac Disease and getting his diagnosis was a turning point in his life, personally and athletically. After feeling sidelined by weight gain and fatigue he got his ass back in gear and is now a pro athlete. And to prove how much getting a diagnosis meant to him, Craig raised almost $5000 to donate to the Celiac Disease Research Center at Columbia University.

And how did he raise that money?
Craig set a motherf*#&ing Guinness record. He went in the books for kicking 717 40-yard field goals in 12 hours. Celiac got you down? Think about Craig and his near robotic legs.

While the research center at Columbia made a major administrative fumble (they failed to publicize Craig’s fund raising event thrown in their honor), it supports the work of Dr. Peter Green, a terribly knowledgeable and approachable dude. I had the pleasure of chatting with Dr. Green a few months ago. His ease with people (be they patients or oddballs like me) is a great strength in the medical world. He broke down Celiac diagnosis statistics around the world in a little under 5 minutes. And I understood it (if you know my level of medical competence this is impressive). If you get a chance to hear him speak you’d be silly to miss it.

The video here is all about Craig’s accomplishment. He picked me up at the train station in Mineola at 6:30 am and then we drove to the field to set up for the day. Just over an hour later he was kicking balls and tearing into the log book. I’m glad I was there to witness the record, not because Guinness records mean that much to me, but because Craig is a great guy with a heart bigger than a football. If you’re struggling with a diagnosis, if you think it’ll be the end of your active life, watch this video.

Then go out and kick some ass.

Rock on,
DK

Farm City Fair 2010

This is totally meme-worthy.

My sister (heretofore known as Therese) forwarded me some info on a local food event that she would not be able to attend. Fortunately it fit perfectly into my schedule. The Farm City Fair is a celebration of urban fooding, local farming and agricultural artmaking. Sponsored by the FI:AF (French Institute:Alliance Francaise), it took up a few blocks of Cobble Hill as well as the interior of the Invisible Dog Gallery. The crisply witted @kthread was my date and we ate, laughed and reveled in the blissfully weird event.

We arrived to find a fair somewhat smaller than we had imagined. Maybe it was the grey sky, but from a distance the tenting along the block looked sparse. Maybe this would be a short adventure.

And then music.

Asphalt Orchestra was playing, dancing, shouting, grooving and bumping the fair into a capital event, it was now a full fledged FAIR. Grinning from the music (well, that and terribly attractive horn players) @kthread and I ran an initial lap around the booths to see who was there. Hydroponics advocates, local restaurants, kombucha breweries and local love all over the place. Ducking inside the gallery we finished our preliminary lap around the vendor tables to find Wylie Dufresne plating up some poached eggs. Obviously we would be back to sample.

The short story here is this: homegrown fairs are fabulous. We left the block filled to the brim with good food and giant smiles, more than enough to carry us home through a light mist.

You should watch the video through to the end. We made a very special friend.

There are many hats under this hat,
Dan

Columbia Celiac Carnival

Rocket Sauce.

Awesome things happen in the celiac community. For instance: The Celiac Disease Center at Columbia University held a benefit at Carnival in Manhattan. The center has been around since 2002 and their aim is simple-make life with celiac disease easier. They work to improve patient care so that once someone is diagnosed that person doesn’t have to struggle to find their own path to health. Sound familiar? I think we can all agree that we wouldn’t want anyone to have to go through this alone. The center is run by Dr. Peter Green, a celiac specialist and perfectly charming bloke from Australia. Dr. Green took some time to chat with me at the benefit about the center and the particular importance of physician education. I also had the grand pleasure of talking with Craig Pinto. Craig is the field kicker for the New Jersey Revolution, which is to say-PRO ATHLETE+CELIAC DISEASE=ROCKSTAR. Craig works his buns off to make sure that people are well educated about the disease and he was a saint for inviting me to this event. In September he’ll be breaking the Guinness Record for the most field goals scored in 12 hours all in the name of Celiac Disease. Obviously I will be on hand to make some video mayhem. This new video has some great info from Dr. Green and Craig talks about his history with the disease. It’s not even five minutes, how could you pass this up?

NYC Fancy Food Show 2010

Once a year something magically caloric happens at the Javits Center in NYC. The convention hall is consumed by the Fancy Food Show and foodniks of all ages and appetites roam, graze and stalk down the aisles in search of some new morsel or flavor. Manufacturers and vendors ship themselves and their wares into the sweaty heat of mid-summer Manhattan to pitch their products and jockey for attention in the alarmingly expanding specialty food market.

How could I miss this?

I’m always hunting for new gluten free goodies (this is, perhaps, why I can easily spend an hour in a grocery store) and there is no better target to train my sights than the Fancy Food Show. While many of the aisles are packed with cheese and chocolate (remember when I said magically caloric?), I ducked and dodged the crowds in an effort to pick out every gluten free offering. I was stuffed.

Gluten free baking is hot. You know this. Vendors are quick to jump on the boat in an effort to sell more product and grab a growing demographic. This, unfortunately, does not always lead to innovation and creativity. Which is to say, there’s a lot of junk out there. You know this.

And so, my goal in attending this trade show was to find not only what’s new, but shine a spotlight on what I think is great. I tasted (and tasted and tasted), talked and taped for three days. I wanted to be selective, to bring you only my favorites. I can tell you without doubt that the people featured in this video are all doing fantastic work. These are foods I eat and products I use in my kitchen every day.

It’s always smile-inducing to see old friends like Rick Levine from Seth Ellis Chocolatier (check out our tour of his factory here). He’s working on some new gluten free and nut free peppermint cups and caramel cups to compliment his stunning line of chocolates and sunflower-nut butter cups. I had a chance to see Dr. Lucy of Lucy’s Cookies and she gave me a sneak taste of her new treats (if you like her cookies, get excited). Lucy and I cooked together this summer and we’ll be posting that episode in August, stay tuned!

Of course, I love meeting new people. Talking with the folks at Bob’s Red Mill was certainly a highlight. I can’t tell you how many of their products line my shelves. And have you tried Glow Gluten Free Cookies? I knew Jill (the owner/creator) from the twitterverse and it was a joy to laugh and smile and chat with her in person. Speaking of twitter, I was able to meet up with one of my favorite gluten free tweeters (@gfcrumpette). We gossiped and made mischief. Duh.

Here’s the thing of it:
Everything is in the video below. Goody Good Stuff Gummies, Edward and Sons‘ GF Ice Cream Cones, and of course, my bug-eyed trouble making face. Watch the video and watch out for these new products on your shelves.

Bangarang.

IACP 2010, Portland Day 2 Video

Hopefully you watched the Day 1 IACP video.

If not, take a few minutes and catch up.
I don’t want to spoil anything.

As far as I’m concerned, day two officially started with the opening night ceremony on day one. Everyone had a chance to get their glam on, eat some food and sample some incredible LOCAL spirits. As a non-Portlander, I was wowed by the mashup of high end restaurants and out-of-control food trucks. The competition was fierce between the two, and I am not about to call a winner in that battle. If you made your way to the absinthe room, consider yourself lucky. Bathed in low light, it was the official IACP red light district of the night. Two great distillers, Marteau and Pacifique. Rock it out.

Of course, then there were all the events of day two. It started with a call to arms from Captain Reichl, asking us to vote with our dollars and change the food industry from the ground. More classes followed and of course, there was Ruhlman. You’ll have to wait for the next video to catch a glimpse of him. I’m a tease.

IACP 2010, Portland Day 1 Video

Ladies and Chickens, this is what you’ve been waiting for. At the end of April, Renegade Kitchen hit the road and took the show to IACP 2010. I spent a week in Portland with some of the hungriest culinary minds eating, drinking, laughing and learning. In between the edification I boogied around and filmed interviews with attendees, vendors, speakers and volunteers. Many thanks to everyone who spoke into my camera during the conference-your bravery is to be commended.

Here’s the first film (yes, this will be a series). Day 1 of IACP 2010-checking in, making some friends, celebrity sightings, the usual. It was a brilliantly full day of classes and handshaking. We left lunch with a charming little ceramic crock from Le Creuset (who didn’t covet another?). The first day was superb, everything kept in check by the IACP volunteers. If you were clothed in orange during the week, you have my heartfelt thanks. Music in this clip is courtesy of Purse Candy over at TheSixtyOne.com. Rock out.