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You’ve probably heard the terms ‘gluten-free’ and ‘coeliac’ before, but what exactly do they mean? Here’s the skinny; coeliacs suffer from an auto-immune disease which means they must adhere to a strict gluten-free diet (GF). So, wheat flour and other gluten-filled grains are off the menu for over 600,000 Brits. According to Coeliac UK, a third of coeliacs “never eat out, or eat out less than once every other month”. This is due to the fact that many restaurants are yet to acknowledge this problem and so effectively alienate one in every 100 paying customer. Coeliac Awareness Week will be taking place from 10th May with the aim of changing the food industry’s attitude so that coeliacs can ditch their lonesome rice cake for once and join in with the fun.
Wheat flour is widely used in all cuisines, particularly in Italian cooking such as pasta, bread, pizza, and even sausages. Italian restaurant Salvo’s and their Salumeria cafe have decided to address the situation, to make all diners feel welcome and offer salvation to those who thought that eating Italian food was simply a pipe dream.
Gordon Ramsay’s favourite neighbourhood Italian take a traditional approach to their native cuisine – with the majority of the menu occupied with pizza and pasta dishes. Thankfully, sympathetic restaurateurs Gip and John Dammone have created GF alternatives for roughly 90% of the items on their menu. Salvo’s have almost 35 years of experience of listening to customer feedback and have found that the key to their success is to cater for all.
Since 2008, Salvo’s have developed GF pizza in partnership with ‘Isobel’s Brazilian Flavours’. To celebrate this, anyone ordering a GF pizza during Coeliac Awareness Week can request a free sample to try at home.
I tried the pizza base for myself and it’s really easy to make and tastes just like mamma used to make. Swanky supermarket Waitrose have even agreed to stock the mix in their stores.
Unfortunately, GF alternatives are often very far removed from the dishes they attempt to replicate. Salvo’s pizzas are award-winning, so it’s an even bigger challenge for them to imitate them in a GF format. A coeliac can order any pizza or pasta dish from their menu, provided it does not contain meatballs which contain breadcrumbs. Even the sausage in their Penne Piccante N’Duje is gluten-free!
When my gluten-free Carciofi pizza (topped with artichokes, garlic, spinach leaves and pine nuts) arrived at my table during a recent visit I was genuinely flabbergasted. The usual price for this pizza is £9.75 but I opted for a GF base which has an additional charge of £2.45. It was worth every single penny. The base was crispy, beautifully flavoured and, unlike many coeliac-friendly offerings, it stays intact.
Next door at Salvo’s Cafe and Salumeria manager Harvey is just as keen to cater for a wheat-free diet. Most of the cakes they serve are gluten-free, including a deep, rich and moist chocolate brownie to die for. The cafe also has a huge range of GF products to take home including various shapes, sizes and colours of dried pasta from £5. Most evenings, Harvey hosts the very popular ‘Cenare Con Ameci’ taster evenings where customers pay a set fee to have food continuously brought out throughout the evening (six to 10 courses). To show their support during Coeliac Awareness week, they are holding special gluten-free evenings where coeliacs and wheat eaters alike can enjoy six courses of wheat-free food for £19.50.
In a culture of ignorance towards a disease that affects such a large group of people, Salvo’s are forward-thinking and ensure diners feel welcome whether coeliac or not.
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