KOSHER AND GLUTEN FREE

FROM KOSHER TODAY (JUNE 17,2013)

With One-Third of Americans Gluten-Free, Kosher Industry Ready for a Leader on Gluten
By Feigie Leitman, KT Features Editor

NEW YORK — LA Times journalist Mary MacVean recently revealed that an estimated one-third of all Americans try to avoid gluten, about the same number that own a tablet computer or believe in the Bible. With such an enormous customer base, the proportion of gluten-free products being released is huge, growing from 11.7% of new foods in 2011, to 18% in 2013. So where does kosher come in to the picture?

On target with this growing phenomenon, Vicky Perl, founder of AfterGluten, is schedule to release the first comprehensive kosher gluten-free cookbook. Vicky, a sought-after coach on all issues related to gluten and celiac, has been in practice for almost two decades and helped hundreds of people through a gluten-free lifestyle. Her cookbook, Gluten-Free Goes Gourmet, scheduled for publication this summer, will feature over 100 original gluten, dairy, and corn free recipes for the hundreds of thousands of people who are gluten-free, many of whom also keep kosher. With a release in late August, Vicky’s cookbook and her AfterGluten movement are expected to quickly become the kosher market’s definitive resource for all things gluten-free.

Media interest in Vicky is already growing, with events such as cooking demos and the launch of AfterGluten.com highly anticipated. So how far will the gluten-free phenomenon go? “There is probably an upper limit to the market for gluten-free,” says Tom Vierhille, director of the industry-tracking company Data monitor Consumer. “But it isn’t clear that this limit has been reached yet.”