Rising awareness of coeliac disease means Coeliac UK’s Wales Gluten Free Food Show will likely welcome its biggest turnout to date
An independent charity’s gluten free food festival will return to Cardiff on 16 November and is set to welcome its biggest turnout yet.
Taking place at Cardiff City Stadium, Coeliac UK’s Wales Gluten Free Food Show expects to see more than 1,500 visitors and will feature activities from presentations and panel discussions, to a showcase of gluten free products on the market.
The free event will have more than 20 local and national companies, including sponsors Warburtons, Old El Paso and Garofalo offering samples from their ranges.
Tristan Humphreys, Coeliac UK’s Lead in Wales, said: “Building on the enormous turnout at last year’s event in Cardiff we are confident that this year will be even bigger and better than before.
“The whole purpose here is to showcase the huge range of products that are available. Being able to go to an event like this where everything is gluten free is a rarity, without the stress or concern about what you are eating.”
The event relocated to Cardiff City Stadium from the city’s Radisson Blu Hotel, where its rising year-on-year popularity has meant a need for more activities and larger space.
BBC’s MasterChef 2016 winner, Jane Devonshire, will also be in attendance signing copies of her cookbook, Hassle Free Gluten Free, as well as doing a gluten free cooking demonstration.
She said to the charity: “My youngest child, Ben, was diagnosed with coeliac disease when he was two-years-old, so most of the food we eat is gluten free and no one really notices. It has become a way of life and integral to how I cook.”
Coeliac disease affects one in 100 people in the UK. If you are concerned by symptoms such as anaemia, diarrhoea, fatigue and regular mouth ulcers, the charity recommends to ask your GP for a blood test.