The Allergy and Free From Show

Greetings :D

First of all apologies, I realise I have not written anything for months and months and I am deeply sorry and ashamed. I hope to make up for it in the next couple of months by bombarding this blog with post after post!

Today I thought I’d write about a little (and by little I mean MASSIVE) event called…. The Allergy and Free From Show!

Let me take you back in time three years ago, to when I was seventeen years old and studying my AS Levels, to a conversation between me and my mum…

Mum: *Excited* ‘I have booked tickets to the Allergy and Free From Show!’ :D

Me: ‘Argh why? I’ve survived this long with an allergy, I don’t need a bunch of experts telling me how to cook and being sympathetic.’

Mum: *Looks sad/annoyed* ‘Well we’re going’

So that was that. But why was I so against this event you may ask? It’s because as soon as I heard the name of the event I assumed I knew what it would be like, and I did not like what I imagined. I thought it would be a sort of festival for moaning and attention seeking. In my head I imagined a group of people crying and hugging in a group as they swapped tales of the difficulty of obtaining organic soya hummus when travelling. And I did NOT want to become a hummus hugger :O

The day of the show arrived and as I trudged into the huge showroom I was hit by an overwhelming realisation: I owed my mum an apology.

The room was packed with stands boasting a huge range of Free From  products, from chocolate bars and puddings to curry sauce and smoothies. There was literally every type of food available, you could try them for free and when you actually decided to buy them they were all discounted! Seriously it was like the UCAS fair but instead of prospectuses and free pens you got free food!!!! (Now I think about it I think I got some free pens too, could it get any better?!)

It was so cool being able to actually try samples of stuff, normally if someone offered me a sample of food I would never be able to try it but here most stuff was dairy free! Obviously it varied from stall to stall, some foods were just gluten free, others just dairy free but some were free from practically everything!

We spent a long time browsing and eating and I ended up spending about twenty quid on food- a wise buying decision ;) My cousin and my uncle also went to the show, they are both coeliac (intolerant to gluten) and they stocked up on gluten free beer because they were selling it at such a reduced price!

I discovered a whole range of products I’d never even heard of and got to sample food that I wouldn’t usually try but found that I loved. My favourite find has to be Pudology. They are a company that make gourmet dairy free and gluten free puddings and they taste like nothing else on earth! The thing I love about Pudology is that even though they are free from a number of main allergens even people who have no allergies could buy and enjoy them, they taste absolutely amazing!! Pudology were only starting out as a small company at my first Allergy Show and their products were only available online. This meant that I probably wouldn’t have found them on the Internet unless I knew what I was looking for. By going to the Allergy and Free From Show you not only get to try new food but you support those who are putting the time and effort into making quality free from products. Nowadays Pudology is available in Holland and Barrat and even in some supermarkets. An event like the allergy show helps these companies gain more customers which means free from products will be more easily available- it’s a win win situation!

When and where can I attend this event I hear you cry? Well sadly the Allergy and Free From Show in London has already taken place this year BUT if you’re a Northerner (Or just fancy a trip to Liverpool) the tickets for the Allergy and Free From Show North are available now from the Allergy UK website. The show will take place in Liverpool in November. Tickets are FREE and you get an unlimited amount of them! I do advise you take some spending money with you though; you will NOT be able to resist the amount of food!

So the moral of the story is don’t judge something before you know what it’s about!  I hope you can make it to an allergy show this year, and I hope you get to eat as much food as I did J

Love,

The Allergy Student x