Wetherby Walkthrough

You can't beat a good gluten free food fair, here's a low down of Wetherby's food fair and the fab products on offer.

The 20th June saw Coeliac UK run a food fair at Wetherby in Yorkshire, the day played host to not only a food fair but also Dietics clinics and Coeliac UK's Annual General Meeting, all running at Wetherby's Racecourse, mostly in Bramham Hall, the hall is often used for conferences taking place at the racecourse, but they were also using one of the stands for the AGM and had a tent outside holding their "Is It Coeliac Disease" stand which was recently added to Coeliac UK's website after Caroline Quentin announced it on This Morning early last month.

We only went for the food fair which was to play host to over 30 different gluten free retailers, so we went early on in the day to make sure we were able to grab some bargains and talk to some of the manufacturers. The fair was busy but it wasn't bursting at the seams like York was, at least there was room to move around this one! There was many people coming in and out all the time though, the great thing about food fairs is that you get food that you don't find anywhere else and most of the time the products are cheaper than buying them from anywhere else.

We were handing a map as we walked in, so thought I would walk you through who was at the fair and what they were doing....

Glutafin - this stand was suppose to have DS on it but we never saw them, Glutafin had some of there popular products and also had lots of samples to try, we never even got close to this stand there was so many around it constantly.

Eggardon Rare Breeds - being right next to Glutafin we didn't really see what these were offering, however they sell meat, cheese, chocolate and jam all produced from their own animals, so we'd say they were probably offering up some of these delights.

Ilumi - these didn't have any free samples but where selling some of their fabulous meal pouches (Geng Gari Curry and Lamb in Gluten free ale were the only two I saw) at 2 for £4, all of their products are gluten, nut and milk free.

Nairns - Nairns had lots of their oatcakes, oats and biscuits on offer along with samples of nearly everything, we did notice (and buy) some stem ginger biscuits which we've never seen anywhere before, these were selling many products at 2 for £3 or 2 for £5 depending on the products

Ladybird Foods - a small Lincolnshire based company were selling a selection of pies, bakes and sausage rolls, pies were being sold for £2.75 or 4 for £10 and sausage rolls £1.50 or 3 for £5 along with a few other offers and some really nice samples of their sausages were out for the taking.

Hambleton Ales - the Ripon based microbrewery were selling their gluten free ale's and looked to be a popular stall, from the glimpse we got, it looked like cases of 8 were being sold for £10

Wheat Free Bakery - this fabulous bakery was doing astoundingly well, no surprise when their bread tastes like normal bread, with them they had bought a truck load of custard caramel donuts which went down exceedingly well at York food fair, plus a mix of bread, bagels and rolls, all the products on the stand were either £1 or £2 with some samples to try too.

Glebe Farm - lots of packet mixes for bread, cakes and scones and some cereals, but they also had a mix of some gluten free beers, Mrs Crimbles new packet pastas, and some other products which weren't Glebe Farm. Glebe Farm's products were mostly on offer for £2 each or 2 from £3 for mixes and 2 for £5 for cereals, plus you could try some of the packet mixes, carrot cake and chocolate cake being the nicest of all.

Rule of Crumb - these sell a selection of crumbed products including fish and chicken, at the fair they had a selection of their chicken on offer, if we are honest the time we were there we didn't see anyone at the stall but nonetheless some of the products looked lovely from the packaging but they didn't seem to have any samples to try.

Forever and Boulder - according to the map these were both there, but I can't remember what they did and/or sold, whether the are just a website or sell products I can't actually tell you, I can't even remember seeing their stalls, so...sorry can't tell you what these were offering up!

Udis - not listed on the map but the were definitely there with a large selection of bagels and various other products, most had samples to try and all were at excellent prices, definitely far less than in the supermarket. (EDIT: Since time of writing Udis have ceased trading in the UK)

Heck - Heck were offering there fabulous gluten free sausages at 4 for £10, as always they were selling out fast, pity I was able to get any as wouldn't have been able to get them home before they defrosted!

Gluten Free Kitchen - selling a wide variety of their gluten free products including pies and bread, we actually bypassed this stall as it was nearly as packed as Wheat Free Bakery's, they did have samples on offer and what looked like some good offers too.

Thornleys - with a range of different packet sauces to try and buy they were proving pretty popular with their choice of 5 different sauces - Tuna & pasta bake, chilli con carne, creamy chicken and herb sauce, spaghetti carbonara and pasley sauce.

Greens - popular gluten free beer stall, from what we saw they were offering samples and selling at excellent prices, we saw a few people heading away with a good bagful of botles!

Tesco Free From - sampling a variety of their products including there celebration cakes, first time I have got to try them and must say there were delightful, price on these didn't seem to be much less than in store though!

Juvela - the only time you can actually buy Juvela products as they are only on prescription usually, the stand had a nice selection of things to sample as well as selling their products at £1 or £2, they also had information on proescriptions and some nice recipes to pick up.

Barkat - not listed on the map, but like Udi's they were there anyway selling a range of products all varying in price from £1 to £3 an item, lots of samples from crackers to chocolate wafers.

Jin's Paleo Treats - offering lots of samples of their paleo treats and some nice offers on some vegan friendly cake products.

Nature's Path - these had their cereals on display and were handing out vouchers and samples of a cereal bar (which there were also handing out for free) but didn't appear to actaully be selling their products...or they had run out.

Warburtons - newburn bakehouse had a variety of different loaves being sampled and sold for bargain prices, mostly £1 or £2 each.

K & N Gluten Free Kitchen - this stand had a selection of gluten free ready meals that could be kept in the cupboard for up to 12 months, no refridgeration required and were selling them at the great price of 4 for £10 or £2.99 each, they also did a variety of cakes which they were selling and sampling

Isabels - these were sampling donut balls and boy they were good, they were also cooking them behind the stalls, they also had samples of other mixes too and were selling all there mixes at 2 for £3.

Freego - selling a variey of 9Bar's and packet meals, think each meal was £3 a pack, they didn't seem to be sampling anything. (Edit: Since time of writing the company appears to have ceased trading)

Jollyum - with a freezer behind their stand their dairy free ice creams were getting some good attention, selling both small and large tubs in 4 different flavours.

Christines Puddings - with samples of gluten free bread pudding along with 2 or 3 other gluten free puddings she was attacting some attention

Voakes - with their massive selection of savoury pastries from sausage rolls to pasties, Voakes always gets busy, you can't get a better gluten free pie then theirs, they were getting plenty of customers and seemed to be running low on a some products when we were there but nonetheless were doing well with samples and sales.

Free From Italy - selling a range of pastas most of 2 for £3 or £5 they seemed to be doing well selling all kinds of pasta from spaghetti to lasagne.

Mandy's Gluten Free - selling a range of savoury and sweet pies at £2 each with some delicious samples to try before you buy.

Feel Free - definitely doing well with their frozen gluten free donuts, also showcasing a lot of their other products such as pasta, cereal and breaded chicken, most products were up for sampling and all were on great offers.

Food fairs are always worth the visit for all the products you can't get anywhere by manufacturers which are lesser known as well as the ones which are in supermarkets, you can grab some great bargains, try some new products and meet some people who all have coeliac, gluten intolerance or some other food allergy. If you wish to see dates of other upcoming shows see our other food fair blog.