soya free

4 May 2014

Violife Dairy Free Pizza Cheese
I have suffered cheese envy for many years but now thanks to the popularity of Vegan alternatives, I am enjoying embracing this food group once more. As time goes on the quality of alternatives is improving. My latest find is Violife thanks to my local independent organic store. Seriously I was like a kid on Christmas morning and have gone into cheese overload. Que making lots of pizza and dusting off the sandwich toaster.
Violife Dairy Free Pizza Cheese
Violife is the cheese of my dreams, it melts like snow on a warm day. In my world, that's pretty amazing. It also has a nice creamy taste, I dare not say whether it's as good as dairy cheese because my memories are a bit dusty. However, I think it is pretty similar to Vegusto No Moo Melty.

Violife is also available in blocks, slices and creamy (aka spreadable) in a variety of flavours. Since drafting out this post I have gone ahead and bought the Tomato & Basil slices. I paid £2.10 for the pizza cheese but I have seen it in another store for a few pennies cheaper. Violife is suitable for vegetarians & vegans, dairy, lactose, gluten, soya and palm oil free.

UPDATE: Tesco Extra Stores stock Original in block and slices.

Sarah x

27 March 2014

Winners of the 2014 FreeFrom Food Awards
As you know I was delighted to be asked to help with judging for the 2014 FreeFrom Food AwardsA day off work to eat food, who can resist that offer. Whilst it had its ups (discovering Bessant & Drury coconut yoghurts) and downs (lack of egg free biscuits), I give a high five to all the winners and runners up because without you, both my sister and I would struggle with our restricted diets. 

The growth of the Free From market has changed enormously in my lifetime. It's the simple things that matter, I now buy dairy free cheese and Easter eggs and to me that's amazing! Sadly, I had to miss out on the Awards Ceremony but I was watching all the excited tweets on Tuesday evening. If you would like to view the complete list of winners and runners up click here.

I still think that in recent years, gluten free is the driving force behind many free from products. I would like to see a growth in foods that cater for multiple allergies. I know that is not an easy task but I do find it sad that recently I feel I must turned my back on the free from shelves because I can not seem to find egg free products. The food I eat is marketed at Vegans and often not found in the free from section at the supermarket.

I wanted to pick out some of my personal favourites from the award categories.

Scones, sweet biscuits, tarts and cookies
Nairn’s Gluten free biscuit breaks (oats & fruit) were the winners. I already buy this product on a regular basis. Pat on the back for being gluten, dairy, egg, soya and nut free (manufactured on a line that handles milk).

Breakfast Foods

Bessant & Drury Morello Cherry & Madagascan Vanilla coconut yoghurt was highly commended in the Breakfast category. Finally, after spending years watching my boyfriend devour Muller Fruit Corners, I will be able to buy a dairy free alternative. This product was the highlight of my day of judging and now I just need them to stock in my local supermarket.

Meat-free meals
Amy’s Kitchen Thai Red curry was highly commended. This one is a personal favourite and currently the only Vegan ready meal option I have available at my local supermarket. The winner in this section was Georgia’s Choice Gluten Free Mexican bean bake (suitable for vegans), a brand I had not heard of before now.

Store cupboard

I'm very intrigued by the Vegusto ‘Cheese’ sauce, that would certainly make a convenient option for dishes like lasagne or macaroni cheese.

Foods designed for children
Smooze Mango fruit ice were highly commended. I discovered these last year and I'm such a big kid because I buy these. I personally like the plain coconut version but mango ones are nice too. Moo Free Minty Moo are amazing and I wish more stores stocked them.

After dinner foods 

Nice to see my favourite Pudology Banoffee pud as a joint winner in this category with Bessant & Drury Raspberry swirl frozen coconut yoghurt. Can I get an Hallelujah for a dairy free frozen yoghurt? I NEED to buy this ASAP!! 

Winner of the FAIR trophy for the Best FreeFrom Food 2014 
The big winner was Focaccia Per Tutti Focaccia Mediterranea, not that I had ever heard of them! The Focaccia ticks several free from boxes being gluten, wheat, dairy and soya free. I have been browsing the website (which could do with improving) and I don't see eggs in the ingredients but it's not promoted as egg free? 

I did smile to myself whilst writing this blog post because I realised I didn't need stock photos for a picture, these products were already in my cupboard. Next time you are at the shops, look out for the yellow award stickers, I am sure they will be cropping up on the winning products.

What do you think of the FreeFrom Food Awards? Were any of your favourite products on the winners list? Were there brands that you had not heard of?

Sarah x

11 February 2014

Free From Food Awards 2014 - Judging
2014 is the seventh annual Free From Food AwardsThe bright yellow award logos are now seen on a range of freefrom products from one man/woman producers of freefrom cupcakes to supermarket own label ranges. Freefrom food is the only food sector to have shown steady 15% year on year growth over the last 5 years. New categories for this year’s awards include ‘Breakfast’ (cereals, baked goods, animal and animal free yogurts and milks), ‘Food to go’, ‘After Dinner Foods’ (desserts, chocolates and petit fours, animal free ‘cheeses’ and cheese biscuits), Pasta and Pizza and Low sulphite wines. ‘Returning’ categories include breads, cakes, store cupboard, ready meals, ‘raw’ foods, children’s food and the ever popular gluten-free beer category.

Taking part in judging is certainly an eye opener and a slightly different experience to the sister awards for skincare. I thought I had a wide knowledge of free from food products on the market but there are many brands that I have yet to discover so I wonder, where are they all hiding?

I took part in two categories, Breakfast and scones, sweet tarts, sweet biscuits and cookies. Obviously, I did not take part in tasting animal milk products but surprisingly I had to skip biscuits/cookies. The latter appears to me to be purely targeted at the gluten free market and barely catering for other allergies. Out of the gluten free products entered into this category (I think it was 17 or 18) only two did not contained milk and/or egg. It frustrates me a great deal. Manufacturers seem to be forgetting that it is quite common to have more than one allergy/intolerance. I know demanding more free from biscuits is controversial given the recent press over sugar but there are occasions where I think most people would like a biscuit to dunk in a cup of tea. If you are making dairy free and egg free biscuits and cakes then a) Why are you not shouting about it? b) Why are you not entering the Free From Awards? People like me need you! We want to celebrate the fact that you recognise multiple allergies. Oh and if someone could make me egg and dairy free, vegetarian rocky road, you would have a customer for life!

Despite this little hiccup, I do not wish to distract attention from the awards because they help raise the profile of free from foods for consumers and the industry. I enjoyed my day of judging and it is really interesting to be in a room full of people who understand free from living. It was also nice to meet people I tweet with - Mel @PiginthekitchenAlexa @foodallergyuk & Julia @AlimentaryBites.

The shortlisted products will be announced on 12th February. Follow @FFFoodAwards on Twitter as I am sure they will be tweeting about it.

Sarah x

Photos courtesy of Pig in the Kitchen

24 July 2012

Amy's Kitchen

I've updated this post because originally I featured Amy's Kitchen ready meals which are no longer available. I'm a fan of their soups because it is often hard to find can soup without milk. All of Amy's soups are very tasty but I am a fan of the Organic Split Pea which I can buy in Tesco. I'll often have the Bean & Rice Burrito (non-dairy version) in my freezer for emergency lunch snacking.

It's now 2022 and two new products have been added - Thai Vegetables and Rice Bowl and Mexican Veggies & Black Beans. Visit their website to find your local stockist and try an Amy's Kitchen product for yourself, I'm sure you would enjoy it.

Sarah

Instagram

Sugarpuffish. Theme by STS.