National Restaurant Association Show Focuses on Food Allergies

This week is the National Restaurant Association’s Annual Trade Show in Chicago and the vendors are starting to take notice! The big trend seems to be the number of vendors who are now offering gluten-free and allergy-free foods.

There are 75 booths in this year’s show that featured gluten-free products, with Enjoy Life Foods displaying a booth at the show for the first time. They are promoting their new Plentils, packaged lentil chips, which seem to be a big hit with schools and universities country-wide. They want to offer a gluten-free alternative without the cross-contamination worry.

I am also excited to hear that Chicago-based Eli’s Cheesecake is now making a vegan cheesecake option made with Tofu and dairy-free cream cheese. They currently offer two varieties—Belgium chocolate and carrot cake. Yes, finally! Manufacturers are starting to notice that not only is there an increasing number of people with dairy allergies, but that the number of people who are adopting a Vegan lifestyle is also on the rise.

Now if I could only get them to get rid of the nuts in the carrot cake cheesecake. One step at a time….