Pickle, my youngest, is really into cooking. Last Wednesday he made a 3 course Thai dinner from scratch. As a treat, I wanted to get him another magazine so I picked up the March issue of EveryDay with Rachel Ray. It has an appealing layout and beautiful photography.
I was pretty excited when I saw that this issue had a gluten-free menu. Imagine my dismay when I read this:
“When did we all get so picky? If carb cutters, gluten abstainers and other special dieters share your table […]” pg 100
I was a little put off by “picky” but having a major magazine present GF recipes was exciting so I jumped to the recipes.
The main entree is cornflake coated chicken.
Really?
Apparently Rachel Ray Mag has no fact checkers. Or doesn’t know the difference between wheat-free and gluten-free. Most commercially available brands of corn flakes have malt flavoring. Which is made from barley and definitely NOT gluten-free.
It’s this kind of mis-guided information that makes my life hell. Well intentioned friends want to be really nice and make me something. And I’m left either being annoying and quizzing them on every ingredient they used or playing Russian roulette with my health.
Rachel, your chicken would have made me very sick if a friend had served it to me. I will not be subscribing to your magazine.
I like hearing about this, Katya, & hope you also sent it to the editorial board of Rachel Ray! When I’ve had someone who has a different diet, I usually check with them about needs and favorites. There are so many choices today-easy to cook for everyone! Thanks for the reminder.
I agree with Linda — sounds like a good thing for the magazine to hear. I’m sorry for the aggravation, Katya. Maybe you could write a poem about it? (Not necessarily this incident, but about gf eating.)
Dear Katya,
Thank you for your note about the “Make Over Your Dinner Party” feature in the March 2013 issue. In retrospect, the use of the word “picky” was unfortunate. We should have distinguished more clearly between selective eaters and those who are gluten-free for health reasons. Our intention was not to make light of any health condition or allergy.
Our editorial staff—which includes people with celiac disease—aims to be especially vigilant when recommending recipes and products as gluten-free. Starting in our January/February issue this year, we even added the “Gluten-Free” category to our recipe index, another effort to recognize and meet the needs of gluten-free cooks.
In regard to the Cornflake Chicken Cordon Blue recipe, we are aware of the fact that Kellogg’s Corn Flakes contain gluten. We developed this recipe using gluten-free cornflakes—as a matter of fact, several brands make gluten-free varieties, including Arrowhead Mills and Erewhon. Because of an editing error, the specification “gluten-free” was removed from the cornflakes in the ingredients list. We regret the mistake and are running a correction in our next issue. In the future, we will be sure to indicate when an ingredient should be gluten-free.
Thank you again for bringing this issue to our attention.
Sincerely,
The Every Day with Rachael Ray Team
Thank you, Rachel Ray Team, for your considered and thoughtful response. I really appreciate that you took the time to respond to this in such a professional manner.