Monday: Hello Pam, I understand you have started a new market dedicated to Celiac Disease and the gluten-free lifestyle called Pam MacD’s Gluten Free Market located in Burbank, California. Please tell us a little bit about yourself and your new market.
Pam: I have been gluten free since the mid 1990’s due to Celiac. After my husband passed away, I decided to use the skills I learned about business and apply it to an area of my life that I knew the most about. That clearly was the gluten-free arena. Another factor was a lack of a physical forum for people who must lead a gluten-free life to meet and greet. By putting people face to face rather than a virtual, online forum or focusing on one major problem such as Celiac Disease or Autism Spectrum Disorders, I believe Pam MacD’s offers the opportunity for all areas of the gluten-free lifestyle to converge. In short, we’re a place to swap experiences, “war stories” and most importantly, solutions that are needed to live a gluten-free life in a gluten loaded food environment. Easy to talk the talk, really hard to walk the walk.
Monday: What other health related issues does your market cater to?
Pam: When I first envisioned Pam MacD’s I honestly had no idea of how many health related issues gluten affects. These areas of specialized medicine include hematology, endocrine, dermatology, neurology, autoimmune, gastrointestinal, plus mental and cognitive disorders. Within each of these specialties are several serious diseases, conditions and disorders that more and more a gluten free diet is being suggested to help ease symptoms. We are also finding people who have other food allergies coming in looking for soy, casein, nut and corn free items. Some folks have so many foods they must avoid, I honestly wonder what the heck they CAN eat.
Monday: Tell us about one of your most memorable experiences you have had as a person with celiac disease.
Pam: The Celiac Disease Foundation’s Annual Conference in Los Angeles is always interesting, but one year a 10 year old came up with a great way to solve the crouton mistake at restaurants. Even after all these years of being gluten-free, it is one area I continually forget to ask about. This youngster’s sage advice : “If the waiter brings you your lettuce with those bread things on it, lift the lettuce up and put a package of sugar under it. If it comes back with the package of sugar, you know they only took the bread things off the lettuce.” We adults looked around and could only mutter “Brilliant”. Out of the mouths of babes!
Monday: Is there anything about your local or up-and-coming gluten-free suppliers you want to bring to the community?
Pam: We support our local gluten-free bakers, which we make into a Twitter event so folks close enough to the market can swing in and try – favorite bakers in the LA area and new ones trying to get a foot in the door. We’re also bringing in vegan lines as this helps with people who have egg and diary problems, plus most vegans are hip to gluten and welcome gluten-free vegan fare. Also a friend of mine, Deb Wheaton who’s blogs, Not Even A Crumb, just came back from her summer home in Montana. While there she made connections with the University of Montana who has just developed a new strain of oat that is non-GMO, 25 percent higher protein and only 1 part per million for ELISA testing. It is not only delicious, but really satiates the appetite. As it is a firmer oat it is ideal for baking! It’s just an example of product lines we like to sell as a “limited quantity” item.
Monday: What are your future goals for Pam MacD’s Gluten Free Market?
Pam: The first of the year we will be launching a new website that will include online shopping. We will be featuring the items that you would expect to find, but several new and mid-level vendors that cannot easily find a distributor. I also hope to have smaller, more compact Pam MacD’s in areas of Southern California that don’t have the luxury of having the larger stores offering gluten-free specialty foods. >
Monday: Where can people get more information about you and Pam MacD’s Gluten Free Market?
Pam: As I mentioned, we’re re-designing our website, so please ask your followers to check us out at facebook.com/pammacds and follow us on Twitter @PamMacDsGF. I’ll get back to you as soon as our website is back up and running !
Monday: Thank you Pam for being my guest today and helping spread the word about Celiac Disease and the Gluten-Free Lifestyle. We all look forward to visiting Pam MacD’s Gluten Free Market.
Pam: Thank you Warren, it was a pleasure doing the interview with you.
Pam MacD’s Gluten Free Market
3516 W. Magnolia Blvd
Burbank, CA 91505
Facebook: http://facebook.com/pammacds
Twitter: Twitter @PamMacDsGF
Wed, Nov 2, 2011
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