Sunday 6 July 2014

Allergy & Free From Show 2014

This is the 3rd year I've been to the Allergy & Free From Show in London. I enjoyed the previous shows so I ordered my free entry tickets and booked a train to the big smoke. With my sister in tow off we went...


This year it was held in the Grand Hall of the Olympia. This to me was a great change as the previous years it was in the smaller halls which were very tightly packed with stalls and quite warm with bustling people. There was a nice amount of space between stalls and a lot more stalls. It was a great atmosphere with no pushing or shoving (that I saw). Thumbs up!


I had a shopping list in my head of the items I really wanted to get and the stalls I wanted to visit, anything else I came across was a bonus! It also helped that I took a pull along bag with me and a small cool bag with an ice pack for refrigerated finds.

My first stop was BFree. If you've seen my tweets recently you will be aware that I am a big fan of their bagels. They are Dairy, Gluten and Egg Free which is great as I get fed up of seeing bread that contains egg. They are also very very realistic. They were a bargain at 3 for £5 so I got two of the seeded and one of the plain which I'd not tried. I did later go back for another 3 packs as it will save me driving 25mins to the nearest Tesco that sells them. They freeze great.

Next stop was Venice Bakery, I'm also a big fan of their pizza bases. I'd not brought any in a while as I thought I'd stock up at the show. I got the small seasoned bases and some flat breads. This year you could also buy MozzaRisella from the stall so I got two of the SmokeyRisella.

I stopped at the Plamil stall. My favourite egg free mayonnaise is their garlic one so I picked up a jar. I also got a chocolate orange spread and a big bag of chocolate chips as I like to use them in my cakes.

I'd seen the Feel Free brand floating around on twitter recently so I took advantage of their 4 for £5 offer on their pasta. Can't wait to try the alphabet shapes (yes they are aimed at children as my sister pointed out...I'm a big kid). I also got a pack of their Choc Chip Granola bars. I did test one of these when I got home and I love them. More of a rice crispy bar with chocolate. Winner!

Whilst browsing the flour collection on the Bobs Red Mill stall a lady asked if I would like to meet Bob for a free signed copy of his book. Why not! If it wasn't for this man I would never have eaten the Waffles and Beignets they make with his flour at Disney. He was very friendly bless him. I stocked up on his pizza mix (to make beignets) and a few flours that my Babycakes recipes use. 

My Sister, Bob & Me
I found a stall with a lovely display of cakes. I like cake. I had to buy. It was Ruby's of London. She had a great selection of Vegan and also Gluten Free cakes, donuts and brownies. I chose the hazelnut donut and my sister had a rocky road brownie. We both thought they were delicious. 

I very nearly forgot that Clive's Pies were on my list. I have a limited selection in my local Holland & Barrett so I wanted to try some of their other flavours. There was a 5 for £10 offer so I chose two French Cassoulet, two Vegetable Chilli and the Lentil & Olive. Looking forward to trying them.

We received some free samples of the Slendier Organic Konjac rice and pasta. I'd not heard of these before so interested to try.

My Free From Haul

We spent a couple of hours browsing round the stalls. I still managed to get home and realise I'd missed some of them. To be honest we couldn't carry anymore. Thank goodness for the pull along trolley. I would have liked to have investigated the beauty and back pain area a bit more but my main priority was food. 

Overall I had a lovely day. Their were some fantastic companies at the show who were very friendly and helpful. I met my lovely twitter friends Nia (@ChubbaNia) and Sarah (@Sugarpuffish) for a chat. Check out their blogs in my favourites list. I was sad to miss Dairy Free Baby & Me (@dairyfree) but next time!

Hope everyone else enjoyed it as much as me. 
To quote my sister " How your reacting to this show is like me being at a theme park"
 (she really really likes theme parks)

1 comment:

  1. I love what your sister said, it's soooo true for all of use FreeFromers. You got to meet Bob that was awesome. Thank you for the blog mention, was lovely to see you again x

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