The Coeliac Society of Ireland, now in it's 41st year, held it's Annual General Meeting and Coeliac Day in the Portlaoise Heritage Hotel on the 16th April this year. See photos from the day here.

We had a huge array of manufacturers with stands giving away and selling their delicious gluten-free treats.The Society extends a huge thank you to all the manufacturers for coming along on the day.

Once again we examined feedback from previous events and revamped the agenda, reflected their suggestions, being more interactive and family focused, while targeting to needs of regular attendees and newly diagnosed coeliacs alike.

James McIntosh from Safe Foods gave an excellent presentation on "Gluten Awareness in the Catering Trade", which was used to produce the "Hold the Gluten" report earlier this year. The survey tried to establish what the likelyhood is that a request for gluten-free food can be accomodated in restaurants in Ireland, and the results were very encouraging.

After James' talk, the audience divided up into those wishing to attend the "Family nutrition and cookery demonstration" with dietitian Sarah Browne, while in the main room we were treated to some delicious Italian cooking and pizza-throwing acrobatics from the lovely chefs from Manifesto Restaurant in Rathmines, Dublin 6.

Lucio and the guys served up tasty Tagliatelle with Scallops, Artichoke and Chorizo; Pizza Margherita and Tiramisu for the audience to taste. While they were being prepared, Vincenzo entertained the audience with his spectacular pizza-throwing skills.

In the McEvoy suite, Sarah prepared pancakes, chocolate dipped gluten-free biscuits and gave the audience plenty ideas for packing creative, delicious and nutritionally balanced packed lunches.

With bellies full from a delicious gluten-free lunch, Dr. Elke Ardent gave a presentation on Research on Gluten Free cereal products and beverages in UCC. Dr. Elke set her research group the objective to produce a gluten-free bread product, which is of comparable quality to wheat bread, which takes the safety and nutritional requirements of Coeliac patients into account.

Dr. Kennedy presented a session on "Coeliac Disease - an Autoimmune Condition" explaining that Coeliac Disease is a genetic predisposition causing an abnormal immune reactivity to dietary gluten, triggered by circumstances of individuals. He also covered topics such as the conditions associated with Coeliac Disease such as iron, folate and B12 anaemia, thyroiditis and diabetes.

In a parallel workshop session in the McEvoy suite dietitian, Michelle Walsh, gave a presentation for newly diagnosed Coeliacs with tips on adjusting to a healthy gluten-free diet, and how to enjoy eating out and travelling so as not to restrict your lifestyle.

Finally, the Annual Raffle was held with lots of lucky prize winners - including Margo Larmour who won the Cake and Crumb hamper, and Taylor Byrne who won the Kelkin hamper.