Cadboro Bay Festival by Pepper’s Foods
3829 Cadboro Bay Road – 11am to 3pm

Six world-class sand sculpting teams will be there creating amazing works of art that you’ll get to vote on to determine whose is the best! Kids can enjoy the bouncy castles, hands-on activities, arts and crafts stations as well as information displays. And if you get hungry, there will be numerous concessions to satiate your cravings! Plus, there will also be three local bands performing on stage throughout the afternoon. Sound good? Great, then we’ll see you there!

Learn more about the Cadboro Bay Festival Here!

Take advantage of this week’s sales while you are there!

Pepper’s Foods has been bringing the best in local gluten free to customers in Cadboro Bay since 1962.

A bustling market at 3829 Cadboro Bay Road, steps away from the University of Victoria and one of the largest playgrounds in Victoria, shop at Pepper’s Foods for a picnic, a barbecue or the gluten-free foods you need to sustain you week in and week out! A long-time supporter of the Canadian Celiac Association’s Annual Picnic, Pepper’s Foods is the very ‘heart’ of Cadboro Bay!

• Sale on Gluten-Free Items
• Weekly Specials
• Gluten-Free Product List
• Deliveries to Your Door
• Facebook
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• 10% Student discount EVERY day!
• 10% Senior’s discount Tuesdays and Wednesdays

What’s New at Pepper’s Foods!

“Any time a local vendor or distributor approaches us with a local product, we’re all ears and open to carrying their product.”

• • • Scott Zaichkowsky, Assistant Grocery Manager

Gyro Park & Beach at Cadboro Bay

The legendary home of the “Cadborosaurus” sea serpent, Cadboro Bay is a partially protected bay with the kind of long, sandy beaches that make for sublime summer swimming, strolling and boating. The park has a replica of the Cadborosaurus creature, said to be a relative of the Loch Ness Monster. Caddy, as it is known, usually allows itself to be seen once or twice a year. Cadboro Bay’s beaches are well-equipped for family outings with picnic facilities, public washrooms and a children’s playground. Pack a snack from Pepper’s and enjoy!

Click for more information

The BC Chapter of the Chapter of the Canadian Celiac Association is pleased to announce a Christmas Crafts & Cookies Meet Up on Thursday December 12th 6-8pm at BC Children’s Hospital, 4480 Oak Street, Vancouver. See Map.

This group is for children ages 5 – 12 and it is not a support group, but rather is a place for positive peer relations for kids and their parents.

The cookies and decorating supplies have been generously donated by Jenna – owner of Delish Gluten Free Bakery.

Please RSVP to Jasmine at celiackidsconnect@vancouverceliac.ca by no later than December 5th so that we know how many supplies we need. You’ll be provided with the exact room number on the bottom floor of the Ambulatory Building (Starbucks & GI building) at that time.

Free for CCA members. $5 for non-members.

info@vancouverceliac.ca • (604) 736-2229 • (877) 736-2240 toll-free within British Columbia 

The Vancouver Chapter is proposing to have a meet up group for teens ages 13 – 18 as well. We would like to assess interest in this. If you could also respond to this email to let us know if your teenager would like to meet up with other teens with celiac disease, we would appreciate hearing from you. Contact celiackidsconnect@vancouverceliac.ca

‘Dining-in’ is back at 900 Degrees Wood-Fired Pizzeria Langford 4:30 to 8pm

Introducing 900° 2 Go! Contactless Take-Out & Curb-Side Pick Up.

900 Degrees offers delivery up to 7km distance. Enter your address at https://900degrees.moduurn.com for eligibility and to calculate your delivery charge (between $3.50 and $5.50.)

Build Your Own

Organic tomato sauce, house-made lemon olive, aged balsamic reduction, brie cream sauce, chilli oil, house-made pesto, fresh mozzarella cheese, basil, & pizza dough, to go!

Phone orders 250-590-4493. Special COVID-19 hours, open daily from 4:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. Order online here

• 900 Degrees Wood-Fired Pizza 101B 2401 Millstream Avenue, Victoria (250) 590-4493
• Menu • Facebook • Instagram
• Contact Executive Chef & Owner Adrian Ortiz-Mena

My curiosity about 900˚ Wood-Fired Pizzeria was piqued when I read in the September Edition of Eat Magazine (page 27)  that the owner’s son was a celiac. Executive Chef and Owner, Adrian Ortiz-Mena was quoted as saying,

• “I think the most innovative thing we have done is bringing really good gluten-free pizza to our customers. My son was diagnosed celiac when he was 5 years old … and he loved pizza. It broke my heart thinking that he could no longer have pizza, so I developed a gluten-free pizza dough just for him. It was a real challenge, a labour of love.”

The Celiac Scene needed to learn more!

I popped into this warm and inviting restaurant on a cold and rainy September night, hoping for the opportunity to speak to a chef or server about their gluten-free options.

I was pleasantly surprised when Adrian himself bounded from the back of the restaurant only too eager to share his son’s health journey and how he had worked at home to create a gluten-free crust that met his discerning chef standards. Using one of the best all-purpose gluten-free flour mixes on the market and few extra-special ingredients, he was able to create a crust that pleased his son – and one that Adrian believed would please his customers.

The details.

As our community well knows, it takes more that a crust to create a gluten-free pizza. Adrian set about to contact the manufacturers of every ingredient used in his entire operation to ensure that the components used in all of his pizzas were celiac-safe. Apart from the wheat flour used for his regular crusts and the garlic bread, every ingredient that 900˚ Wood-Fired Pizzeria in house is gluten-free.

What about the process?

Adrian brimmed with enthusiasm as he explained that gluten-free pizzas are entirely prepared in a dedicated gluten-free area, in a room away from the regular production area. Sauces and toppings are stored in dedicated containers and applied with dedicated utensils that are never used to dress regular pizzas.

When a gluten-free order is processed, the chef washes his hands – up to his elbows – before starting work on an the order. When complete, the  pizza is placed on a dedicated gluten-free pizza peel (handle) and transported to the 900˚ pizza oven where it is cooked to perfection.

Here’s where it gets complicated.

At 900˚ Wood-Fired Pizzeria,  pizzas are cooked directly on the hearth of their single pizza oven, where other gluten pizzas have also been cooked.  The concern on my face prompted Adrian to escort me directly to the oven itself where he proceeded to sweep to the side the burnt, charcoal dust of the pizza crusts that had been cooked.

While Adrian whole heartedly agreed with me that deep frying food at a standard 325-375˚F does not destroy gluten, he maintains that incinerating to 900˚residual gluten crumbs and flour from previously cooked pizzas and then sweeping them aside, most assuredly does.

That said,  900˚ Wood-Fired Pizzeria  is pleased to cook gluten-free pizzas on sanitized pizza pans for any gluten-free diner’s peace of mind. As a wood-fired pizza purist however,  Adrian cautions that cooking pizza on a pan may generate different results.

Final consideration.

900˚ Wood-Fired Pizzeria  is most assuredly a pizza lover’s pizzeria. Gluten pizza dough is thrown into the air with gusto, wheat flour coats the kitchen floor like dance dust and a fine coat of flour is evident on surfaces throughout the main preparation area.

That said after two  years’ serving gluten-free pizza, Adrian shared that there have been no reports from gluten-free diners that they have experienced gluten contamination.

As Adrian is quoted as saying in the EAT Magazine article, “I don’t think we really did anything new – we just did it better!”

I would have to agree: for celiac diners who are comfortable with these practices or those who avoid gluten as a lifestyle choice, 900˚ Wood-Fired Pizzeria sets the gluten-free bar as high as I have seen it on Vancouver Island.

Love Pasta?

900˚ Wood-Fired Pizzeria stages occasional pasta specials and always offer the option of Italy’s Schar Gluten-Free Pasta to gluten-free diners!

Gluten-Free Beer?

900˚ Wood Fired Pizza is pleased to serve 100% gluten-free Forager Beer, made in Whistler from sorghum and rice. 

“Where to Eat in Canada” adds @900.degrees to it’s list of worthy restaurants, calling their pizza “as close to perfection as it’s possible to get,” and one of only a handful of restaurants here in Victoria named “Good Buys”. Check out the full review on page 306 of the 2017-18 guide published by Oberon Press. Pick up your copy today!

Celiac Canada is organizing “Shine A Light on Celiac Disease” for International Celiac Disease Awareness Day by illuminating locations across the country in green. That includes the Parliament Buildings of BC’s Legislative Assembly – for the first time! 

The BC Legislature  has accepted Celiac Canada’s request to be lit up GREEN on the evening of May 16th.

Please join us to get a photo together! We can’t meet too early, as we want the light to show up, so we’re hoping all convene at 8 PM at the cenotaph.

Please take & post pics on social media using #ShineALightOnCeliac!

LOOK FOR ELLEN IN HER REFLECTIVE YELLOW JACKET!

While quantities last, attendees will receive

• Country Grocer Bag with Discount Card
• GF Goodie Bags from Epicure Kelsea & son, Callum
• Treats from Art of Slow Food Bakery
• Treats from Origin Bakery

COMPLETE DETAILS HERE!

Participating Locatios Across Canada*

May 14

• Bloedel Conservatory, Vancouver, BC

May 15

• Civic Plaza, Surrey, BC

May 16

BRITISH COLUMBIA

• Science World, Vancouver, BC
• City Hall, Victoria, BC
• BC Legislature, Victoria, BC (in-person event planned)
• City Hall, Port Moody, BC
• Pier, White Rock, BC

ALBERTA

• Calgary Tower, Calgary
• Peace Bridge, Calgary
• Reconciliation Bridge, Calgary
• Telus Spark, Calgary
• Lethbridge City Hall, Lethbridge
• Medicine Hat TeePee, Medicine Hat*
• Airdrie City Hall, Airdrie*
• High Level Bridge, Edmonton
• Epcor Tower, Edmonton
• Fairmont Hotel, Edmonton
• Clock/Bell Tower, Walterdale Theatre, Edmonton
• Community Centre, Sherwood Park
• Festival Place, Sherwood Park
• Legislature Building, Edmonton

NEW BRUNSWICK

• Dieppe City Hall, Dieppe
• Avenir Centre, Moncton

ONTARIO

• Ottawa Sign, ByWard Market
• Shaw Centre, Ottawa
• Toronto Sign in Nathan Phillips Square
• Niagara Falls
• CN Tower

QUEBEC

• Olympic Stadium, Montreal*
• Complexe Jules-Dallaire, Quebec City*

PEI

• Charlottetown City Hall
• Summerside City Hall, Summerside

MANITOBA

• Winnipeg Sign at the Forks*
• Manitoba Legislative Building, Winnipeg*

*Locations requested, awaiting confirmation.