I am quite overcome with joy.
We went on holiday – camping – in France. Because of a confusion over navigation on one of our supermarket outings, we ended up at a hypermarket we hadn’t planned to visit: HyperU. I’m so pleased we went, because we discovered not only gluten free biscottes (biscottes are one of the small pleasures of a visit to France) but also gluten free chocolate fingers.
These are sold under the brand name of Allergo, and called Stickochoc. (Not a particularly French name, but then, they are a British tradition).
Now, for those of you not raised in the UK, this may not be terribly significant, but chocolate fingers are a British child’s birthright, and appear at parties, picnics, tea-times… whenever a small treat is needed. 12 years in, this was the first time I’d ever seen gluten free chocolate fingers. And my daughter loved them. Absolutely loved them. Now, whether this is because of the intrinsic fabulousness of these chocolate fingers, or because they are such an iconic part of the British child’s diet that she’d felt deprived over the last 12 years, I don’t know, but as chocolate fingers go, these were pretty convincing.
So we set out to buy more – and yet, other hypermarkets didn’t seem to stock them, or the smaller, supermarket sized outlets of HyperU (known imaginatively as SuperU). So on our last day, we went back to the original HyperU at St-Hilaire-de-Riez and cleared the shelves.
Being a good mother, on arrival back home, I scoured my usual gluten free suppliers with no luck, and then set to to compose an email in my long-outdated French to the manufacturers, Valpiform, to ask where I could buy these in the UK – because it wasn’t possible to buy from the French website and have the products delivered to a UK address. Valpiform is a fairly well-known gluten free manufacturer based in France that sells into the UK, and their website did offer a specific contact email to use for enquiries about stockists in other countries.
Disappointingly, I haven’t heard anything back from Valpiform.
But, The Times and Ocado have been running a promotion – save 25 mastheads from The Times, and get £25 off a groceries delivery from Ocado. I love Ocado, but they are more expensive than other supermarkets, and so this was a special treat.
And guess what? Ocado stock Stickochoc!
Though we haven’t quite finished the 7 packets of Stickochoc we brought back from France, I’ve ordered 3 more from Ocado, to encourage them to continue stocking them. No sign of gluten free biscottes (also from Allergo/Valpiform), though Ocado does have their gluten free madeleines.
And I’m thrilled.
12 years in, and I still seethe with excitement at a new find. Hurrah for Ocado!
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I’ve written a book summarising what we’ve learnt over 20 years of dealing with the gluten free diet, and it might be just what you’re looking for. It packs the lessons we’ve learned into what I hope is a helpful and straightforward guidebook. It’s available on Amazon, as a paperback or for your Kindle… |
Oh, how I wish we could get those in the states. I love Cadbury Fingers! How many times I’ve walked by them and was tempted. I did find them listed on Amazon, but not available for purchase, yet. I’ll be watching. Thanks!
Listed on Amazon?! I’ll look into that (though I don’t think Amazon.co.uk does groceries yet).
Excellent post. I am a confirmed chocoholic. Sad but true.
Mais c’est formidable!!! how cool! i’ve just been on the valpiform (or whatever it is) website and found some goodies for my daughter as well. the stickochoc stuff is out of stock alas, but other stuff is already in my basket.
thanks for top tip!
Pigx
Hi Pig! I had forgotten you were in France (I’m assuming you still are) – do let us know if you find other French goodies.
(Hope Stickochoc’s aren’t out of stock because of our greed!)
What is this with chocolate fingers? As someone with little self control, the only advantage of being coeliac is being forced to forego all the fattening cakes and biscuits. Now my waistline is in serious danger of expansion.
Hi Janet – thanks for your comment, you made me laugh! And some of the gluten free cakes and biscuits seem to be even more calorific than the originals, don’t they?
The reason I was so pleased to see these chocolate fingers is that it’s nice to see products that make coeliac children feel a little less ‘different’. 12 years ago, when we started, there was very little that was oriented towards children (and it would have been even worse further back in time). Now there are products that look something like the products that her friends can eat – even if they aren’t quite the same. And these chocolate fingers aren’t bad at all. (Sorry about that; it doesn’t help with the calorie intake, does it?)
I get your point. I was 37 when I was diagnosed, back in the days of Rite-Diet tinned bread.
I’ve heard about tinned bread: that sounds awful. What did it actually taste like?
It tasted of nothing. It was dry and stale, even when fresh.
O dear! I think things have improved a bit since then… Have you tried the new Genius bread?
Your site is very helpful and informative. I too have an informative Gluten Free blog and I am very interested in recommending your site on my blog and maybe you could do the same for mine? I also review products and companies, conduct interviews and write Articles on these topics. I’d love you to visit my site and blog. Please write me back and let me know what you think about this idea. The more of us helping get the word out and helping one another, the better. Tina Turbin http://www.GlutenFreeHelp.info
Hi Tina – thanks for your comment, and for the link to your blog, which looks great, and I agree: community is a great help in dealing with the issues of living gluten free, and it’s vital to raise awareness, so that other people don’t have to suffer undiagnosed for years.
Lucy
Lucy,
Great to be in touch and I love to see all you share on this site. Great stuff! I am heading out on my East Coast book tour next Thursday and interviewing GF companies up in the New England on the trip. Check out my blog for the updates. All the Best, Tina Turbin