Philly Doesn’t Make the Cut on List of Best Gluten-Free Cities

Whaaaaat?

Gluten-free bagels (bagels!) from Taffets. Photo via Facebook

Another day, another ranking, right? This one, listing cities with the most gluten-free-friendly restaurants, has us a bit miffed, especially since we were still strutting our stuff after Philly clinched the title of “World’s Most Celiac-Friendly Destination” back in January.

The latest rankings come via Huffington Post and GrubHub, a food-delivery website that’s apparently been tracking gluten-free orders. A couple trends to note: Demand for gluten-free food has skyrocketed in the last year, up 60 percent on GrubHub. The most-ordered gluten-free items include pizza, salads, burgers, wraps and sandwiches.

The top city with the most gluten-free options was Detroit, of all places, followed by Stamford, Connecticut; Eugene, Oregon; and Albany, New York. LA appears at #9 on a related list of most gluten-free orders per city, but neither New York nor Philly appear anywhere. What gives?

I have an idea. Maybe we don’t have a ton of gluten-free delivery options here (Real Food Works notwithstanding), but we certainly have delicious gluten-free options in droves. To make our lives easier, let’s just look at gluten-free bakeries in our area. Off the top of my head:

Main Line Baking Co.

Sweet Freedom Bakery

Taffets Bakery

The Little Bakery

Sweet Christine’s

Virago Baking Company

Pure Sweets

And then there are the myriad local restaurants that have been trained in safe gluten-free food service by the Philly-based National Foundation for Celiac Awareness. Zagat even has more than a dozen recommendations for where GF eaters can eat well in Philly. And don’t forget about Gluten Free Philly, a local blog dedicated to all things culinary and GF here in our own city. I mean, blogger-in-chief Michael Savett certainly finds enough to write about.

All of which is to say: While we may not have the lock on gluten-free takeout, Philly’s still a damn good place to be gluten-free. Can I get an amen?