In the Lehigh Valley we have a big music festival in August every year, called Musikfest.  Ten days of free and paid music venues and lots of festival food.  I have been going for 30 years; missed the first year of it.  It used to be a place where I could enjoy waffles with ice cream and frozen strawberries topped with whipped cream, shared four ways; my sisters and I enjoyed that tradition every year.  Now I am GF and it is not so easy.  Below is my post of last summer and an update on so far this Musikfest.  

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2013: Festing last week in Bethlehem was fun if slightly fraught for me. I was never sure what I would find to safely eat when I was there volunteering. The Saturday night I went with my sisters and our men to celebrate my dear sister Margie’s life, I didn’t eat anything there. The lines were long and I chickened out on asking the GF questions that have become so necessary to my continued good health.

Through the week I looked and looked. I did eat the Aw Shucks corn minus the seasoning. I had a chicken kebab minus the bread. On the last night I got adventurous and tried some kettle corn once the servers assured me it was gluten free. It was delicious! I also had some soft serve which was less than stellar although it was safe for me. I wished I had waited until I found the Bethlehem Dairy stand. Their ice cream is so good. It would have been worth the wait. Too bad I can’t eat their waffles anymore.

As to serving beer, I am considering doing wine service or serving cider. I did okay once I started rinsing my hands between beers. I will have to think about that aspect of volunteering there which I have loved for the past twelve years.

So next year, maybe there will be a stand serving GF food. Not hard if you just don’t sprinkle flour over the frozen fries, if you use corn tortillas, if you use rice seasoning that has no wheat in it. You can get GF burger and hot dog buns too. There are many good fair foods that could be easily made GF. Now I can only dream that someone will make it so….

Below is a brief 2014 Musikfest update:

No, I have found no GF stand, not yet anyway!  I have not gotten all around the fest.  I did find a walking taco in a bag that was safe; made with Doritos and the operator called the boss to check on the meat sauce and it was declared safe.  So I took the plunge and had one.  Pretty good and I didn’t feel ill later.  This was from a cash stand up by the Sun Inn in the little courtyard between the Sun and the corner building.

I had some BBQ pork Sunday minus the bun but with sauce that I was told contained no wheat.  It was less than inspiring and I won’t spend a fortune there (Leiderplatz BBQ stand) for anything else…

I am still pouring beer, endlessly rinsing my fingers and hands.  So far so good!  It is tough being the alcohol supervisor when you can’t even taste the beer to make sure it is the same beer pictured on the tap!

I need to get over to Voltzplatz and Handworkplatz to check out their food offerings.  I will be on the southside Thursday, and will see what is safe or reasonably safe there.  I want some plain roasted corn, too bad their seasoning sprinkle blend is unsafe…..And yes, ice cream in a cup and some kettle corn. Maybe I will find something in the protein family that is safe for me. Hope so!  I am not letting my GF status keep me from festing and having fun this August.