Nearly two years ago we wrote about a – then – new arrival in Wynnum, gluten free and plant-based foods business Mandala VGF in Florence Street, located across the road from the library and Woolworths (read that article here).
Even though you might be forgiven for thinking that it’s a bit of a niche area, around 14% of Australians avoid gluten* either due to being diagnosed with Coeliac disease or other wheat sensitivity, or simply because they feel better without it. Other very commonly avoided food groups are dairy, with anything up to 12% of Australians** not consuming dairy, for health and other reasons, and eggs.
As business owner Catherine (pictured left) explains, “Although we run a gluten free and plant-based foods business, where all foods we produce are both of these – and so therefore also vegan – we have a lot of regular customers who buy our food who are not avoiding anything at all – they just love our food! However, for people who are gluten free and perhaps have one other thing they avoid, like dairy or egg, we are one of the few places where they can walk in and know that they can eat everything on the menu.”
And that menu has grown quite a lot since WynnumCentral last spoke with Catherine – now embracing a range of hot and cold savoury foods, a range of sweet tarts, bread, pizza and even a plant-based ‘cheese’.
Their latest addition is a range of family-sized versions of their takeaway foods, such as risottos, lasagne and pizza, which can be either collected at their factory or delivered in the local area. And ‘local’ covers quite a few suburbs in the Bayside area!
“The next thing on our agenda will be extending our opening hours to offer hot and cold dinner options for people either for pickup or via food delivery services like Uber and Menulog. Watch this space!” said Catherine.
As a little bit of fun for school age children during what’s left of the school holidays, Catherine is also running a pizza making and cupcake decorating workshop for 5-12 year olds this coming Sunday – all gluten free and plant-based, of course! Details here… https://events.humanitix.com/pizza-making-and-cupcake-decorating-workshop
Mandala VGF 5/124 Florence Street Wynnum
https://mandalavgf.com.au/
https://www.facebook.com/mandalavgf
Mandala VGF is open 9am-2pm Mon/Tue, 9am-6pm Wed/Thu/Fri and 9am-2pm Sat.
Mandala VGF is a member of Brisbane Business Bayside and a supporter of WynnumCentral.
*https://www.mja.com.au/journal/2020/212/3/incidence-and-prevalence-self-reported-non-coeliac-wheat-sensitivity-and-gluten
**https://dairyfreedownunder.com.au/thinking-of-adopting-a-dairy-free-diet-heres-what-you-need-to-know/
Main photo: Spinach and (not) Ricotta Lasagne
