Spandex or Expandex?

So I went to this gluten free lecture. The topic of the evening was: gluten free flours, the equivilant of a glass of warm milk and a lulluby to the general public. But I sat, engrossed, as the speaker passed around some 30 varieties of gluten free flour. And I was not alone. We were all fascinated, such abundance.

When I began to eat gluten free it felt like such a hardship. No Cinnabon, no Panera, no take-out pizza or pancake mix... what's a girl to eat? But as I learned to cook without gluten I discovered I could make great bread, pizza and pancakes without wheat. I regularly cook with 5 or 6 different flours. I eat quinoa, and mochi, and I bet most people don't even know what that stuff is. It's good. What at first seemed so limiting has expanded my world in ways that I never expected. I bet God works that way a lot... freedom within limits. But I digress. I meant to post about spandex, or Expandex, or something.

At the lecture I learned about a new product on the horizon for the GF community; its called Expandex. It sounds like spandex. It conjurs up memories of the eighties and cellulite. Expandex is modified tapioca flour and performs more like wheat flour than anything else, apparently. This means fluffier bread, and nicer crumbs. Yum! I haven't actually tried it, but if it lives up to the hype, then I'm excited. Despite the name. Take note marketing folk worldwide, this consumer would prefer products, especially food products, not evoke images of flabby thighs.