Amazing Awareness – Celiac Disease on Celebrity Apprentice

Tonight on Celebrity Apprentice, the task was to create a new healthy frozen meal for Schwan's. Annie Duke suggested turkey meatballs with gluten free pasta. When questioned by Joe Kernen from CNBC Squawk Box, "Who would eat gluten free pasta?", Annie quickly responded with "the people who need gluten free are people who have wheat allergies or celiac disease". Joe seemed skeptical and thought it would taste bad. She prepared the turkey meatballs with vegetables, instead of bread crumbs. Although her team was reluctant, Annie advocated for the gluten free meal and the team ended up choosing it after tasting the three dishes Annie cooked.

Everyone enjoyed the gluten free turkey meatballs with pasta, which was the winning meal. During the presentation, Jesse James said "the gluten free market is one of the fastest growing segments in the food industry as more people are developing wheat allergies or things like celiac disease". The Schwan's executive said "I like the innovation in it" and "gluten is hot, there is no doubt about it". Obviously, he meant gluten free, not gluten. As Annie left the board room, she said "I told you the gluten free would work".

Earlier today, the episode of Last Restaurant Standing with customers with celiac disease aired again on BBC America. I am truly shocked that I watched two television shows today that mentioned celiac! This truly is reality television as the gluten free turkey meatballs and pasta is now being sold at Schwan's.

You can vote for Team Athena as your favorite on the Schwan's website. This entire episode can now be viewed online. The gluten free part is in the second half of the episode and the presentation begins at 68:38. The first mention of celiac starts at 57:00. Annie posted her gluten free turkey meatball recipe on her blog.