WASHINGTON – A new website catering to the food allergy and Celiac community, www.LonelyPlate.org, was launched this week by Sharona Schwartz, who up until a year and a half ago was News Coverage Manager at CNN's Washington Bureau. While at CNN, Schwartz produced award-winning television reports with chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta on food allergies.   She is also the mother of a daughter diagnosed with multiple food allergies, including wheat, peanuts, fish and more.
 
At LonelyPlate.org, individuals dealing with food allergies and Celiac can write reviews about restaurants, hotels, airlines and theme parks they visit. 
 
“There are fantastic online resources reviewing restaurants and hotels, but because I couldn’t find any that consolidated our unique experiences in an easy, interactive, international platform, I decided to create an interactive database where we can review restaurants, hotels, airlines, and kid-friendly venues,” says Schwartz. 

This Sweet Sunday we are taking a recipe detour to announce our new Dairy-Free and Vegan Chocolate Easter Bunny page. Last week the chocolate Easter bunny announcements rolled in for Divvies, Premium Chocolatiers, and Guardian Angel, so we knew it was time to get moving on our updates. Besides, what could be sweeter than over a dozen chocolate bunnies hand-crafted specifically with vegan, dairy-free, gluten-free, and other special diets in mind?

The new Easter Bunny page will be updated annually and is included in the category "Parties, Holidays, Entertaining, and Travel" in our Food & Grocery section on Go Dairy Free. This category has been around for a while, but we are in the process of updating and formatting it with a new structure and an ongoing expansion of links to relevant articles on our site. You can expect to see stories and information for all of the major holidays, recipes and tips for special events (like birthday parties!), and special diet travel advice for popular destinations.

The Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Network (FAAN) has announced the dates and locations for their 2010 "Respect Every Bite" Food Allergy Conferences. In their 17th year, the conferences are open to the public for registrations and attendance, allowing anyone affected by food allergies, directly or indirectly, to learn more on a variety of topics.

There will be multiple tracks at the conferences so that participants can attend sessions of interest to them, such as: Food Allergy 101 for the Newly Diagnosed, Letting Go and Facing New Challenges, Epinephrine Auto-Injector Training with EpiPen and Twinject, and Understanding the Severity of Living with Food Allergies.

The conferences will also continue to offer special sessions for nurses and registered dietitians, and will have expanded sessions offered for teens (ages 11 and up) and parents of teens.

Allergen-Free cookbook author Cybele Pascal will once again be visiting the Martha Stewart Show to bake allergen-free treats. Cybele first appeared on MARTHA in 2006, baking from her first book, the acclaimed "Whole Foods Allergy Cookbook." She returns Monday, March 1st to bake Classic Crumb Cake from her new cookbook "The Allergen-Free Baker’s Handbook" (How to Bake without Gluten, Wheat, Dairy, Eggs, Soy, Peanuts, Tree nuts, and Sesame). 

You can find Cybele's cookbooks at all major bookstores and online retailers, such as Amazon. Please also visit her website, www.cybelepascal.com.