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Celiacs celebrate new café

Quadra Street Village eatery is first in city to go completely gluten-free
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Hanna and Boris Kofman inside their gluten-free restaurant, Santé Café, in Quadra Street Village.

Celiacs are celebrating the first completely gluten-free café in Greater Victoria.

Santé opened earlier this month in Quadra Street Village and is considered a "refuge" for the hundreds of Victorians diagnosed with celiac disease and "thousands more" who suffer from the autoimmune disorder caused by reactions to proteins in wheat, barley and rye.

"We're in heaven. So many people have been waiting for this," said Ellen Bayens, an executive member of the local chapter of the Canadian Celiac Association.

Hanna Kofman opened the 46-seat café with husband Boris after relocating from Calgary. She suffers from the disorder and, like most celiacs, had all but given up on dining out.

"The reaction has been amazing and my heart is filled with gratitude," said Kofman, who designed the new place as a Parisian café. "People have told us we've opened up doors for them that were not there. They have options now."

There are local restaurants who serve gluten-free dishes. In fact, there are 75 establishments in Greater Victoria offering celiac-friendly menu items — the highest in Canada, according to Bayens, who founded and maintains

TheCeliacScene.com, a resource site that also provides celiac-friendly places to eat across Canada.

But "cross-contamination" of kitchens is a danger to celiac sufferers, said Bayens, and that makes having a dedicated café to gluten-free practices a welcome addition because even the slightest trace of gluten (20 parts per million) can have adverse affects.

Celiac disease is a inherited autoimmune disorder of the small intestine caused by a reaction to gluten protein found in wheat, barley, rye and commercial oats. It affects people of all ages and symptoms include digestive problems and fatigue. The condition affects about one out of every 100 people in North America, said Bayens. The only known effective treatment is a gluten-free diet.

Santé follows the opening of Origin Bakery a year ago in the Stadacona Centre on Fort Street. Owners Marion Neuhauser and Tara Black went out on a limb to open the city's first gluten-free bakery, but have found the response "overwhelming" as celiacs and others with gluten intolerance are showing they are willing to pay higher prices for specialized bread and other baked goods.

A loaf of gluten-free bread sells for $7.50. A variety of ingredients — including up to 16 different grains and seeds — are used to replace wheat while maintaining textures and tastes in gluten-free baking, said Black.

She points out it costs $5.50 to make a loaf of bread and additional costs like production, staff and overhead leave a very slight profit margin.

"We weren't expecting such a ferocious appetite from the celiac community," said Black. "By Christmas we expected to have a few staff helping us out. Now we have 10 employees.

"Both Marion and I have been in the foodservices industry a long time and you expect complaints. It's part of the business," says Black. "But we've never ever encountered so much positive feedback before."

While Origin Bakery has a few seats and serves coffee, it is a takeout place with a growing wholesale division.

The bakery is currently producing breads, cookies, buns and brownies for several restaurants, coffee shops and groceries, including Lifestyle Markets, Fresh, Ogden Point Café, Habit Café, AJ's Organic, Pig BBQ and both the Fairmont Empress and Whistler hotels.

Kofman said while prices for the gluten-free flours and other ingredients are high, they are currently not reflected in her prices at Santé. She is serving bagels, sandwiches, vegetarian soups, homemade pâtés, quinona salads, smoothies and various desserts that are priced about the same as Starbucks or other diners at the moment.

"I've started with promotional prices because we really haven't decided what the margins will be," said Kofman.

She first wanted to gauge the interest in the café, which also serves

Fernwood Coffee. And while celiacs are overjoyed, Kofman is finding families, vegans and others are eating there because of the food "is very healthy."

"Almost everything we serve is organic or local. We're not marketing it as a celiac cafe ... it's for everyone who wants to eat healthy."

Kofman, who has suffered from the disease for about six years and was an oil industry consultant prior to moving to Victoria, said a diet turned her life around and now she hopes to help others: "It's the way you eat that is the healer."

dkloster@timescolonist.com