Good food and a good deed

Here’s a last-minute gift idea for cooks that will help others, too.

The Second Harvest Food Bank is offering a holiday special for its new book of recipes, “Our Cookbook.” For $100, you can buy seven copies of the book – give six to your friends, family or colleagues and keep one for yourself.

The book is filled with recipes from local restaurants and caterers who have participated in Second Harvest’s annual food and wine tasting event, called “Taking a Bite Out of Hunger.” It includes recipes from Clinkerdagger for Baked Chicken Dijon and Broadway Pea Salad. Coeur d’Alene Resort contributed Idaho Trout and Prawn Napoleon recipes. There are also recipes for Caesar Salad from the Onion, Artichoke Spinach Dip from Sawtooth Grill and Lemon Shortbread Bars from Just American Desserts.

To get the special, stop by Second Harvest food Bank at 1234 W. Front Ave. They’ll also mail the books to your gift recipients at no additional charge (but they won’t get there in time for Christmas). You can also buy a single copy of the book at Second Harvest for $15 or at Auntie’s Bookstore, 402 W. Main Ave.

The cost of printing the books was underwritten by several local credit unions, so all proceeds benefit the food bank. Ann Price, director of donor and community relations, said each $100 they receive for the cookbooks helps the food bank provide $1,000 worth of food to people in the Inland Northwest who are in need.

Gluten-free wheat?

It could happen. Washington State University researcher Diter von Wettstein has been awarded a $100,000 grant to begin developing strains of wheat that are safe for people with celiac disease to eat.

Right now, the only way celiac disease sufferers can avoid problems is to pass on food that contains gluten (which is in a huge range of products, from bread to jelly beans, and frozen yogurt to beer.) The disease causes the immune system to attack structures lining the small intestine, causing problems from cramps and diarrhea to anemia, osteoporosis, fatigue and infertility. About 2 million people in the United State suffer from the disease.

The grant from the National Institutes of Health will be shared with biotechnology firm Arcadia Biosciences, which has offices in Seattle, Phoenix and Davis, Calif., according to a news release from Eastern Washington University. Scientists from Arcadia will identify wheat strains that have a mutation affecting the gluten protein that is suspected of causing celiac disease. Von Wettstein will then grow the plants and test them until he finds a form of protein that does not provoke a reaction in those who have celiac disease.

The most promising new strains will eventually be tested for safety in food products.

For more information on celiac disease, go to www.celiac.org.