A Different Twist on Jeopardy’s Gluten Free Category

Let’s Play Jeopardy!  Most Americans (and folks worldwide) have seen at least one bit of Jeopardy to know the premise of the game.  Alex Trebek gives the answers and the participants “answer” with the questions.

Last Friday, the show had a gluten free category.  Jennifer Harris the Gwinnett Gluten Free Examiner had a good article on it Sunday.  Harris reported, “…it was the last category chosen by the contestants and that the answers to the questions were brand specific.”

The website called J! Archive documents shows dating back to 1984!  It has a graphic of all of the questions in this category for Friday’s Date of January 13th.

$200 question:  There’s an octet of veggies in this alphanumeric brand’s vegetable juice, but no gluten

$400 question: This classic canned meat from Hormel that debuted in 1937 has no gluten

$600 question:  In the U.S., this soda is gluten free, as its Vanilla Zero version

$800 question:  Don’t despair: gluten-free candies from Nestle include the Butterfinger bar & these chocolate-covered peanuts

$1000 question: This yogurt brand, known in France as “The Little Flower” has many gluten-free flavors, including strawberry kiwi

The “answers” — according to Harris: V-8, Spam,  Coke Zero, [Goobers], and Yoplait Yogurt.

So here’s my issue.  After 11 years of searching for and researching gluten free products — AND the fact that there’s no gluten free labeling standard in place– even gluten free folks can’t necessarily guarantee a product is gluten free from one shopping trip to the next.  How are contestants who aren’t gluten free going to know about specific gluten free products?

Also, none of these products, that I have seen, (with the exception of possibly Yoplait) are marketed to the masses as gluten free.  Nestle (Goobers), General Mills (Yoplait), Hormel (Spam) all have gluten free lists, and may or may not label the item gluten free, but their advertisements aren’t gluten-free focused– that I have seen.  And have you ever seen a Coke can that says “gluten free” labeled on it? I am not sure I could accurately answer all of these questions.  The cynic in me wonders if these are sponsors who paid to get their products on the air???

Gluten Free Jeopardy

Okay, so here are The Savvy Celiac’s recommendations for “questions and answers” in a gluten free category.  Ready to play??

$200:  The autoimmune disease that wreaks havoc on the body when gluten is ingested

$400:  Wheat, Barley & Rye

$600:  In 2009, General Mills reworked this cereal brand’s recipe to make it gluten free

$800: Discovering her aversion to gluten on Survivor, this celebrity now has a line of GF snack bars: NoGii.

$1000: Considered a pseudocereal, this gluten free “super food” is more closely linked to beets, spinach and tumbleweed.

 Answer Key:

$200:  What is Celiac Disease

$400: What are ingredients you wouldn’t find in a gluten free product.

$600:  What is Chex  (*Note: Multi-grain and Wheat Chex are still not gluten free)

$800: Who is Elisabeth Hasselbeck

$1000:  What is Quionoa http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quinoa

I chose these because I felt like they had more mass appeal (for a very narrow subject), while still being challenging.  General Mills has paid advertisements on national television for it’s gluten free line of Chex.  You’d have to live under a rock to not know that Elisabeth Hasselbeck is gluten free — but you may not know she discovered it (more or less) when she was a contestant on Survivor or that she had a new snack bar.  My favorite is the quinoa one.  While I knew it was a super food, I didn’t know it wasn’t technically a grain.

I just wish Jeopardy would have asked questions more based in gluten free ingredients and slightly more common knowledge rather than specific products on the shelves.

Anyway, what do you think about Jeopardy taking on the gluten free question?

Tags: celiac, gluten-free, Jeopardy