got the CELIACS' backs

This Houston neighbor surprisingly wheats out the others as most gluten-free friendly city in Texas

Pasadena ranked No. 26 overall, but is the most gluten-free friendly city in Texas.

Gluten-free friendly restaurants are much easier to find in 2023 than they were a decade ago. But depending on which city you reside, it might be harder to eat out if you have a gluten sensitivity, Celiac disease, or just prefer to live that #GlutenFree lifestyle. Luckily for residents in the neighboring Houston city Pasadena, they live in the most gluten-free friendly city in Texas, according to a new report by Lawnstarter.

Pasadena ranked No. 26 overall in the report’s rankings, but is the top U.S. city with the highest average consumer rating for gluten-free food vendors, in a four-way tie with Aurora, Illinois, Laredo, Texas, and Hayward, California. However, it’s also the city with the fifth fewest food vendors with gluten-free options per square mile, which shows Pasadena residents really cherish the gluten-free options they do have.

Houston ranked farther down the list of Texas cities at No. 6, but ranked No. 63 when compared to 200 of the biggest American cities.

Lawnstarter determined their rankings after analyzing the largest U.S. cities’ access to gluten-free vendors, celiac disease specialists, support groups, and other metrics. The 2023 report was released to mark May as Celiac Disease Awareness Month.

The top 10 gluten-free friendly cities are predictably in much larger areas with more diverse food cultures, such as New York City (No. 1), San Francisco (No. 2), Boston (No. 3), and Miami (No. 4).

Other Texas cities that made it in the top 100 on LawnStarter's report include:

No. 37 – Dallas
No. 40 – Austin
No. 46 – Laredo
No. 54 – McKinney
No. 78 – Brownsville
No. 84 – McAllen

Cuckoo Choudhary, an associate professor of medicine at Thomas Jefferson University in Pennsylvania, explained the differences between gluten intolerances and gluten sensitivities in the report.

“Gluten sensitivity is when the symptoms after eating gluten are mild and temporary,” she said. “Gluten intolerance is when the symptoms after eating gluten are more severe and long-lasting, but the patient does not have celiac.”

She also added that they can all share similar symptoms, including “bloating, abdominal pain after eating, diarrhea, anemia, iron deficiency, and weight loss.”

“If a person has symptoms, they should see their primary doctor and get blood tests done,” she explained. “[An] upper endoscopy with biopsy is often needed to confirm the diagnosis.”

The full report and its methodology can be found on LawnStarter’s website.

gluten-free restaurants pasadena houston

Thanks, Queen Bey

Pop icon Beyoncé donates $100,000 to University of Houston Law School

Photo by Erza Shaw Getty Images

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Pop megastar Beyoncé Knowles-Carter has donated $100,000 to the University of Houston Law Center Criminal Justice Clinic through her BeyGOOD Foundation. The gift will allow the clinic to hire fill-time faculty to head it, benefiting the students who study there.

“I am delighted that the BeyGOOD Foundation has made this very generous gift to the UH Law Center,” said Leonard Baynes, dean of the UH Law Center. “Not only will this funding help establish a full-time criminal justice clinic that provides pro bono legal services in our community, but it will also supercharge our already excellent criminal law and justice programming.”

The clinic is one of nine at UHLC. It helps students learn to navigate the criminal justice system, especially on behalf of clients that are underserved by skilled attorneys. People of color are affected disproportionately by a lack of good, ethical representation.

Beyoncé, the most decorated artist in Grammy history and easily the biggest musical star native to Houston, has a long history of advocating for criminal justice reform. She was a staunch supporter of the police reform following the deaths of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile, asking law enforcement to “stop killing us” in a web post. In 2020, she penned an open letter to the Kentucky attorney general asking for justice in the death of Breonna Taylor.

Through her BeyGOOD Foundation, established in 2013, Beyoncé has focused mostly on expanding the prospects of Black-owned business and offering education opportunities to students. Forwarding the cause of legal representation in Texas while also helping out marginalized communities compliments her other philanthropic work.

“At UH Law, we envision a legal profession where ‘everyone has the opportunity to prosper,’ as BeyGOOD envisions, and we will achieve this vision by providing access to strong and effective legal representation in criminal proceedings,” Baynes said. “And together, through this gift, the BeyGOOD Foundation and UHLC will shepherd the next generation of criminal justice attorneys in the city of Houston, the state of Texas and the nation.”