The Cove in The Well held its first gluten-free cooking demonstration class for Sacramento State students today. The free class was hosted by registered dietitian Shauna Shultz and dietetic intern Mania Fanaeian.

In the demo, Shultz and Fanaeian showed students how to make various gluten-free dishes including fruity breakfast cookies, almond butter balls and caprese millet salad. Shultz also answered students’ questions about the gluten-free diet and gave tips on cooking gluten-free dishes.

Shultz said the main motive for hosting the gluten-free cooking demo class was to see if people would show up and to talk about the misconceptions of the gluten-free diet, including whether or not it is a dieting trend.

“If people had questions and if they heard things (about the gluten-free diet), I wanted to be able to be here and answer (questions),” Shultz said. “But also if there was somebody (attending) who had celiac or a gluten sensitivity, I (wanted) to give them options.

Many students came to the demonstration to learn about the gluten-free diet or learn about gluten-free cooking for family or friends .

“I wanted to learn how to cook and try different recipes,” said freshman pre-nursing major Thuy Dung Nguyen.

Shultz said she would love to experiment with more gluten-free cooking demonstration classes in the future.

“I am open to that kind of stuff. I don’t have a lot of experience with gluten-free baking, but I am not afraid to try (new) things,” Shultz said.

Brittany Lambert can be reached at [email protected]