The January 1, 2009 Boston Globe Food Section featured a small article entitled Less is more about a bakery we visited back in spring 2008. At that time, the bakery was named Bodavi Bakery. Ownership had just switched hands and based on the Globe's article, business is going very well. The bakery's new name is Blackers Bakeshop and it's located at 551 Commonwealth Avenue in Newton, Massachusetts, a Boston suburb. When we visited a few months back, we got there just as they were closing for the day. We had travelled a little ways to get there with our peanut allergic then-4-year-old, and the owner graciously stayed open a few more minutes so our son could select a few treats. The bakery is both nut-free and Kosher-Pareve (hence dairy-free) and offers cookies, cakes, breads, and bagels.
Also noteworthy, I received an email from a reader giving high praise to Blackers' eggless challah bread as well as the cross-contact protocol that must be in place--they have a sesame allergy in the family and no reactions have occurred despite the fact that sesame bagels are baked at Blackers. Thank you for this info--I think we'll be making another trip to Blackers soon!
2 comments:
Please note that the bakery (still known as Bodavi Bakery) confirmed on 1/16/09 that they DO NOT CHECK LABELS concerning peanut or nut contamination. After my son had an allergic reaction from eating a chocolate chip cookie purchased from the bakery the day before, I called and asked whether the chocolate could have been contaminated. They checked the chocolate chip packaging and sure enough, the labeling stated that the chocolate chips could be contaminated.
OK. That's just really scary. I am so sorry that happened.
Thank you so much for this info. You may be saving someone else from a reaction by sharing this.
Would you please consider emailing me? My email address is jenniferATfoodallergybuzz.com. I have a contact who might be able to correct this problem or strongly persuade them to correct it one way or the other.
I also have a lot more questions. When we went to Bodavi,it was the new owner's first week there. The sign still said Bodavi. Have they changed the sign at least? I also noticed that there were no signs saying "nut-free" or "peanut-free" anywhere. That made me uneasy and I didn't plan to go back. That eggless challah article and the positive reactions I read locally made me think I should reconsider and try a second visit. Do you still have the cookie from the bakery? Did you save the rest? I am thinking testing for documentation purposes could be helpful...
Hope to hear from you again. Thank you for this warning. We can't say it enough, allergic buyers beware!
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