Non GMO-certified, USDA organic certified, vegan and totally yummy, Mary Waldner’s gluten-free crackers are a deliciously addictive snack
It’s always exciting to discover there is an actual person behind an iconic brand. In recent weeks, I’ve had the pleasure of meeting Eileen Fisher, who spoke at a Fashion Revolution Day event at the Fashion Institute of Technology, and Mary Waldner, co-founder and chairman of Mary’s Gone Crackers, when she breezed through New York City last week.
Raised in Chicago and now based in California, Waldner had suffered stomach aches since childhood. At age 43, she was finally diagnosed with celiac disease, the autoimmune disorder that makes it very difficult to digest gluten, which is found in wheat, barley, oats and rye. “That’s why I started the company,” she says. “Because I couldn’t eat anything!”
A prolific lifelong baker, she started baking gluten-free crackers made with whole grains, brown rice and quinoa (well before the craze) and stippled with flax and sesame seeds. She carried them with her, in her purse, so that she would always have something to snack on, but soon discovered that everyone else wanted to snack on them, too! Her batches—all made by hand—became bigger, and sharing was ubiquitous.
Not surprisingly, Waldner decided to turn her baking into a business, and left her career as a psychotherapist to launch Mary’s Gone Crackers, with her husband, 16 years ago. “I was always into healthy foods,” she says, “and even now, I find the gluten-free products disappointing. There are so many great grains out there, but instead people use rice, tapioca and potato.” With those ingredients, she says, you get no fiber, no nutrients, and “there’s no food.” Waldner is a stickler for what is important to her. That’s why Mary’s Gone Crackers products are USDA-certified organic, non-Genetically Modified Organism (GMO) certified, vegan and, of course, gluten-free.
This month, the company is launching “Minis”: little cookies in three flavors—cocoa, vanilla and graham—that are perfect for children’s lunch boxes. Also new: “Thins,” a cracker variety in five flavors that are thinner and slightly smaller than the original varieties.
“A lot of it, for me, is about what I want to eat, and bringing all these great ingredients in to people’s awareness,” says Waldner.