Today my husband and I had our weekly lunch out together. (A weekday lunch is our way of having a weekly “date” without having to spring for a sitter. ) So he’s been doing some GFCF research online (he’s the best!!) and today he suggested a new place for lunch: Ethos Vegan Kitchen. I was a little hesitant at first… I’ve never been much of a fan of the earthy-crunchy food that I think of when I think “vegan.” (I must say that while I’m not normally a huge carnavore, I’ve been eating more than my share of meat since going GFCF, what with so many other things taken out of my daily food rotation.) But since Vegan means no animal products of any kind, that takes out half of the GFCF equation: the casein can’t be present because there can be no dairy of any kind in anything they prepare. And since they make much of their Vegan fare available Gluten Free, there are many GFCF options on the menu. Score! So we went for lunch today and were pleasantly surprised with the wide variety of Gluten Free Menu options. We ordered two GF meals to share: the Healthy Trio and the Hippie Wrap. The Healthy Trio is a three dip “Light Bite” meal. It has black and green olive tapenade (which was a little too… “olivey” for me…. But I’m not a big fan of the super salty, strong taste of olives in general), a homemade hummus (which was thick and creamy and delicious!) and a tomato mango salsa (chunky, sweet and spicy – very tasty). It usually...
GFCF dining on the run is a challenge if you don’t know where to look. And with recipes and preparation practices constantly changing, it’s tough to keep track of it all. Luckily some places seem to stay pretty consistent and are open with their ingredients and prep – Chick-fil-a being one of them. The Chick-fil-a website is wonderfully laid out, with easy to read allergen lists for all possible allergens, including Gluten and Dairy. Go to this page and click the “Quick Reference Guide” button to see a whole, easy-to-read list of all allergens at Chick-fil-a. And here’s Chick-fil-a’s Gluten Allergy PDF which outlines what to eat and how to order of all their possible gluten-free items (which is only half of our battle…. but it’s a well written, easy to use document, so I figured I’d link to it…). And for my future reference, I’ve made my own short list of all the things with which I’ve had consistent success at being reaction free. (I’m very sensitive to Gluten and Dairy and my reactions starts within an hour of being exposed. So as of May 2010, I’m confident I’m being GFCF when I order any of the below items.) My GFCF Go-To Order: • Waffle Cut French Fries – one of the few places where you won’t get cross contaminated through the frying process – they have separate friers for the fries. • Chargrilled Chicken Garden Salad – I fastidiously pick off the cheese, which the only dairy item in it. (I’m usually just starting by the time my co-diners are just about done! 😛 ) You can ask...
Tonight we went to one of the only places at which we still eat: Pei Wei. It was a busy night (Thursday) at a busy time (6:30). The young, deer-in-the-headlights man-child who took our order seemed more than a little underwhelmed by his job. (We later learned that he was a trainee and has been on the register for exactly 2 days.) He didn’t seem to understand me when I said “make it Gluten Free,” didn’t make the usual Pei Wei allergy-consious nod and repeat of “Gluten Free Vietnamese Rolls” (didn’t repeat our orders at all, as a matter of fact)…. So it wasn’t much of a surprise when our order started to come out and it was all wrong. My husband’s bowl of soup came out as a cup. My Vietnamese Salad Rolls came out and had peanut sauce – a sure fire sign of “NOT gluten free” (Never eat the seemingly innocuous peanut sauce at Pei Wei – it’s decidedly not GFCF). When I told the server that it was to be a Gluten Free meal, he just looked at it and said “Was it supposed to be?” Yes. That’s what I ordered. And so he simply took the peanut sauce off the dish and tried to place it in front of me. I told him about my allergy to gluten and he said that the rolls are made the same way and it’s just the peanut sauce that has gluten. I told him “But I don’t know how it was prepared – they must take some kind of gluten precautions in the kitchen…” So he sighed...
I love to eat out. Love it, love it, LOVE IT!!!! I used to eat out once a day, every day and many time up to all three meals would be purchased and eaten out. I’m really not one for the kitchen, to say the least. So when I was diagnosed with all of these food allergies (a gluten allergy and casein allergy, amongst others) I thought, hey, how hard can it be to eat non-wheat/oat/rye/barley/dairy? Well, it’s hard. It’s very hard. SUPER DOOPER hard, as our five-year-old son says. Here in the good ol’ US of A, just about all of our pre-prepared foods have gluten and/or casein in them. For the first few weeks, I didn’t really change our going out habits – we’d still go out for a meal at LEAST once a day. I’d try to order the least innocuous menu items: salads, grilled meats and veggies… but would still feel super “full” after eating them from the allergic bloating reaction. Slowly, over several months (December ’09 – March ’10) I came to the realization that eating out is just plain dangerous when it comes to being GFCF. Over the four months of trying/reacting/identifying offending foods & places, I began a “safe” list of places to eat. They’re few and far between, but I can regularly go to them and be reaction free. Which is SO worth it: the symptoms I get from eating dairy and (especially) gluten are just icky and uncomfortable, it’s not worth risking eating somewhere I might get cross-contaminated. Now more and more places are realizing there’s money to be made through...
Fast food that’s GFCF?! Who knew it was possible? But it is at Pollo Tropical Today I had lunch with my DH at our neigborhood Pollo Tropical and had a wonderful meal, yet again. This is my go-to place for fast, easy, always GFCF food. Pollo Tropical is actually a member of the Food Allergy & Anaphylaxis Network (FAAN), so they’re really aware of the considerations necessary to accommodate food sensitive people. The staff at the three Pollo Tropicals I frequent are always super nice and friendly. And every single employee I’ve ever interacted with has taken my food allergies very seriously and were extremely conscientious with the gluten. Since going GF on Dec 3rd, I’ve probably been here a dozen or more times and have NEVER had any reaction. So, what do I eat here? I love the Tropichops! It’s a bowl of rice and beans with your choice of meat on top. I usually get the Chicken Tropichop with white rice (I vaguely remember reading somewhere that the yellow rice has gluten in it, but it’s not listed on the official Pollo Tropical Allergy List… but I always get white to be safe) and black beans. They have a Regular and a Large, but the large comes with a side Caesar salad, so I always get the Regular (and it’s more than enough to eat.. I usually take some home!). To spice it up a little, I put on a bunch of mild salsa from the salsa bar. And I usually get the combo meal (adds a side and a drink). For my side I always get the super delicious Plantains. They’re...
