The Minefield Of Eating Out On A Gluten Free Diet

Eating out when you are on a restricted diet always has the potential for difficulty. Only yesterday I was reminded of this when we went out for a late Sunday meal.

As always we had spoken to the restaurant, in fact it is one I have used before. Gravy is the usual problem for a traditional Sunday roast dinner, however we were assured that the chef would produce a gluten free version. So far I have yet to find any catering establishment that produces a gluten- free Yorkshire pudding. If you know of one please let us know so we can spread the work through our website.

We had been putting a room straight after decorating all day, so were more than ready for our meal. All went well through the meal until ordering the desert.

Those who know me well know that I really enjoy the sweet course best of all and whilst I love fruit but will choose to have something different when eating out. I do get irritated when restaurants offer fruit/ fruit salad as the only option as it shows so little imagination.

Back to our meal. On the menu board there were two good gluten free options or so I thought, Eton Mess, which is a concoction of broken meringue, raspberries and whipped cream and a lemon cream brulee. I ordered the Eton Mess but as always asked the waiter to check it was gluten free.

A couple of minutes he came back saying that the only option I could safely eat was strawberries and cream. Not the end of the world but somewhat irritating if you have got your mouth in the right shape for something else.

Next of course there is the decision whether to challenge what is said or to go quietly. Mt sister had the Eton Mess; in fact they had served it up in a twille basket, which was of course made with wheat and so not gluten free. As for the brulee ? who knows?

I think that in a society which is becoming ever more ready t sue when things go wrong restaurants get very nervous and in the end make decisions based on ignorance. I will be sending them my "What You Can And Cant Eat Food List" before I eat there again.

Gina Gardiner author of "Live Well Eat Well With Celiac Disease" writes from first hand experience of being a celiac. For more information or to sign up for our free monthly ezine go to http://www.celiacliving.com

Works as a professional life coach working with people developing their leadership skills, preparing people for promotion and supporting their ongoing development once in post. For more information contact gina.gardiner@ntlworld.com

In The News:

Researchers from Monterey bay Aquarium and Stanford University discovered an area the size of Colorado between California and Hawaii that appears to be a “White Shark Café,” but it is unclear if the sharks are there for food or sex.

Tech billionaire Elon Musk has had a big week, and it’s only Tuesday.

A New Zealand family stumbled upon a massive jelly-like blob on a beach early Monday.

A bizarre pulsar emanating from a nearby neutron star, RX J0806.4-4123, is giving off a strange light and scientists are unclear what is causing it.

Canadian firefighters caught a rare, terrifying phenomenon on video last month when a 200-foot-tall fire tornado sucked their firehose into the sky and melted it.

NASA has unveiled the first images from its Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), its $337 million alien-planet hunting satellite and the results are nothing short of incredible.

Long extinct cave lions may be about to rise from their icy graves and prowl once more alongside woolly mammoths and ancient horses in a real life Jurassic Park.

A North Carolina firefighter thought he saw an alligator in the flood waters after Hurricane Florence.

The European Southern Observatory's (ESO) Very Large Telescope (VLT) in Chile has a busy observation schedule, but sometimes cloudy or moonlit skies mean a temporary halt to scientific measurements. During those times, the observatory team chooses interesting and beautiful objects across the southern skies to image in color.

Tourists on a whale cruise were treated with a spyhop last month when three humpback whales launched one-by-one in succession off the coast of Nova Scotia in a rare triple breach.

The Minefield Of Eating Out On A Gluten Free Diet

Nutrition Nutrition