After a challenging 6-mile walk in the rain this morning, my friends and I went out for breakfast. I don’t typically go to breakfast with them because few restaurants have good gluten-free breakfast options. But we were going to one of my favorite restaurants that has nontraditional breakfast foods, and I really wanted to go.
The menu had just a couple of items marked as gluten free. The server was not especially knowledgeable about what makes food gluten free, but she listened to me. We talked about how everything was cooked and whether the home fries were deep fried. Several items I considered ordering were cooked on the griddle, which she said should be safe.
“Do you serve any grilled sandwiches?” I asked. “Only grilled cheese,” she replied. I explained how I cannot eat anything cooked on the griddle because of the grilled cheese.
The server was great! We came up with a couple of options. If the breakfast hash was not safe, I’d take the breakfast burrito without the tortilla or home fries.
The server was so excited to tell me the hash was made in a saute pan and it would be safe. Yea!
When my beautiful gluten-free breakfast arrived, it had two pieces of white bread toast on the plate ! <sigh> Nowhere on the menu did it say this was served with toast. (In our server’s defense, an expediter delivered our food.) “I can’t eat that,” I said. “It’s supposed to be gluten free.”
My replacement meal arrived quickly and on a different plate (too quickly?). I neglected to ask if it was new food, but I was willing to risk it. It was delicious! (Pork hash with grilled onions and peppers in a delicious spicy sauce.)
A couple of hours later, I have a few minor gastro issues, but I can’t tell if it is from the grilled peppers and onions or gluten. (Sometimes they are similar symptoms, and I’ve had minor issues all week.) Luckily for me, I don’t typically have severe symptoms if I am glutened. In hindsight, I probably should have been insistent on getting new food.
Dining out is challenging for those of us with celiac disease. Though more and more restaurants are making attempts to accommodate us, sometimes it’s just one or two people on staff who are uninformed and cause us to be glutened.
Regardless, I think it is worthwhile to try to dine out and to teach the staff I encounter what is required to make my food safe. Many of them are willing to learn and try hard. Sometimes accidents happen and luckily for me, I might be uncomfortable for a little while, but I won’t be incapacitated with in pain or worse symptoms.
One thing I learned is that I need to be much more forceful when explaining what I can and cannot eat, and I can’t be afraid to insist on an entirely new plate of food.
No bread icon from https://vicskeptics.wordpress.com/category/uncategorized/
