No doubt all of us who have to avoid gluten have the "restaurant horror story." (Likely, more than one such story.) Though, I have had far more good experiences at restaurants than bad, which is a testament to the public's growing awareness of Celiac Disease and gluten sensitivity/intolerance.
My husband and I went to Colorado to visit his parents for the 2011 Christmas weekend. (Gluten-free air travel is a whole different adventure, and not part of this story because it's worthy of its own blog post.) One evening, we met a couple of friends at a Mexican food restaurant in Castle Rock, Colorado. I first asked our server - just in case - if the restaurant had a gluten-free menu, the answer to which was, "no." I had perused the restaurant's menu online beforehand to plan my meal around my gluten-free, vegetarian diet. They had some delicious-sounding vegetarian spinach enchiladas made with white corn tortillas on their menu, and before ordering, I expressed to the server my dietary issues with gluten. In particular, I was concerned about a "white sauce" over the enchiladas.
At first, the server assured me that no, the spinach enchiladas did not contain gluten. But I had a feeling that she didn't quite have an understanding of gluten. I rattled off the list of gluten-containing grains and a short list of possible ingredients; in particular, flour. She went to ask a manager about it, then returned to the table reporting that most definitely, the spinach enchiladas did not contain gluten. Fabulous! I ordered said enchiladas and two-for-one margaritas (hey, I was on vacation!).
The enchiladas came to the table looking glorious in their minimalist blanket of white sauce and sautéed portobello mushrooms. My skepticism had grown since ordering them, however, so I poked at the suspiciously-thick white sauce with my fork, and then decided to taste it, hoping the thickening ingredient was corn starch. I tasted it a second time, and then had my husband taste it. It was...well, being that I haven't eaten wheat flour in almost two years, I couldn't say for sure if that was the taste, but some little alarm bell went off in my head. I still thought about chancing it and just eating the whole dish (I think by this point, I was very hungry and margarita #1 was already down the hatch, working its magic).
But my husband went to ask one last time whether the dish had flour - and therefore gluten - in it. He returned with our server a few minutes later, when she reported that she had asked the cook this time, and that the cook said yes, he does make the white sauce with flour. D'oh!
My plate was replaced with fresh food, sans-white sauce. (And as a side note, I have to say it was perfectly delicious without any sauce.) The only other problem I had with the meal came about halfway through eating the enchiladas. As I ate a piece of sautéed portobello mushroom with a bite of enchilada, I realized that it wasn't a sautéed portobello mushroom: it was a piece of pork! So, this restaurant had failed at meeting both my gluten-free dietary requirement and my vegetarian dietary preference. To be fair, I hadn't mentioned being vegetarian to the server. But the dish I was eating was advertised as such. Oh, well.
Our server was apologetic about the gluten, but none of the restaurant staff seemed as concerned about it as they should be (thank goodness I don't have more serious reactions to gluten!). They just had no awareness of or training in gluten-related dietary concerns. Luckily, I did not have a bad reaction to the flour in the white sauce, but the whole incident raised the question: what's the best way to approach your Celiac or gluten sensitive/intolerant situation with restaurant staff to ensure a safe dining experience?
Around the restaurant table, we decided that perhaps the way to approach the subject in the future would just be to say, "I have an allergy to gluten." People respond to the word "allergy" and understand its serious nature, whereas if you tell someone who's never heard of the condition, "I have a gluten intolerance" or "I need to eat gluten-free," they might think you just don't like bread. I try to be an ambassador for those of us who have not been medically diagnosed with Celiac Disease but nonetheless have gluten issues, and I don't mind educating servers and managers on what gluten is, what ingredients contain it, and how to help avoid cross-contamination in the kitchen. So I hesitate to misrepresent gluten sensitivity/intolerance, which does not produce an immediate histamine reaction like an allergy.
As with any food allergy, the only treatment for Celiac Disease and gluten sensitivity/intolerance is completely avoiding the trigger food - in this case, gluten. Therefore, though the terminology may be different, the restaurant's response to both allergies and sensitivities/intolerances should be exactly the same. But for the sake of getting a restaurant's staff on the same page with you and for your own peace of mind, is it better to just use the words "gluten allergy" when you place your order?
What's your strategy for eating out gluten-free? Do you just say, "allergy?" What's your "horror story" that led you to your current strategy?
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