<<Disclaimer: Verify this information before applying it to your situation.>>

I want to thank all the people who sent me information on 
gluten-free eating in SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA..  I was there for a little over 3 
weeks
and had a fantastic time.  As I was there on business, every night was at an 
upscale restaurant.  I only used the grocery stores for breakfasts, snacks, 
and packing a lunch now and then. Their main grocery stores Woolworth's (they 
call it Wooly's) and Cole's had a good selection of food for me.  In 
Australia they are required to have numbers for their emulsifiers, and I had 
been told which numbers I could have and which ones to avoid.  That made 
shopping much easier than worrying about brand names.  One interesting bit of 
information was that although I eat Yoplait yogart and M and M s here, 
neither of those are GF in AU.  So-you do need to check those numbers. I did 
bring back some GF FRUIT & NUT DELIGHT BARS WITH  YOGHURT made by Go Natural 
AU that were the best bars I've tasted in the last year.  Even their rice 
cakes (which are much thinner than ours) were tastier.
Wait staff at almost every restaurant knew what gluten-free dining was, and 
most knew someone on the diet!  Only the 1 Chinese place we went to was 
unaccommodating and even refused to use the GF Tamari I brought from home.  
Some Italian restaurants even carried GF pasta and knew exactly how to make 
it. 
On our two outings, the people who did the buffets were very willing to pull 
off salad, fruit, and meats (which were GF) and make me a plate BEFORE they 
served everyone else so that my food was not contaminated in the serving 
lines. 
My best find was CAFÉ MOSMAN on Military Rd.  The owner, Sonia Simonian, has 
a child and a grandchild who are gluten intolerant and she serves mostly GF 
meals.  My homemade soup, BLT on great bread, and fries (my 1st in 5 weeks!) 
were great.  She even had 4 types of fantastic cookies, plus brownies and a 
cake.
Quantas had GF very tasty meals for me on all 4 of my flights and were very 
careful about how it was served to me. (American gave me pita bread on my 
"special" meal on the way from Chgo. to LA and on the return I had a rice 
cake, apple, carrots and chicken that tasted like wet soup chicken.) 
It is amazing to me how behind-the-times our country is about this disease. I 
was there with people from England and they knew about GF eating.  Why can't 
our restaurants here get their acts together?

* Visit the Celiac Web Page at www.enabling.org/ia/celiac/index.html *