<<Disclaimer: Verify this information before applying it to your situation.>> Hey-yaaaa; as they say in greeting in Ireland. I just returned from two weeks in Ireland and one week in England. I had contacted the Coeliac (note different spelling of celiac) Society in Dublin and they sent me a list of gluten-friendly restaurants. I have to say that I really didn't need the list at all. The people in food service there are pretty savvy about celiac disease. It has a higher population ratio in Ireland; in other words, there are more diagnosed celiacs there per population than in the United States. All of the restaurant people were very accommodating and excellent in communicating with the chefs about flour in sauces, etc. They took great pains to make sure I didn't get sick. And, with one exception (which was my fault), I never once got sick. The first two days I had a traditional Irish breakfast, which consists of fried eggs, bacon (kind of like Canadian bacon), sausages, Heinz beans, and hash browns. The hash browns are actually little formed patties somewhat like potato cakes. I got my typical gluten headaches after these two breakfasts, and determined that it was the potato cakes. Sometimes flour is used as a binder in these patties, and I am sure they were used in the Irish version I had. Many of the traditional Irish foods, such as colcannon (potatoes and cabbage, sometimes with milk and butter added) do not have added ingredients. I had a delicious traditional lamb stew that was just cooked in the meat to make a broth with added vegetables. Delicious! They are big on salmon and fresh fish and know many ways to cook it. I stayed away from stews with thick broths and sauces. In some cases, the waitperson was able to verify that the sauces were made with cream, wine, and/or butter only; then I could eat that. One good food item to try is vegetable soup. This is usually made of carrots, a spice like coriander, leeks, and turnips or potatoes. Some of the vegetables are blended and put back into the soup, making it thick. So, don't discount thickened soups. Just ask the people what the ingredients are. The best part of the trip was shopping for gluten-free goodies. They are available in most markets in Ireland, even in some of the small towns. For example, we visited Cong (where the John Wayne film "The Quiet Man" was made), a very tiny village of just a few hundred people. I went into the small market there and found some gluten-free bread! Their gluten-free bread, usually made by Kelkin, is available at most Spar or Super Value markets, and definitely at the larger Tesco stores. You can also get marshmallow-type puffs over biscuit covered with chocolate and little apple pies, then little berry tarts; all delicious. I have to talk about the bread though. It is great (toasted, of course), especially with Irish black currant jam or orange marmalade that is served at most every breakfast table. All of the restaurants and B&Bs were most happy to toast it for me. I wish American manufacturers would try the Irish bread and get on the bus, for Irish gf bread is about 100 times better than any American gf bread I have ever tried! I bought several loaves while there, and shipped them back at an exhorbitant cost (over $100 for a small box), but I think this is worth it. I can put it in the freezer and enjoy good gf bread for several weeks to come. Eating gluten-free in England was a bit more difficult, but only because the waitpeople usually didn't speak much English. The immigration is high there, and there are many workers who are French, Polish, or Iranian (especially in London). The only real problem I had was on the flight over and back. I flew Delta, and my travel agent requested a special meal, which was printed on my ticket. When I got on the plane, however, I found that they do not serve gluten-free meals any more on Delta. The regular choices were pasta or chicken with gravy, both of which I turned down for obvious reasons. They offered me the vegetarian choice, but those meals (on both the flights over and returning) were laden with gluten in the form of pasta or pastry cakes of some sort. The airplane people are very ignorant of eating with allergies, I found out, and are not very helpful either. I had to make do with a glass of milk and a banana on the flight over, and needless to say, after over 15 hours on planes, I was very hungry when I arrived. On the return trip, I brought a sack of food, half of which I had to pack in my checked baggage because security wouldn't let me take it on board. What was allowed: cheese brick, apples (although I had to eat them on the plane as you can't bring produce back into the U.S.), and nuts. Not allowed: canned food of any kind, drinks, or puddings. Good luck to you if you fly overseas! *Support summarization of posts, reply to the SENDER not the CELIAC List* Archives are at: Http://Listserv.icors.org/SCRIPTS/WA-ICORS.EXE?LIST=CELIAC