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

Another list member wrote:

>I have received several interesting comments  to my suggestions 
>about eating out.  They were from "old timers" including one who was 
>diagnosed in 1947!  God Bless.
>
>They ALL had the same comment...they wondered how rude and difficult 
>were the celiacs to the waiters.  And that is a good pt.  The wait 
>staff does not need to hear the story of your life before you order. 
>YOU need to get yourself a safe list of foods that you can always 
>order and which will satisfy you.  For me it's either a pizza burger 
>with sweet potatoe fries and a salad or an omelet.  Those are my go 
>to dishes if I don't see something else on the menu.  I can eat loin 
>of pork, broiled fish, grilled chicken with veggies with no problems 
>and I eat out several times a week.
>
>So THINK and PLAN before you eat out...it is YOUR responsiblity not 
>your waiter's to make sure you get a gf meal


Whoa!  I am writing to the general list, as I expect I speak for 
many.  I always plan, if I am able to.  Who, in dealing with this 
complex and critical issue, would not plan?  Usually that amounts to 
bringing something in the car, so that I might eat if there is 
nothing in the restaurant for me.  However, sometimes a visit to a 
restaurant is a spur-of-the-moment decision, and we are at their 
mercy.  And, other times, there is a restaurant that we've heard a 
lot about, and truly hope we can eat at, so we give it a try.

I don't know about others, but I try to make my needs as SIMPLE and 
polite as possible.  I carry cards, if it helps -- though often the 
cards put them off more than help.  I never "tell them the story of 
my life."  What is that all about?  I do not "demand" that my needs 
be met, I only politely ask for a bit of consideration so that I 
might eat some sort of food with others I have come to the restaurant 
with.  I also tip generously, even when the food for me wasn't great 
-- because at least they tried.  I see (and eat with!) people in 
restaurants asking that their food be cooked in less oil, or served 
with no sugar, or provided as "low carb."  No restaurant bats an eye 
at these types of requests.  But "no gluten" is a lot harder to sort 
out, and I am so painfully aware of this.

However, as a restaurant patron, I do consider it basic service to be 
treated with respect.  Perhaps it is possible that they cannot serve 
me anything -- but I sure think I should be told that with some 
amount of sensitivity and niceness.  Not to be treated like a 
"blight" that somehow landed in a chair in their dining room. 
Especially by an owner, chef or manager.  I also expect *better* 
($$$) non-chain restaurants to be able to tell me what is in their 
foods, and hope for them to be able to make minor changes to enable 
me to eat safely.  But, while in the restaurant, I am never a jerk, 
even when being treated by someone who is.  I just never go back.

I expect this is the same for pretty much most on this list, whether 
they're been GF for 1 or 40 years.  What on earth do y'all "old 
timers" (the poster's words, not mine) think we do when we go in 
restaurants?  Throw a hissy fit to put everyone off from the second 
we walk in?  PLEASE.  My husband often tells me I am "too nice" -- 
but I never want to burn a bridge.  I am ALWAYS ALWAYS aware that I 
am asking for favors, and I make sure it shows in my demeanor. 
Frankly, it is always my hope that a restaurant will be more 
interested in serving GF food, and want to know more.

However, if the food is poor (when it probably didn't need to be, and 
I paid a large price for it) or I am treated badly,  I do have the 
consumer power to never return, and to also tell people I know that, 
as a person needing a GF meal, my experience was very negative.

I am also not sure what a pizza burger is, and pretty sure I could 
not get it at a Thai restaurant.  And would imagine that "sweet 
potato fries" are likely to be cooked in contaminated oil.  I've 
actually never seen either of these items on a menu of any restaurant 
I go to -- even safe ones.  I am just left to ask:  HUH?  I simply 
don't understand this criticism or these suggestions.

*Support summarization of posts, reply to the SENDER not the CELIAC List*
*******
To unsubscribe, email: mailto:[log in to unmask]
*******