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

 
Finally, just one more idea to offer up, and it's something that caught me  
by surprise at a very good Japanese restaurant in town.  They served me  
green tea that had been brewed with barley!  Of course, they thought  nothing 
of it until one of the chefs in the back was reading through my Japanese  
restaurant "gluten free" card ... and saw the reference to barley.  The  
waiter came rushing out of the back, and literally grabbed the tea cup from my  
hands, fretting so and yelling:  "please don't drink!  please don't  drink!"  
:-)  It was sort of cute.  And he did catch me before  I'd taken even my 
first sip.


Oh, and the thoughts just never stop.  MANY misos are brewed with  barley 
or wheat, while a few are OK.  It is sometimes difficult in  Japanese 
restaurant to determine which, if any are safe because the labels  are often 
written in Japanese only.  I learned long ago to just avoid  anything using miso 
(and it is used beyond just miso soup, such as in some  dipping sauces) 
unless I'm buying it for myself and can actually read the label.  

Correct, I either look at the  vinegar bottle myself or just have the sushi 
specially made with regular  (non-vinegar) rice. It falls apart a little 
more, but worth it.


I read your sushi question. I have never seen any rice  vinegar with 
ingredients that would contain gluten. I wonder if she might be  eating something, 
such as eel, cooked with soy sauce that has wheat in it. I've  heard that 
the sushi rice sometimes contains MSG. Maybe they add other things to  flavor 
the rice that contain gluten. 

 
I don't know  about the vinegar, however I have heard that some places use 
flour to help bind  the rice (ie they don't know what they are really doing 
and are using the flour  to ensure the sushi doesn't fall apart).


I have not been able to find a restaurant that serves sushi without rice  
vinegar and unfortunately its hard to figure out which ones are the safe ones 
 and if the restaurant uses it so we usually just avoid it or i make my own 
at  home.   Also, soy sauce based condiments on the sushi could be a  
problem.


Hi!  I live in Vancouver, BC (on the ocean) and I have  been to Japan on a 
long vacation.  Sushi is one of my staple foods as it is  easy to pick up as 
to go and then consume!  Keep in mind that the only  vinegar that Celiacs 
cannot eat is MALT vinegar.  Rice Vinegar has no  gluten in it or MALT.  In 
addition, there is scientific research that  gluten cannot make it through 
the distillation process and you only have to be  concerned as to what is 
added to the vinegar (or alcohol) after the distillation  – that is what happens 
with malt vinegar – malt is added after distillation for  flavour purposes. 
I just checked my rice vinegars (I have a couple) and none of  their 
ingredients contain gluten and all the ingredients are listed as gluten  free in 
the Canadian Celiac Association handbook for ingredients in food that  
contain or are gluten free.  Rice vinegar in the book is also listed as a  gluten 
free ingredient when in other foods. 
Sometimes people get sick from sushi based on the fish or  other 
ingredients not being absolutely fresh or handling problems.  Raw  fish does contain 
more bacteria than cooked food.   
I also have a sushi rule when I eat out – if I am more than 1  time zone 
from either the Pacific or Atlantic ocean I do not consume raw fish  sushi it 
as it will not be fresh off the boat and will have had to travel to the  
sushi location which can take a day or two.  I only eat cooked sushi at  that 
point in time. 
Net is sushi (as long as there is no soy sauce used) is fine  to eat. 
including the rice vinegar which is 99.9% of the time, an ingredient in  the 
sushi rice.  No unagi (eel) as it does have soy/teriyaki sauce on it  before it 
is grilled.  I do not suggest eating it without the sauce on it –  it tastes 
horrid! 
Thank you again!  
Carole



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