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Mon, 10 Mar 2008 17:58:14 -0400
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<<Disclaimer: Verify this information before applying it to your situation.>>

Wow -- so many great responses to this request.  Over 70 at last 
count!  And then disaster happened -- my hard drive fried. 
Sympathies accepted of course, but I did thankfully have a back-up of 
my drive ... however, I lost about 6 weeks of data, including all 
responses to this question.  I did read them all as they arrived, 
though, and here is my summary to my best recollection.

*  BIG CAVEAT:  About a third of the responses came from individuals 
who worry only moderately about what they eat out (in a fast food 
way), or where they take their GF kids to eat while on the go.  I'm 
not saying these people eat bread or anything -- but they DO eat the 
obvious GF variations on menu items (e.g., "hold the bun"), without 
much worry about cross-contamination or other possibly hidden gluten 
ingredients.  They assume that most any hamburger or chicken filet 
(no buns) will be GF, as will any salads without salad dressing or 
croutons.  (My comment:  the majority of chicken filets at fast-food 
places are NOT GF, so these folks' approaches sort of shocked me.)  A 
few stand by their choices to do this based on blood tests (for 
themselves or their kids) that come back without problems.  Others 
stand by these choices based on this, which I heard over and over 
again:  "I never get sick there."  I will report what these people 
said, as they certainly represent a portion of this large group -- 
but only with adding up-front my concerns that "getting sick" may NOT 
be, just in my personal opinion (especially if celiac disease is 
involved) -- a reasonable test.  I won't belabor this issue as right 
or wrong, but my opinion differs greatly with those who worry so 
little about this.  Readers can certainly make their own choices, 
according to how they approach the GF issue.  And I do have a few 
personal comments or experiences to add along the way.

*  "Common sense" rules of thumb are:

   - Make sure you speak to someone who understands your needs; if 
they do not seem to "get it," either with language barrier or just 
plain inconsideration, try to speak to a manager

   - Make it YOUR business to know what foods are on their GF menus 
(if available on the net); employees will not know this for the most 
part, not even managers

   - Ask that your food preparer is made aware of your needs, and 
request that they change their gloves before preparing your food -- 
be sure it is understood that you are not on a "low-carb" diet, but 
that wheat and gluten foods will make you very ill, even a few crumbs

   - If you are ordering a meat patty or chicken filet (hopefully a GF 
one), be sure to ask that they cook only on a clean grill, not 
contaminated by toasting bread

   - [Not mentioned by anyone, but I also make sure they know not to 
re-use knives, spreaders or other utensils that have touched bread 
prior to touching my food]

THE FINDINGS:

*  Those who are REALLY concerned and feel they must be extremely 
careful and simply don't "eat out" at all (I got many of these 
replies):  they do not stop at any fast-food or quick service 
restaurants.  They look for grocery stores or convenience stores 
(often adjacent to fast-food restaurants, so family or friends can 
eat at the restaurant), where they run in to purchase fresh fruit, 
hard boiled eggs, cheese, chips they feel are GF (Lays and UTZ were 
mentioned a lot) and/or peanut M&Ms.

*  For those whose objectives are to stay VERY GF SAFE, but are 
willing to eat out:  the two key choices are **WENDY'S** and 
**CHICK-FIL-A**.  By far, these two places are runaway favorites for 
both decent food and safety.  There also seem to be fewer 
communication issues with employees at these 2 places, compared to 
other fast-food alternatives.  Both restaurants have GF menus online.
Wendy's:  http://wendys.com/food/pdf/us/gluten_free_list.pdf
Chick-fil-A:  http://chickfila.com/#gluten
Favorite foods to order at Wendy's include Frosties, chili and the 
baked potatoes (which most people say they order potatoes uncut, 
which seems like a really good idea to me).
Favorites at Chick-fil-A include chicken filet (they are GF) without 
bun, Waffle fries (be sure to check with individual restaurants that 
they are cooked in a dedicated fryer -- but it seems most times they 
are), carrot and raisin salad, fruit cup and coleslaw.
[I have one small but concerning experience to add about Wendy's, 
where I got very ill on their chili once -- only to find out that 
ONLY COMPANY-OWNED Wendy's restaurants are required to stick 100% to 
Wendy's recipes; franchisees, if they choose, can change recipes or 
prep if they wish.  In this case, the franchisee did not make the 
chili according to the Wendy's recipe, and I was taken down by it.]


*  The third most popular quick restaurant vote was McDonald's.  Most 
of those who visit McD's are very defensive of their choice to do so 
(without my asking!) ... citing "I never get sick" or saying that 
their (or their kids') blood work always comes back with no problems. 
People eat "no bun" versions of Quarter-Pounders, Big Macs and 
McMuffin sandwiches -- and quite a few eat and stand by the fries. 
(Although I did get a number of responses saying that the fries at 
McD's make them sick, but they do eat other things.)  [For what it's 
worth, I have to add my own experience at McD's is that I have never 
eaten at one without getting sick ... not ever.  But that is me, and 
not others obviously.  Also, McDonald's NO LONGER publishes or 
provides any information about non-gluten foods.  They will only send 
ingredients lists, but absolutely will not provide information about 
anything ambiguous, such as "natural flavors," etc.  I include it 
here in my summary, but my own words are: "eat at your own risk."]

*  Other fast food alternatives mentioned, at lower rates, were:

   - Culver's (where many order quite a variety of foods, such as tuna 
salad, without any information from Culver's about what does or does 
not contain gluten).  Several say they get the vanilla ice cream 
custard in a cup.  At Culver's where I have been, the custard does 
not come directly out of the machine into the cup -- it is first 
dispensed into a large container, and cones are filled from that bin 
(where bits and pieces of cone easily fall into the bin).

   - Burger King.  Those who eat at BK seem to get most anything on 
the menu (hamburgers, chicken filets, cheese, salads), as long as it 
is without bread or breading.  To my knowledge, BK only provides info 
about wheat, and not all gluten -- not safe enough for my own needs, 
but I'm just passing along that other people do eat there.  Only a 
handful of people wrote to me that they eat at BK.

  - Carl's Jr. and/or Hardees.  This is actually one of my favorite 
places, and I was surprised to see so few people eat there.  A 
no-carb burger has always been a safe option for me, personally -- 
though I opt for no condiments (mayo, mustard) and bring my own. 
They will wrap a flame-broiled burger with cheese, tomato, onions, 
pickles in a huge, wonderfully crisp piece of iceberg lettuce.  They 
also have a breakfast option, which is a low-carb Breakfast Bowl -- 
with all ingredients GF.

  - In-n-Out (West only).  They will do the same as Hardee's/Carl's -- 
but it's called "Protein Style," which is wrapping a burger in 
lettuce instead of a bun.  Those who eat here say that the fries are 
GF, because only fries are cooked in the fat -- but I cannot verify 
this information.

  - Taco Bell.  Also a big surprise for me.  Not a lot of people 
mentioned TB, but those who did often eat any of the meats and any of 
the corn-based tortillas, including chips.  OK -- I gotta draw the 
line here.  Soft and crispy corn taco shells at TB are NOT GF.  The 
ground taco meat is NOT GF.  The only taco shell that is GF is the 
round, flat crisp shell they use to make tostatos.  The beans and 
rice are GF, as is the cheese and pico de gallo.  The steak and 
chicken MAY be GF, but I've never gotten their corporate offices to 
make any real statement about those.  Beyond that, folks, and you're 
playing with fire -- and I just don't know how people eat there in 
this way and do OK.  A mystery!

  - Arby's.  Again, another surprise for me, because only one other 
person mentioned it.  Arby's is a mainstay for me, and I think they 
have one of the best gluten-free informational sites on the internet. 
On their allergen menu, they don't just list wheat, but also GLUTEN. 
I have talked with them in the past, and they have a food scientist 
on staff who has carefully researched all of their ingredients.  You 
can find this list at:
http://www.arbys.com/nutrition/printable.php?type=allergens
I also think that Arby's has incredible variety, and you can 
pick-and-choose individual ingredients from various menu items, by 
looking on the allergen list to see what is safe.  (Be sure to take 
the list with you -- they will not have it at the restaurants.)

  - Subway.  A few mentioned Subway, but gave virtually no information 
about how they choose what to eat there and what is or is not safe. 
I see on their website that they have an allergen list that shows 
"wheat/gluten" at:
http://subway.com/subwayroot/MenuNutrition/Nutrition/pdf/AllergenChart.pdf
I guess all the bread crumbs flying everywhere at Subway and similar 
places kinda freaks me out, but maybe I'm being a wuss. ;-)


======= WHEW!  A tour de force.  I'm only reporting the choices that 
people make, and what they chose to tell me about.  If you other 
insights to offer, please feel free to write the list.  This will be 
my only summary.  And don't shoot the messenger. :-)  I hope there is 
a range of ideas and choices here, such that people on the list can 
feel like there are options for them when caught in these 
circumstances.

*Support summarization of posts, reply to the SENDER not the Celiac List*
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