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I only received 3 respnses to my request for safe items to order in a
Vietnamese restaurant but several other people asked to see what responses I
received.  Hope this summary helps you enjoy a safe meal.  Thanks for the
responses, they are copied below.  Carol

In general the stir frys are not GF, and the curries often are.  One of the
mopst common and usually safe dishes is something I call "slimey noodles"
(of course that is not the real name) which is a bowl of rice vermicelli
with veggies and peanuts and fish sauce, and topped with grilled pork or
shrimp or chicken or tofu or...    There are LOTS of variations on
Veitnamese food, since it was a country that has been occupied by many other
countries (the Chinese and the French are the two bigest influences) and
every chef has their own regional/ethnic style of prepapring food- you have
to ask lots of questions, some chefs prepapre the "same dish" very
differently than others.  (for instance some chefs are more "chinese" in
their approach, and use soy sauce in everything, where as others are more
"french" and prefer fish sauce) (fish sauce is almost universally GF).  Also
the source of ingredients varies wildly (imported ingredients are often  not
well labeled, though I think it might be better in CA than in the US)
The only thing you can do is hope like (*% that the staff speaks enough
english that you can ask questions, (and that the concept of knowing
specific ingredients is not maritan to them) and try to order dishes that
are "simple" (don't have too many ingredients and are prepared with easy to
obtain ingredients- for instance fish cake is often "fortified" with wheat
starch to make it easier to pack and store, where as chicken is not as
likely to be a problem)  Vegetarian food is also a good choice at times, but
yoiu have to be very careful about the broth/bullions that are used.  Also
be careful about MSG if that is aproblem for you.

I personally love vietnamese food, and there is a large vietnamese community
where I live, but unfortuantly one of the worst "celiac attacks" I've ever
had was as a result of eating a spring roll that was made with a wheat
starch wrapper rather than the traditional rice starch.  I did not even
realize that spring rolls could be made with wheat starch wrappers, but I
guess that wheat is so cheap and so common that it is ending up in
everything.

I work with Cambodian and Vietnamese children and a few teachers.  I have
never had a problem with any Vietnamese food - wheat is just not part of the
culture.  I do carry wheat free soy sauce, just in case, and avoid imitation
crab meat, of course.

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