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My son had a chess tournament at the Hershey Lodge this weekend. It was his
first big tournament and the trip was a birthday present. I contacted the
Lodge as soon as we decided to go and one of the chefs called me and spoke
to me about our restrictions. He and the other chefs were familiar with
celiac and they could also handle my son's additional nut and peanut
restrictions. He told me that they kept some gf substitutions on hand
(pasta, cookies, pancake mix). He asked that I meet with him when we checked
in. My son and I briefly met one of the chefs Friday afternoon and we were
told to alert the chef each time we entered one of the restaurants.

We ate two dinners, two lunches and two breakfasts in Lebbie's buffet and
the Bears Den sports bar (12 different gf meals between us). At the Bear's
Den a chef met with us each and described what adaptions he could do to
certain menu  items took our order (he did not leave ordering to the wait
staff) and once (out of three visits) brought the food to us. One chef made
my son a little ice cream sundae (not a menu item) and put gf cookies in it.

We had both breakfasts at the buffet. The chef walked us through the buffet.
The usual was gf (scrambled eggs, bacon, ham, as well as sausage). The bread
items were in a separate area so cross contamination was not an issue I
worried about. There were omelets made to order and there was a variety of
fresh fruit. The BIG deal was pancakes. The chef made pancakes especially
for us. My son was so pleased. We put jam on the pancakes. There wasn't any
syrup we could use, but that didn't matter, just getting pancakes was a very
big deal to my son.

Lunch was much more limited at the buffet. We were able to eat pork roast
and steamed shrimp. All the other meats were smothered in some sauce. There
was salad and the chef brought out separate oil and vinegar for us. There
was cheese and fruit. They had numerous desserts we could not have. The only
buffet dessert the chef said was gf was jello, so he prepared another dish
of ice cream for my son to make up for the lack of dessert.

We don't eat out much. I'm not sure what my son liked more--playing in the
tournament or eating. I certainly ate way too much over the weekend.

We never left the hotel because the tournament schedule didn't leave much
time for getting in a car to get food. I had a list of restaurant
possibilities in Hershey that I posted a month ago on this list with me, but
there was no time to seek any out. My son had a wonderful experience for his
birthday and it was the most painless trip we've had since going on the gf
diet.

I do not work for Hershey Foods or The Hershey Lodge. I do not recieve
compensation from this company.

Betty

* Visit the Celiac Web Page at www.enabling.org/ia/celiac/index.html *