<<Disclaimer: Verify this information before applying it to your situation.>>
Well, I got several responses to my question about restaurants - most
were polite.
I have reprinted all of the posts except the rude one below for sharing
purposes. I like the idea of contacting the National Restaurant
Association, but am not sure about what is the most likely successful
gambit. One person suggested asking for a standard "celiac meal' that
restaurants could prepare. Would that work? Would a set of simple
guidelines and suggestions be better?
Your thoughts? Alice
-----------------------
Do they really steam veggies in pasta water? That's awful! Wouldn't it make the veggies all starchy? I can't see why any upscale restaurant would do that! How about the area where they make salads? One manager told me that salad was the worst thing I could order because there are crumbs and stuff all over the area where they prep the veggies.
Anyhow, thanks for the heads up!
---------------------------
I agree with you. Surely, there is an organization that can show show
clout to be able to address this issue. How about the Celiac Society?
(there is more to the name but I'll have to look it up.)
Restaurant folks are so ignorant of the whole issue and when I explain
that it is not only the food but how it is cooked, they are ready to
turn me away. They do not want to change their process. Now and then,
I can find a chef ready to deal with me and cook something the way I
need.
Yesterday, I walked into Applebees and ordered a salad. No, couldn't
get a salad from them even though I had called the corporate office and
was assured that I merely had to leave the dressing off. The chef came
out and made me a salad from scratch with the vegetables he had and not
the salad mix that came pre-prepared. I ate it with no dressing
because they didn't even have balsamic vinegar! It was good and I had
lunch!
--------------------
What about something like the National Restaurant Association? I'm sure
there is such a thing but I don't know how much influence they have
over their members. My local Outback does not train their servers on
the gluten free menu even.
-----------------------
Hi, I think I have located a contact address for the National Restaurant
Association. I will forward it to you. You are right. These people need
to educated. I was just reading that one out of 166 people has Celiac's
Disease, and the restaurants and grocery store managers seem so clueless.
Take care.
here it is! http://www.restaurant.org/aboutus/contact.cfm
--------------------
I don't know the answer to your question, but Bravo to your extremely
important point, and query!
Hope you will summarize your responses.
Thank you, thank you!
-------------------------------------- I agree with you so much. I
actually had never thought of the fact that vegetables might be cooked
in the pasta water. And this answers the question of why the mashed
potatoes are not GF some places - something that I could never
understand. There seems to be a problem with the main groups wanting
to work together for the good of us all and making a large statement
that these simple things would be good for everyone. We need to all
stand together and keep writing letters to corporate headquarters of
these places and express that we and our extended families will not eat
there until they cook food properly with no additives, flavorings or
colorings that do not belong in the natural food. This is important
not only for celiacs, but children with ADD, peanut allergies, etc. We
need to get all these groups to work together for the good of the
public. ----------------------------- Unfortuantely, control over what's
in the food they serve is out of the control of most restaurants. The
food wholesalers decided what goes in food to make it tasty so it will
sell at a reasonable price...As consumers, a trip to the supermarket
confirms that finding plain food at an affordable price is a real
challenge but is helped by the allergy labeling law. Foods sold to
restaurants aren't required to carry allergen labeling. Restaurants that
start with real food and have real people cook it can do g.f.
Unfortunately, there is usually a price for this luxury. For the
majority without celiac, low cost, great taste, & fast service come
before nutrition.
--------------------------------------------------------------------- I
am in the restauration. I had 5 restaurants until 3 years ago, and
still have an Italian one, of over 300 seats plus 100 on terrace in summer.
I can tell you that unfortunately, the bases and soy sauces without
wheat are way more expensive, at least were I am in Quebec.
--------------------
You make some great points! I'm willing to support any group efforts to make these suggestions to restaurants.
-----------------------
The two celiac organizations that are most on top of this are probably the
Gluten Intolerance Group (http://www.gluten.net/) and the Gluten-Free
Restaurant Awareness Program (http://www.glutenfreerestaurants.org/).
I can think of one other organization that might be relevant: The Food
Allergy and Anaphylaxis Network (http://www.foodallergy.org/advocacy.html).
I hope this is useful to you.
----------------------------------
-------- Original Message --------
---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
Sender: Celiac/Coeliac Wheat/Gluten-Free List <[log in to unmask]>
Poster: alice <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: restaurants and celiac
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
<<Disclaimer: Verify this information before applying it to your situation.>>
Maybe someone on the list can help with my thought process on this.
It seems there are a few central impediments to GF dining in restaurants.
1)The use of gluten containing chicken or beef base - this is like a
bouillon mix that they use to flavor everything from rice pilaf to
mashed potatoes to sauce
2) The practice of "steaming vegetables" by boiling them in the pasta water
3) Premarinating meat in soy sauce based marinades using
wheat-containing soy sauce - this seems particularly common at chain
restaurants that use a central commissary
Does anyone know what organization would best be positioned to make
comprehensive recommendations to the restaurant industry to change these
three things? Recommend a GF chicken base, make sure that "steaming" is
used to describe steaming but not immersion in boiling water, and
changing the pre-marinated meat products to be GF?
It would be advantageous to restaurants to do these things, because
there are many of us who are GF and who eat out with our relatives and
friends, making the demographic much larger than they might assume. We
don't go out to eat with our families at restaurants where we can't eat.
Alice
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