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Hi-yaaaaaaa (this is a greeting in Ireland) to you all.

I just returned from two weeks in Ireland and one week in England. I had 
contacted the Coeliac (note different spelling of celiac) Society in Dublin 
and they sent me a list of gluten-friendly restaurants.

I have to say that I really didn't need the list at all. The people in food 
service there are pretty savvy about celiac disease. It has a higher 
population ratio in Ireland; in other words, there are more diagnosed 
celiacs there per population than in the United States.

All of the restaurant people were very accommodating and excellent in 
communicating with the chefs about flour in sauces, etc. They took great 
pains to make sure I didn't get sick. And, with one exception (which was my 
fault), I never once got sick.

The first two days I had a traditional Irish breakfast, which consists of 
fried eggs, bacon (kind of like Canadian bacon), sausages, Heinz beans, and 
hash browns. The hash browns are actually little formed patties somewhat 
like potato cakes. I got my typical gluten headaches after these two 
breakfasts, and determined that it was the potato cakes. Sometimes flour is 
used as a binder in these patties, and I am sure they were used in the Irish 
version I had.

Many of the traditional Irish foods, such as colcannon (potatoes and 
cabbage, sometimes with milk and butter added) do not have added 
ingredients. I had a delicious traditional lamb stew that was just cooked in 
the meat to make a broth with added vegetables. Delicious! They are big on 
salmon and fresh fish and know many ways to cook it. I stayed away from 
stews with thick broths and sauces. In some cases, the waitperson was able 
to verify that the sauces were made with cream, wine, and/or butter only; 
then I could eat that.

One good food item to try is vegetable soup. This is usually made of 
carrots, a spice like coriander, leeks, and turnips or potatoes. Some of the 
vegetables are blended and put back into the soup, making it thick. So, 
don't discount thickened soups. Just ask the people what the ingredients 
are.

The best part of the trip was shopping for gluten-free goodies. They are 
available in most markets in Ireland, even in some of the small towns. For 
example, we visited Cong (where the John Wayne film "The Quiet Man" was 
made), a very tiny village of just a few hundred people. I went into the 
small market there and found some gluten-free bread!

Their gluten-free bread, usually made by Kelkin, is available at most Spar 
or Super Value markets, and definitely at the larger Tesco stores. You can 
also get marshmallow-type puffs over biscuit covered with chocolate and 
little apple pies, then little berry tarts; all delicious.

I have to talk about the bread though. It is great (toasted, of course), 
especially with Irish black currant jam or orange marmalade that is served 
at most every breakfast table. All of the restaurants and B&Bs were most 
happy to toast it for me. I wish American manufacturers would try the Irish 
bread and get on the bus, for Irish gf bread is about 100 times better than 
any American gf bread I have ever tried! I bought several loaves while 
there, and shipped them back at an exhorbitant cost (over $100 for a small 
box), but I think this is worth it. I can put it in the freezer and enjoy 
good gf bread for several weeks to come.

Eating gluten-free in England was a bit more difficult, but only because the 
waitpeople usually didn't speak much English. The immigration is high there, 
and there are many workers who are French, Polish, or Iranian (especially in 
London).

The only real problem I had was on the flight over and back. I flew Delta, 
and my travel agent requested a special meal, which was printed on my 
ticket. When I got on the plane, however, I found that they do not serve 
gluten-free meals any more on Delta. The regular choices were pasta or 
chicken with gravy, both of which I turned down for obvious reasons. They 
offered me the vegetarian choice, but those meals (on both the flights over 
and returning) were laden with gluten in the form of pasta or pastry cakes 
of some sort. The airplane people are very ignorant of eating with 
allergies, I found out, and are not very helpful either. I had to make do 
with a glass of milk and a banana on the flight over, and needless to say, 
after over 15 hours on planes, I was very hungry when I arrived. On the 
return trip, I brought a sack of food, half of which I had to pack in my 
checked baggage because security wouldn't let me take it on board. What was 
allowed: cheese brick, apples (although I had to eat them on the plane as 
you can't bring produce back into the U.S.), and nuts. Not allowed: canned 
food of any kind, drinks, or puddings.

Good luck to you if you fly overseas!

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