Hold the Gluten Please: Six Common Ways to Consume Gluten Outside the Home

Let's face it. Everyone sooner or later accidentally ingests gluten, making some really sick. Keep in mind that regardless of the severity of your reaction, the person with Celiac disease is still receiving damage.

Dining at home is usually safe, or should be. Personally, we have a dedicated gluten free kitchen. Call me lazy, but with only two in family, it just does not make sense to try to have designated areas for gluten and for non-gluten foods. And hey! I can assure you I am not missing anything other than feeling bloated and sluggish a lot of the time.

Back to the subject at hand--getting restaurants and others to hold the gluten. When dining outside the home, the landscape changes dramatically. Okay, sure you are armed with a chef’s card explaining your dietary constraints, so you are perfectly safe. Not so fast! There are land mines all implanted in the gluten laden world just waiting for you. Here are just a few you may have not thought about prior to reading this:

1. Self-serve water and soda machines/coolers: How many times have you stopped, especially when travelling, to purchase something to drink? You grab a bottle of water or energy drink from the first cooler you see, pop the top and swig away. Minutes to hours later you are not feeling so hot, but YOU know you could not have possibly have ingested gluten accidently. Right? Maybe not. Just suppose the person stocking the cooler was munching on cookies or a honey bun or some other gluten laden product. Suddenly a gluten free container is contaminated with gluten. If the unsuspecting medically mandated gluten free sole doesn’t clean the top of the drink, then that person could become very sick and never know the source of the gluten.

Solution: Take hand wipes along with you to wipe the tops of drink containers.

2. Beer bottle openers: With the surge of more and better gluten free beers making their debuts in the market place, more of the gluten free community feel free to enjoy life with an evening on the town just like their gluten eating friends. I have one word of caution for you. If the opener is not dedicated to serving gluten free beers, the fizz from regular beers probably bubbled over, contaminating the opener being used to open your beer.

Solution: Take you own opener and ask to open your own bottle,e

3. Plate contamination: Servers are not supposed to touch the tops or inside rims of plates, but occasionally this happens. If the server has just handled bread and then picked up your plates, guess what? Your plate—not necessarily the food—has come in contact with gluten. If your food comes in contact, then you could consume a minute amount of gluten. Depending on tolerance levels, most people would not become ill. My husband is not one of those. Even the tiniest bit of gluten makes him violently ill.

Solution: Again, take wipes along to run around the rim of your plate.

4. Unscrupulously servers: You are armed with your chef’s card. You communicate very clearly your food sensitivity to your server including how to avoid cross contamination in the kitchen and maybe even speak with the chef. But, time is money, and the faster servers can turn tables the more money they make. So you salad has croutons sprinkled about; you server catches this and rather than demanding a fresh salad be prepared, he or she simply removes the offending little cubes of toasted bread thinking no one will be any the wiser.

Those of you are only too familiar with getting “glutened” at some point, often never really know the source. Same is true with steamed mussels that often come with toast, and the list goes on and on and on.

Solution: (1) Re-confirm with your server when you receive your salad or whatever that no bread ever touch the food you are receiving. (2) Patronize locally owned restaurants or high-end chains. The owners and/or chefs tend to be more careful than low-end chains, especially those that are franchises where there is no local commitment or real understanding and little support from corporate.

5. Unclean grills: Grilled foods, such as steaks, are generally considered safe for the Celiac or the non-Celiac gluten intolerant. But, this is true only is the grill is adequately cleaned between orders. In a perfect world, every restaurant would have an area on their grill dedicated to grilling gluten free foods. Sadly, this is not the case. Let’s just say the restaurant normally serves Texas toast, and then grills your steak. You have just  received a plate full of contaminated food. Grilling breads on the same grill as meats is a common practice in restaurants.

Solution: Ask to speak with the chef, restaurant manager or head cook PRIOR to ordering. Explain your problem and have your chef’s card handy that reinforces how to prevent cross contamination when grilling foods that have to be gluten free. If those responsible cannot give assurance they can prepare your food safely, don’t hesitate to turn around and walk out the door.

6. Reused Pasta Water: Lots of eating establishments, particularly chains, advertise gluten free menus and often include gluten free pastas. Some cook gluten laden pasta and then use the same water to cook the gluten free pasta. When this happens, the gluten free pasta is contaminated and will make the Celiac/gluten intolerant sick.

Solution: Again, Ask to speak with the chef, restaurant manager or head cook PRIOR to ordering. Explain your problem and have your chef’s card handy that reinforces how to prevent cross contamination when preparing your pasta so that it is not contaminated with dirty pasta water. If those responsible cannot give assurance they can prepare your food safely, don’t hesitate to turn around and walk out the door.

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