Our Daily Struggles

[Marcia K]

Hello! I wanted to share the response to an email that I sent asking if there would be any gluten free options at the function I will be attending. I don't normally take the chance anyway, but I wanted to ask. The reply was that soup & sandwiches will be served, maybe they can remove the bread from the sandwiches? All righty then! I'll be packing my own food, as usual. I hope everyone is doing well.

[Gabes-Apg]

oh my. dont you love it when function organisers have awareness of food intolerances

goodness help anyone who has serious allergy issues asking questions about things like peanuts!

[jennifer]

Hi Marcia,
I can relate!!
I was at a function a few weeks ago with my sisters.
They served finger sandwichs, mac n cheese, potaoe salad etc.
When i didnt have anything on my plate, one sister said to me "they have turkey, just take it out of the bread and eat it."
Good thing i ate at home before the event!!!!
Jen

[Marcia K]

HI Gabes & Jennifer. It's so nice to come here & have others who understand the struggles! Living in a gluten filled world isn't easy and I'm thankful for all of the support here.

[Gabes-Apg]

I am very lucky here in Australia

The labelling laws for a product to say it is gluten free is very strict (and there are big penalties for breaching the rules)
and further for restaurants and cafe's to advertise meals as gluten free they have to meet the criteria of no more than 3 parts per million of gluten

(difference being in USA and other countries a gluten free product can have up to 20 parts per million of gluten)

if the restaurant is found to be serving meals that dont meet that criteria they are fined.

In my local area (within 40 min drive) there are at least 40 restaurants where 3/4 of the menu has gluten free options.
There are many places that will have a couple of 'token' gluten free meal options. (and most of the time it is salad which is not MC friendly!!)

[Marcia K]

Oh my goodness Gabes, you live in gluten free heaven! The USA certainly is not a leader in helping people with food allergies/sensitivities. I am always surprised that even large cities aren't very accommodating. We're going to a wedding in another state in June and I'm already thinking about what I will take along to eat at the lovely wedding by the bay. They're going to have food stations and it would be a stretch of the imagination to think that anything will be gf. I am going to message the groom's mother to ask, but I probably already know the answer. The food packing is the worst part of packing for a trip.

[jlbattin]

I happen to love frozen dairy free yogurt and have done very well with it when I've had it. We were visiting my in-laws in Mississippi and they have a frozen yogurt place so I went in to see what their dairy free flavors were. None were marked as dairy free so I asked the kid behind the counter if he knew which ones were dairy free. He said, "They all are. We make them with water." I said, "No, they're not. You need to read the package to see what the ingredients are." He went in the other room and read all the packages and came back with two flavors that were indeed dairy free; however, being the untrusting person I was at that point, I told him thanks that I couldn't afford for something to happen and I promptly left. We have so much educating to do in the world today!

[Marcia K]

So true, Jari! We dined out last weekend & I ordered gf pasta at a restaurant where I had eaten safely previously. I don't normally order pasta when dining out because of the worry. When it was served I noticed right away it wasn't the type of pasta that I had in the past. Upon asking the server, I could immediately tell by the look on her face that she didn't request gf pasta. And so I waited for my dinner while my husband ate his. He felt badly about eating, but I didn't want his meal to get cold. If I wasn't married I don't think I would dine out at all. It's not worth it to me. I miss the little things in my former life - pizza on Friday evening after working all week, but it is what it is.