Downtown Sudbury
Who are you and where are you?
My name is Taryn and I live in Sudbury, Ontario, Canada!
Tell me about your relationship with gluten..
I too love to travel and coincidentally I took a celiac blood test a week before leaving for a trip to Paris in 2008. A few days after I returned, I got a call from my doctor telling me to come in to the office. It was then her told me I had Celiac Disease: after I ate all the yummiest gluten-filled foods in Paris! A month later I was moving to Toronto to go to school. At the time there was just one restaurant in Sudbury offering a gluten free pasta but upon my return to live in Sudbury in 2010, I noticed that Sudburians and the many eateries were finally becoming familiar with “Gluten Free”.
Within the past year I’ve committed to the Paleo diet, which is naturally gluten free because there are no grains at all in the diet. There are also no dairy or legumes or refined sugars. I feel great as I discovered that even after eliminating gluten, I still had some symptoms – and I believe grains like corn and rice are the culprits.
Why should gluten free travellers visit your town?
For a small city of about 150,000 – it’s surprisingly easy to eat out in Sudbury. We have a restaurant called The Hourglass Restaurant and Lounge that serves a completely gluten free menu. We have two bakeries completely dedicated to creating gluten free goodies. And we have endless restaurants who offer gluten free options or are gluten friendly. It is relatively easy to live gluten free here. I am proud of Sudbury and the restaurants for making such an effort to accommodation those with a gluten allergy/Celiac Disease.
Tell me something fun about your town..
It is commonly known as a “mining town” and the mining companies that took root here over 100 years ago ravaged our beautiful landscape. However, those same mining companies later contributed to the “re-greening” of Sudbury. Today, Sudbury is the most beautiful place to live – particularly in the summer months. Within the city limits there are over 300 lakes. In the winter there are many outdoor activities as well. We are also the home to the Big Nickel and Science North, a beautiful Science Centre at the core of the city on the shore of Ramsey Lake.
Pretty
Beautiful Lake Ramsey
Where is your favourite place to eat out in your town and why?
My favourite place to eat out in Sudbury is The Laughing Buddha. It’s a downtown trendy coffee joint/slash pub and attracts anyone and everyone from the clubbers to the artsy university crowd, to the hockey fans stopping in for a bite before catching our local hockey team play. The Laughing Buddha offers some excellent gluten free pizza options and also can substitute corn chips for pita break to dip into their famous selection of hummus. They also have an extensive beer menu, including gluten free beer. In the summer, they have the best patio in town! It’s the place to be.
Some other gluten free restaurants are:
- The HourGlass is a gluten free restaurant where every item on the menu is either gluten free or can be made gluten free
- Casey’s Bar and Grill offers a gluten free menu
- Pat & Mario’s offers gluten free pasta and also has a gluten free menu
- Pizza chain, Boston Pizza does gluten free pizza and has a booklet detailing all menu items with allergy information
- Respect is Burning has gluten free pasta and gnocchi. They can also modify other menu items
- Cindy’s Gluten Free Bakehouse and Gluten Free Galore are two gluten free bakeries in Sudbury
- There are also sushi restaurants, Thai restaurants and Mexican restaurants, as well as many other fine dining restaurants, which offer a gluten free pasta dish or can modify dishes to make sure they are gluten free. It’s very easy to live gluten free in Sudbury.
Grocery store wise, you can find numerous gluten free items in the health food section of most grocery store chains. There are numerous health food stores in the city: The Wellness Shoppe, Durham Natural Foods, Thrive.
Do you live in Sudbury or have you travelled there? Where is your favourite place to eat gluten free?
