Mars are one of the biggest candy and chocolate producers in the States so I contacted them to ask about the gluten free status of their products. Mars UK had emailed me a list of their ‘safe’ products so I figured that their North American counterparts were likely to do the same…..
Snickers are gluten free!
Today I popped into Starbucks at lunchtime and was happy to find they sell two gluten free cakes, a Valencia Orange Cake and a Chocolate Fudge Brownie. Both looked pretty tasty and were separated from non gluten free cakes by small dividers. I was pleased to see this but after a closer look, I was surprised to discover that on the label next to these cakes it now not only said ‘gluten free’ and ‘wheat free’ as I had seen before but also said ‘not suitable for coeliacs’.
Why would Starbucks make a cake that was both ‘wheat free’ and ‘gluten free’ but that is ‘not suitable for coeliacs?’
Last week we booked our flights to Argentina…we fly from Houston to Buenos Aires in August. I just called to book my gluten free meal and after listening to five minutes of recorded information on the recent merger with US Airways a lovely woman answered and changed my meal to a gluten free one. Let’s see what delights Continental Airlines have to offer…
UPDATE: I am pleased to say that I got my gluten free meal on the flight from Houston to Buenos Aires without any problems.
Gluten Free dinner
Blackened chicken
It was an overnight flight so we were served dinner as soon as we reached cruising altitude. As appears to be the norm, ‘special meals’ were served first and I was almost finished eating before the rest of the flight were served. I got blackened chicken with rice, green beans and a roll, a small quinoa salad and a chocolate chip cookie. The chicken dish was pretty tasty, as was the cookie. In the morning, less than an hour before landing, I got a small cup of Dole fruit and a muffin for breakfast.
Quinoa salad
Muffin and fruit salad for breakfast
UPDATE: I am disappointed to report than on my return flight from Buenos Aires to Houston, Continental Airlines forgot my gluten free meal. No special meal had been ordered for me and on an 11 hour flight where passengers are served both dinner and breakfast I wasn’t very happy about their mistake.
One of the staff came to my rescue with a sweet potato meant for her own dinner. She had purchased said sweet potato earlier in the day and wrapped it in foil ready to be heated up. She offered it to me and I accepted. This has to have been the strangest meal I’ve eaten at 35,000 feet! I still wasn’t too pleased that they had forgotten my special meal but I wasn’t going to starve and my potato tasted great along with the free glass of wine I asked for and received 🙂
2 Figs curry
Friday is my final day at work before my boyfriend and I head off on our North and South American travels and I am heading out to dinner with 3 of my best friends to celebrate. We decided to try The 2 Figs on Byres Road as none of us have eaten there before and their menu looks very tasty! When I called to book our table I told the woman on the phone that I am coeliac and therefore will require a gluten free meal. She said that they have quite a few gluten free options on their menu and to say to my server when I come on Friday…
The Gluten Free Registry Site
Today I came across a website that excited me very much! Gluten Free Registry. It’s a huge, free, searchable database of gluten free restaurants, searchable primarily by State and then by City, the aim being  ‘to put people and gluten-free friendly restaurants, bakeries, caterers, grocers and more together’ (mission statement) Their terms and conditions state that to appear on the registry restaurants must indicate gluten free selections on their menu, provide a seperate gluten free menu or offer gluten free replacement products. Caterers must have previous experience preparing gluten free food and grocers must clearly identify gluten free selections. The database contains a great deal of information for eating gluten free throughout the States but they also have a fairly large variety of links to gluten free friendly businesses in various other countries.
Looking through the database I was so happy to discover the huge number of places that cater for Coeliacs throughout the USA, especially the larger cities. In a couple of weeks time I am travelling to, and willl spend the summer in, the United States and I will keep checking this fantastic source of information as I move around the country. I am starting off in New York and Boston before travelling to Iowa, Minneapolis, Vegas and a variety of other cities and towns during the summer. With the help of Gluten Free Registry I will keep you updated on how I find gluten free travelling in the United States of America.
Gluten Free options
The words I long to see..
Finland is a gorgeous country where you can see reindeers. I was driving down from the north of Finland, it was snowing and I saw a whole bunch of reindeers! One of the most amazing sights ever!
Moving on..It’s also a country with a whole bunch of celiac friendly options. My experience of Finland doesn’t truly represent the celiac friendly nature of the country. I arrived in cities late and night when most restaurants had stopped serving. Finland is definitely not an up-all-night kind of place but there are a lot of gluten free options if you get there when things are open! :)Â If you are headed to Finland you should have no problem finding safe, gluten free options both in restaurants and grocery stores.
After reaching the most northern point of mainland Europe, the only option was to head South. The end of the rally (we were driving 5000 miles from Scotland to Estonia via the northernmost tip of mainland Europe over 10 days!) was Tallinn so this meant driving down through all of Finland. It took us five days to reach the top of Norway and we were now heading to the south of Finland in only two.
Egon Restaurant
Gluten Free pizza at Peppes
Our rally (5000 miles from Scotland to Estonia in a £100 Ford Escort!) took us through the entirety of Norway and what an amazingly beautiful country it is. We spent time in Oslo, Trondheim, Fauske, Tromso and Nordkapp. I’m happy to report that Norway was very celiac friendly. Awareness and abundance of safe products is high so if you are headed to Norway you shouldn’t have any problems finding restaurants at which to enjoy a gluten free meal or grocery stores at which to buy safe, gluten free products.
Ichiban is a Japanese restaurant which can be found in two locations within Glasgow. There is one on Queen Street (in the city centre) and another on Dumbarton Road (in the West end). They offer take-out or sit-in and I’ve taken advantage of both a number of times. The menu includes a variety of different things from sushi to noodles but it’s really only their sushi that is suitable for coeliacs. Their sushi menu is good and varied,  including 6 varieties of Nigiri, 7 Maki and includes vegetarian options. I checked with the kitchen that nothing additional is used in the production of their sushi. They use rice vinegar to help the rice stick but that’s gluten free. I tend to stay away from the California roll or Futomaki as I don’t trust the crabstick and if you get the avacado maki then ask for it without mayo because apparently there may be gluten in this. Soy sauce is obviously a big no no so you can either bring your own or try it without, which I enjoy sometimes as it keeps the taste of sushi and wasabi strong!
Sitting-in at the cafeteria style restaurant costs a little more than take-out. You can get a good amount of delicious sushi for 2 people for around £20 (take-out) and £25 (eat in). If you eat in there are a variety of drinks to choose from. Beer is out for us but there’s wine, cider, sake, soft drinks and teas and coffees. Mmmm, sushi!
The fruity culprit??
Around 3 months ago I began to experience very bad, spasming pains in my stomach. I knew that the pains weren’t related to eating gluten because they were occuring on random days when I had eaten nothing but my usual breakfast and lunch which I knew did not contain any gluten. For months after being diagnosed I had been eating these same foods and suddenly they were causing me severe pains…Was it really the food or was it something more sinister? It was impossible for me to tell!
At first the pains appeared on a weekly basis which was horrible but it was when they started to come much more frequently (at one point I was in pain 4 of 5 days) that it became unbearable and I decided to go to my doctor. Unfortunately, but not too surprisingly, he said that it was difficult to pinpoint what was causing these pains and gave me a prescription for Mebeverine. He said to try these pills whenever the pains come and if they don’t work then to come back so that we can look into the problem further. Mebeverine is generally used for sufferers of ‘IBS or similar stomach problems’ but I thought I may as well give it a try. The pains, when they sneak up on me, are so painful that I can barely function properly and I didn’t know how much more of them I could take! It was affecting my work, my running and my sleep!
The next time the pains came I took the pills. They didn’t work immediately but the pain eased within an hour or so and was gone a couple of hours later. I would continue to take the pills for a couple of days to ensure the pains were gone. This worked as far as getting rid of that particular wave of spasms but the pains would always come back, resulting in the need for more pills.
The last time I had these pains was 2 weeks ago. I had just eaten my breakfast of gluten free cornflakes with soy milk and a banana a hour earlier and this made something click in my brain. I thought back to the last few times I had the pains and to what I’d eaten….I couldn’t rememeber every time but I could definitely remember eating bananas on at least 2 or 3 other occasions before the pains came…could bananas really be the culprit?
I still can’t be sure if I’m right because it’s only been 2 weeks but I haven’t eaten a banana since and this is the longest I’ve gone in months without pain. I googled stomach pains after eating bananas and came across an interesting article on banana allergy
I like bananas and it sucks if I can never eat one again without suffering but at least knowing for sure would stop me worrying that the pains are due to something else…it’s been 2 weeks and counting since the spams so I’ll keep you updated on living banana and gluten free!
(UPDATE: June 2012) I have now been banana free for over two years and those horrific stomach pains never returned. I miss bananas but I certainly don’t miss the nasty pains I suffered from eating them!
Are there any other celiacs who have experienced something similar? It seems ridiculous that bananas were what were causing me all those horrific stomach pains! Do they do the same to you? Share your experiences of evil banana pains or other foods that do something similar to you…
Sushi in Copenhagen
The next stop on our rally (5000 mile drive from Scotland to Estonia) was Copenhagen and as the drive from Amsterdam was so long it wasn’t until late in the evening that we finally arrived. Looking for something decently priced is difficult enough in a city like Copenhagen but also finding something gluten free when you are hungry and tired is not the easiest of tasks. Luckily, similarly to it’s celiac friendly neighbours, Denmark is pretty aware of celiac disease and offers a variety of gluten free products and safe places to eat.Â
