Two days after my last post, I was severely gluten poisoned AGAIN while eating out at an Italian restaurant who serves gluten-free pasta and professes to know what they are doing. That's all I can say for now, but the experience of being sick in bed for the past seven days-plus has caused me to seriously rethink how the world really views Celiac Disease and how dangerous it truly is to eat at restaurants, even when they "profess" to know what they are doing and have an understanding of eating "gluten-free"...I can tell you that most really don't have a clue. I don't mean to sound down-trodden and pessimistic, because I'm an optimist who loves to live large, but after the week and a half I've been living through due to the tremendous stupidity of a few, I feel my sentiments are justified.
What amazes me the most is the fact that our culture still doesn't get it. As Celiacs, we are so focused on finding new products, safe food, and "fun" things to eat, we become a bit consumed within our own world and on our own survival. What I'm finding out over the past twelve months, however, is that as aware of this disease as many of us are, or as knowledgeable as we can become from reading and research, this philosophy of understanding GF cooking does NOT translate well into a restaurant kitchen - it's truly a crap shoot every time you order out.
Something needs to change - I'm going to do something about this.
It's time.
Chances are, I will be out of commission for the next few weeks and not writing any new posts until I fully recover. If any of you have other restaurant experiences that you would like to share with this blog, please email me.
1 comment:
I am so sorry that this happened...I don't have Celiac but do have some very stringent food requirements and I totally understand how hard it is to take care of yourself when eating out. Sometimes we hit two or three different places before we choose a restaurant. I never try anything that's sketchy and have often asked to see an ingredient list to make them prove what's in the food. Sending you get-well wishes via cyber space.
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