|
by KAY INAMINE co-founder of Triumph Dining Triumph Dining Too many Celiacs are missing a tasty and exciting opportunity: ethnic restaurants. In particular, Thai and Indian food have a wide variety of gluten-free dishes. While it's true that ethnic restaurants pose unique challenges - unfamiliar foods and language and cultural barriers - these can all be overcome with a little patience, research, and a lot of heart. First, make sure the restaurant is willing to accommodate you before you sit down. This can be done simply by politely asking the host or manager "I have a restricted diet and cannot eat certain grains like wheat, will you be able to accommodate me?" Why even bother asking? Well, people generally like to keep their word. If a manager says yes and pledges her help, she'll go that extra mile to make good on her word. Plus, now she'll be able to point you to the waitperson best equipped to help you. Especially at ethnic restaurants, however, there is a chance that the host and staff won't understand you well, or at all. In which case, count yourself lucky that you didn't already sit down and go find another restaurant. (Luckily, in over a year of gluten-free ethnic restaurant dining, this has never happened to me.) Now that you have a pledge of help from the restaurant and know that their staff understands you, it's time to place an order. Don't be afraid to ask questions! Especially if you communicate how happy you are to be there and how grateful you are for their help, it's hard for them not to feel a bit flattered and want to help by answering all your questions. If your waitperson does not know the answers to your questions, politely, but firmly, ask them to check with the chef. Another key to safe dining is asking the right questions, even when you already know the answer! It sounds counter-intuitive, but asking the right questions is a way to get the wait staff thinking about which foods will safe for you. For example, in a Chinese restaurant, you might say "Oh, wontons, those are so good…but those are probably made with wheat, don't you think?" Sure, you know wontons are made of wheat, but you're asking not because you don't know the answer, but to get the waiter's mind jogging. And, remember this: it takes months for most Celiacs to learn the gluten-free diet. Sure, it's easy to spot the obvious offenders like bread, but who knew that soy sauce contained wheat? In other words, don't expect that your chef can immediately intuit what it took you months to learn! That means doing a little cuisine-specific research. After all, if the food is different, the sources of gluten - both hidden and common -- will be different. That's why I find most dining cards unhelpful, even when translated into the restaurant's native language. They simply say "no wheat, rye, barley or oats" and expect the chef to magically understand all the nuances. To address this problem, my husband and I created dining cards for 10 cuisines with cuisine-specific "can eat" and "can't eat" sections written in the restaurant's native language, which are available at Triumph Dining - including The Essential Gluten Free Restaurant Guide and Triumph Dining Cards. Or, you can do your own research. Just make sure it's first-hand - that is, by talking to the chefs, reading cookbooks, and studying labels at the local ethnic grocer - unfortunately, there's a lot of incorrect information floating around in Celiac websites and books. By now, you've probably gotten a terrific gluten-free meal! But the process doesn't end there. Make sure to heartily thank your waitperson, the manager, chef, and anyone else that's helped you. Tip generously. Tell them how wonderful their food was and that you'll be back again. You'll be surprised the next time around at the restaurant's willingness to go the extra mile and custom create gluten free food just for you! |
