*Image courtesy of cbfarmersmarket.com
My youngest Daughter, Little N, was recently diagnosed with Celiac Disease, as a result of the initial screening for her, I had myself tested as well. My results came back negative for Celiac Disease but because of the severity of my symptoms, my Doctor concluded that I am Gluten Intolerant. This means that I need to avoid gluten as well although my diet doesn't need to be as strict as Little N's, still, for the sake of simplicity, we are following the same strict diet. I have started well ahead of her, as we were waiting on her to endure an endoscopy and we had to wait for pathology to process the results, and this way I should make fewer mistakes once she starts hers.
I started this Gluten Free adventure approximately 5 weeks ago, May 12, 2011. Since then I have been perfecting my label reading skills (yay!), feeling better (double yay!) and trying out as many Gluten Free foods as I am able.
*Image courtesy of BostonPizza.com
A friend and I decided to venture out for dinner to try a GF pizza at Boston Pizza. Being new at this whole super-sleuthing-the-wheat-code thing and desperately craving Perogy Pizza (To Die For Spiciness for all of you lucky enough to consume gluten consequence free), I ordered the GF crust with the perogy toppings. Shortly thereafter, the concerned Manager came over to our table to explain to me that what I ordered wasn't completely GFree, considering my topping choices. He showed me the menu again and pointed out the safe things for me to eat. He was such a doll, he never once made me feel silly for my mistake. I re-ordered my pizza and was pleasantly surprised at how "normal" the crust tasted when it arrived, the whole thing was delicious! (Boston Pizza uses Kinnikinnick brand GF pizza crust, I know because I asked.) The price was reasonable and the episode was downplayed & enjoyable. I was able to relax, enjoying myself instead of worrying if I was going to get sick later. The staff made all the difference in my first Gluten Free Dining Out experience, but the cuisine spoke for itself.I highly recommend Boston Pizza's Gluten Free Pizza to anyone avoiding gluten. I will definitely be returning in the future on those must-have-pizza nights!
Until next time, I'm off to find more Gluten Free yumminess in Calgary's restaurants!
Awesome! When I was at SAIT. back in 98, they made us learn abOut a new allergy - gluten. They said it was about to
ReplyDeleteExplode. They were right. Holly hop over to my WDC page (http://welldonechef.com) there is a contest you should enter!
Boy were they ever! Thanks for the comment, will do!
ReplyDeleteAlmost Granola Momma
Another thing I forgot to mention. As a chef, it is tough in a smaller restaurant that has no corporation standards to fall back on. This means that we normally do not prepare things in a gluten-free manner, and there is a boatload of cross contamination in the kitchen. The best thing to do is call ahead. I can't tell you how many times I have had a rush on a Saturday night, only to have a celiac present themselves... and I can't help, because I can't guarantee that there will be no gluten contamination. If you call ahead, and the chef is aware, a cutting board and frying pans can be put aside just for you. (That is, if the chef is worth his salt and actually gives a crap!)
ReplyDeleteThat was really smart of the manager to do what he did. Some people may have not caught that. The gluten free diet does take a little getting used to. Asking a lot of questions, doing research before hand, whether it checking a website or calling ahead.
ReplyDeleteIts certainly an an adventure! Will be interesting to read more about your experience in Calgary. My wife and I write a blog in Edmonton about our experiences in Edmonton. She was diagnosed almost 2 years ago.
--Abisaac
Gluten Free Edmonton