Post by Silly Yak on Feb 12, 2011 7:49:02 GMT
From: "Liz Ward" (on UK-C board)
Date: Tue Sep 9, 2003
Subject: Re: GF bread in the US
Hi Debbie and Steve,
I have travelled twice to the US since going GF, once to New Jersey and once
to Alabama. My experiences were not as negative as the other replies you've
got so far and both times I found health food stores with quite good ranges
of GF foods near to where I was staying.
I was lucky as both times I was visiting / meeting up with family members
who had good local knowledge. However, I also got very useful local and
general advice from the Celiac Web site based in the US
www.enabling.org/ia/celiac/index.html in the following ways:
1. There is a list of local support groups based in many of the US states
and cities and in many cases contact email addresses are given.
2. You can do an interactive search of their archives.
3. You can join the listserv and read the daily messages which will give you
a better feel for what to expect as well as nuggets of information (like the
fact that one restaurant chain Outback now has a GF menu including a
flourless chocolate dessert).
4. You can post a message to the listserv requesting specific information.
5. You could order stuff from one of the many US suppliers of GF food that
you will find via links on the site and have it delivered to where you'll be
staying.
I didn't look for bread specifically (I brought my own), but I did see some
in the health food stores and on my first visit I ordered some from
Kinninnick (along with lots of other goodies). I'm OK with Codex wheat
starch bread and prefer it to the strict GF kind (usually heavier) which is
the only kind available in the US. However, I was thrilled to be able to
buy lots of other GF things which I cannot get here - for example, the
health food shops had great frozen waffles, a range of breakfast cereals
and a good variety of "cookies" while my mail order included donuts, bagels
and cinnamon rolls some of which I brought home to my freezer.
On the down side, I found supermarket shopping more difficult as without a
list I could trust, I had to rely totally on labels. I'm sure I may have
unwittingly bought some products with hidden gluten though I did try to
stick to unprocessed items as much as possible. Also I found that service
staff in restaurants were too freaked out by my restaurant card (?afraid I'd
sue) so I switched to picking most likely GF items and then just checking
that they didn't contain hidden flour/breadcrumbs etc.
Your best bet is to gather as much info as you can before you go. As well
as reading and downloading lots of info from the internet, I found that
people on the US listserv were very friendly and willing to help.
Hope the above is of some help and that you both enjoy your trip.
Best GF wishes,
Liz Ward, Dublin, Ireland
groups.yahoo.com/group/UK-Coeliac/message/1910
Date: Tue Sep 9, 2003
Subject: Re: GF bread in the US
Hi Debbie and Steve,
I have travelled twice to the US since going GF, once to New Jersey and once
to Alabama. My experiences were not as negative as the other replies you've
got so far and both times I found health food stores with quite good ranges
of GF foods near to where I was staying.
I was lucky as both times I was visiting / meeting up with family members
who had good local knowledge. However, I also got very useful local and
general advice from the Celiac Web site based in the US
www.enabling.org/ia/celiac/index.html in the following ways:
1. There is a list of local support groups based in many of the US states
and cities and in many cases contact email addresses are given.
2. You can do an interactive search of their archives.
3. You can join the listserv and read the daily messages which will give you
a better feel for what to expect as well as nuggets of information (like the
fact that one restaurant chain Outback now has a GF menu including a
flourless chocolate dessert).
4. You can post a message to the listserv requesting specific information.
5. You could order stuff from one of the many US suppliers of GF food that
you will find via links on the site and have it delivered to where you'll be
staying.
I didn't look for bread specifically (I brought my own), but I did see some
in the health food stores and on my first visit I ordered some from
Kinninnick (along with lots of other goodies). I'm OK with Codex wheat
starch bread and prefer it to the strict GF kind (usually heavier) which is
the only kind available in the US. However, I was thrilled to be able to
buy lots of other GF things which I cannot get here - for example, the
health food shops had great frozen waffles, a range of breakfast cereals
and a good variety of "cookies" while my mail order included donuts, bagels
and cinnamon rolls some of which I brought home to my freezer.
On the down side, I found supermarket shopping more difficult as without a
list I could trust, I had to rely totally on labels. I'm sure I may have
unwittingly bought some products with hidden gluten though I did try to
stick to unprocessed items as much as possible. Also I found that service
staff in restaurants were too freaked out by my restaurant card (?afraid I'd
sue) so I switched to picking most likely GF items and then just checking
that they didn't contain hidden flour/breadcrumbs etc.
Your best bet is to gather as much info as you can before you go. As well
as reading and downloading lots of info from the internet, I found that
people on the US listserv were very friendly and willing to help.
Hope the above is of some help and that you both enjoy your trip.
Best GF wishes,
Liz Ward, Dublin, Ireland
groups.yahoo.com/group/UK-Coeliac/message/1910