4 ms·

Seriously, I would go to Applebee's if they had a better selection of gluten free options. My wife has celiac and the entire family doesn't go there to eat if t

Seriously, I would go to Applebee's if they had a better selection of gluten free options. My wife has celiac and the entire family doesn't go there to eat if they can't properly serve her. Right now, they bring out some giant chart and you have to decipher it while cross referencing the menu. It takes longer, lowers your confidence that they know what they are doing and is embarrassing for the person having to dig through it all. Somebody at Applebee's needs to take a trip to Outback and ask for a gluten free menu. Bottom line: if somebody in the group will have to worry about their meal, the restaurant is off the list.

fred_is_fred 9y ago
Everyone has "celiac" which is the problem I guess.
- mark-r 9y ago
  The medical profession has refused to consider the possibility that gluten causes problems other than celiac disease. Or perhaps there are other components of wheat that cause those problems. I would be curious to know if some people on gluten-free diets would be just as well served by avoiding GMO wheat but allowing non-GMO - unfortunately that's a tough test to perform. I know two people who claim to be sensitive to corn. I'm not about to argue with them, I know the corn we have today in the U.S. is nothing like our grandparent's corn.
  - bitwize 9y ago
    > The medical profession has refused to consider the possibility that gluten causes problems other than celiac disease. Once the evidence rises above self-reported gluten sensitivity or self-reported improvement on a gluten-free diet, the medical community will consider that possibility. Until then, the plural of "anecdote" is not "data".
  - boomboomsubban 9y ago
    The medical profession refuses to consider things that have no evidence supporting them, which is why they aren't pointing the blame at GMO's. Yes, our corn is different. The change is partially responsible for millions of people being alive.
  - shalmanese 9y ago
    They've refused to consider the possibility that GMO wheat causes any special kind of harm in the wild because GMO wheat is not commercially available: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genetically_modified_wheat https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genetically_modified_wheat
    - mark-r 9y ago
      My comment wasn't specifically limited to GMO, although I had assumed that based on corn that it was a likely culprit. Thanks for setting me straight. I still think there's a possibility that either gluten or some other component of wheat gives people trouble that doesn't involve celiac disease.
- brightball 9y ago
  Actual celiac. She will be sick for hours and feel the effects for another day.
  - jimmywanger 9y ago
    > Actual celiac. She will be sick for hours and feel the effects for another day. https://sciencelife.uchospitals.edu/2014/02/05/dr-faq-stefano-guandalini-on-the-rise-of-celiac-disease/ https://sciencelife.uchospitals.edu/2014/02/05/dr-faq-stefan... Unless she was celiac more than 4 years ago, I'm disinclined to believe the claims, unless it's backedup by labwork or evidence.
    - brightball 9y ago
      She is. It's been 13 years.
      - jimmywanger 9y ago
        I'm sorry, that really sucks. Then it must be as frustrating for you as it is for me that a lot of restaurants now have to cater to non-existent gluten allergies. For instance, most restaurants know that nut alleries are real, and life threatening, so they go to great lengths to make sure there's no nuts in things they say are nut free. For gluten allergies, 99% of the people won't notice if they accidentally consume a crouton, so "gluten free" becomes "gluten free, but we aren't really that stringent about it cause nobody really cares."
        brightball 9y ago
        Yep. We are. We tend to find places that really know what they are doing and stick to them. If my wife asks a question and whoever she is talking to sounds even a little bit uncertain, she won't eat there. Going somewhere new always involves scouting and a "fingers crossed" experience while she's eating. Checking on things like separate fryers gets old, so when a restaurant knows what they are talking about they get A LOT of repeat business from us. Fast food tends to be tougher when travelling but Chick-fil-a actually does a great job. Fries in a separate fryer, grilled nuggets and their salads are all safe. We actually bought a used RV the past year for family trips because it makes it so much easier to just preload a travelling kitchen.
mark-r 9y ago
It surprises me that more restaurants haven't figured out that gluten-free is a big trend. Certainly the grocery stores have noticed. The chances that one member of your group will have issues are high enough to affect sales.
- boomboomsubban 9y ago
  It's much harder to cater for in food preparation, you would basically need a separate cook and kitchen to be able to call anything "gluten-free." Some places skirt around this by saying the ingredients are gluten-free, but I'm sure the internet is full of people saying they got sick eating those.
- Simulacra 9y ago
  I think because it is exactly that, a trend, and not a very strong one. It's unpredictable and no one is sure when it's going to collapse, but there might be the sentiment that it is going to collapse and I don't want to get sucked down with it
  - brightball 9y ago
    I realize that some people have picked it up as trendy, but for many it's a medical necessity and not an optional choice. Vegan is a trend.
  - ceratopisan 9y ago
    I hope - and I admit I am biased this way - that 'gluten-sensitive but not celiac disease' suddenly evaporates, sort of like MSG headaches turned out to be not a thing. Except I want it to happen faster.
- ceratopisan 9y ago
  Really "gluten-free" means that someone with severe celiac disease could eat there, and the acceptable levels of flour/gluten/whatever have to be very, very low. So low that you will probably need two separate food prep and storage areas. That doubles the space and staff and work requirements. That being said, gluten-free reheated frozen food out of a bag is just a more expensive version of ordinary reheated frozen food out of a bag, so I don't think it would help these places very much.

fred_is_fred 9y ago

Everyone has "celiac" which is the problem I guess.

mark-r 9y ago
The medical profession has refused to consider the possibility that gluten causes problems other than celiac disease. Or perhaps there are other components of wheat that cause those problems. I would be curious to know if some people on gluten-free diets would be just as well served by avoiding GMO wheat but allowing non-GMO - unfortunately that's a tough test to perform. I know two people who claim to be sensitive to corn. I'm not about to argue with them, I know the corn we have today in the U.S. is nothing like our grandparent's corn.
- bitwize 9y ago
  > The medical profession has refused to consider the possibility that gluten causes problems other than celiac disease. Once the evidence rises above self-reported gluten sensitivity or self-reported improvement on a gluten-free diet, the medical community will consider that possibility. Until then, the plural of "anecdote" is not "data".
- boomboomsubban 9y ago
  The medical profession refuses to consider things that have no evidence supporting them, which is why they aren't pointing the blame at GMO's. Yes, our corn is different. The change is partially responsible for millions of people being alive.
- shalmanese 9y ago
  They've refused to consider the possibility that GMO wheat causes any special kind of harm in the wild because GMO wheat is not commercially available: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genetically_modified_wheat https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genetically_modified_wheat
  - mark-r 9y ago
    My comment wasn't specifically limited to GMO, although I had assumed that based on corn that it was a likely culprit. Thanks for setting me straight. I still think there's a possibility that either gluten or some other component of wheat gives people trouble that doesn't involve celiac disease.
brightball 9y ago
Actual celiac. She will be sick for hours and feel the effects for another day.
- jimmywanger 9y ago
  > Actual celiac. She will be sick for hours and feel the effects for another day. https://sciencelife.uchospitals.edu/2014/02/05/dr-faq-stefano-guandalini-on-the-rise-of-celiac-disease/ https://sciencelife.uchospitals.edu/2014/02/05/dr-faq-stefan... Unless she was celiac more than 4 years ago, I'm disinclined to believe the claims, unless it's backedup by labwork or evidence.
  - brightball 9y ago
    She is. It's been 13 years.
    - jimmywanger 9y ago
      I'm sorry, that really sucks. Then it must be as frustrating for you as it is for me that a lot of restaurants now have to cater to non-existent gluten allergies. For instance, most restaurants know that nut alleries are real, and life threatening, so they go to great lengths to make sure there's no nuts in things they say are nut free. For gluten allergies, 99% of the people won't notice if they accidentally consume a crouton, so "gluten free" becomes "gluten free, but we aren't really that stringent about it cause nobody really cares."
      - brightball 9y ago
        Yep. We are. We tend to find places that really know what they are doing and stick to them. If my wife asks a question and whoever she is talking to sounds even a little bit uncertain, she won't eat there. Going somewhere new always involves scouting and a "fingers crossed" experience while she's eating. Checking on things like separate fryers gets old, so when a restaurant knows what they are talking about they get A LOT of repeat business from us. Fast food tends to be tougher when travelling but Chick-fil-a actually does a great job. Fries in a separate fryer, grilled nuggets and their salads are all safe. We actually bought a used RV the past year for family trips because it makes it so much easier to just preload a travelling kitchen.

mark-r 9y ago

It surprises me that more restaurants haven't figured out that gluten-free is a big trend. Certainly the grocery stores have noticed. The chances that one member of your group will have issues are high enough to affect sales.

boomboomsubban 9y ago
It's much harder to cater for in food preparation, you would basically need a separate cook and kitchen to be able to call anything "gluten-free." Some places skirt around this by saying the ingredients are gluten-free, but I'm sure the internet is full of people saying they got sick eating those.
Simulacra 9y ago
I think because it is exactly that, a trend, and not a very strong one. It's unpredictable and no one is sure when it's going to collapse, but there might be the sentiment that it is going to collapse and I don't want to get sucked down with it
- brightball 9y ago
  I realize that some people have picked it up as trendy, but for many it's a medical necessity and not an optional choice. Vegan is a trend.
- ceratopisan 9y ago
  I hope - and I admit I am biased this way - that 'gluten-sensitive but not celiac disease' suddenly evaporates, sort of like MSG headaches turned out to be not a thing. Except I want it to happen faster.
ceratopisan 9y ago
Really "gluten-free" means that someone with severe celiac disease could eat there, and the acceptable levels of flour/gluten/whatever have to be very, very low. So low that you will probably need two separate food prep and storage areas. That doubles the space and staff and work requirements. That being said, gluten-free reheated frozen food out of a bag is just a more expensive version of ordinary reheated frozen food out of a bag, so I don't think it would help these places very much.