The Good News

The more I eat out at restaurants, the less I feel that I must explain every minute detail of why there can be no gluten in my dish.  At the beginning, for me, dining out was so painful of an experience, I would end up bringing my own food to be heated and served with the rest of everyone's meals.  This could be considered the time Before Gluten Awareness (or BGA).  My story was that if I ate any gluten, an ambulance would have to carry me off, and that's just not good business for a restaurant.  It seemed to get the point across that this was not just some fad "diet" thing, but much more serious.  Even though, I probably wouldn't have had to be carried off in an ambulance, I would have had 3 months of painful recovery from something that I was trying so hard to keep in check.

Canada, Italy, and Ireland has this diet under control.  Traveling to any of those places and just requesting for my meal to be gluten-free was easy as pie (the gluten-filled kind that don't take as long to bake...).  I just kept wishing that the States could get it together.  I mean, Baltimore is the World Headquarters for Celiac Research.  One would think that Baltimore would at least be on top of their game.  But, alas, no, Baltimore has been one of the last remaining large cities to jump on the Gluten-Free Bandwagon.  

I am currently on vacation in Chicago, IL and Milwaukee, WI where gluten issues are not a problem.  The word gluten is uttered, and there are no worries about what you will receive in front of you.

Ladies & Gentlemen, 

I would like to announce that I believe that we have entered a new era in Gluten Awareness. This is Good News.  I believe it is thanks to people like you and me who stumble into restaurants and request meals that are gluten-free.  We're now seeing almost an onslaught of Gluten-Free Menus, Servers who are knowledgeable about gluten, and restaurants dedicated to catering primarily to the gluten-free market.  So, I thank you for that.  We have created enough demand, and now we are beginning to reap the benefits.

Keep up the dining out and requesting your meal to be gluten free / educating the server, chef, etc. on the importance of this offering to their financial success!

Take Care!