As someone with coeliac disease, I always start to feel anxious if I have to eat out so, with two birthdays to attend, September was a worrying month.

My daughter opted for a meal at the Gourmet Burger Kitchen (www.gbkinfo.com), assuring me that they do lots of salads suitable for coeliacs. I didn’t think to check the menu in advance so I was in for a nasty shock when I arrived – every single salad came with some sort of dressing, croutons or couscous and even the chicken was breaded! I hate having to ask for special treatment because of my coeliac disease but I couldn’t see anything that looked safe. In the end the staff were excellent – specially making me a gluten free burger and giving me lots of extra salad to make up for the lack of bun.

The second birthday party was an afternoon cake-only affair for our elderly neighbour. I thought she was being very considerate when she offered to get me some strawberries and cream instead of the sponge but in the run-up to the party I had at least five phone calls asking what sort of cream is ok, whether I’d prefer ice cream etc.

On arrival, I was whisked into the kitchen to check the strawberries were ok and found three punnets along with two types of cream and a tub of ice cream! Sometimes I forget how stressful my coeliac disease can be for friends and family. I’m used to checking ingredients and can usually see quite quickly what’s ok to eat but, faced with catering for a coeliac, most of my friends seem to go to pieces. In future, I’ll apply the spider rule – they’re probably more scared of you than you are of them.

 

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