I’ve lived with a coeliac disease diagnosis for a better part of my life. Most if not all my memories of eating out are therefore somehow connected with making sure the food I consume is gluten-free. Finding restaurants that offer such food is not always easy. My options are mostly limited to only a few places or none at all. Sadly, for me, a lot of our social lives revolve around food and especially eating out. The lack of restaurants that offer gluten-free meals results in a few different situations for us gluten-free-folks. One is awkwardly sitting at a table, having ordered nothing, while our friends of family feel bad for eating – a situation I think we’ve all been in and dread it almost as much as the people next to us. Consequently, a lot of people on a gluten-free diet start avoiding food-related situations altogether and unintentionally socially isolate themselves. Probably one of the most common results of lack of gluten-free meal options is whole families or groups of people deciding to skip eating out for something we prepare ourselves. Expanding the network of restaurants that have gluten-free options would therefore greatly improve the lives of people on a gluten-free diet. Of course, it is not only important to provide gluten-free food, but also to make sure it really is safe for someone such as myself to consume. With that, I would like to say that someone telling me they can’t guarantee my food is safe, is much much more appreciated than them lying and serving me something with gluten in it. Throughout the years I’ve experienced both situations as well as being provided with great safe food by an educated staff.

A negative story about eating Burgers in Belgium

When travelling through Europe – especially northern Europe – by train, one doesn’t have all that many options for safe gluten-free meals unless you’re in a big city. Of course you find many different places that offer “gluten-free” food on the internet, but one shouldn’t rely only on that. You should always ask the waiter (or other members of the staff) about how your food is being made. The ones who understand what “safe for a coeliac” really means, will understand your concerns and gladly answer.

Not blindly trusting in a “GLUTEN-FREE” label really saved me in Belgium. Having already gone to a few “gluten-free” places, that turned out to not have any food for me whatsoever, my friends and I came to this restaurant. It offered “gluten-free burgers with certified gluten-free buns”. When the waiter came to take our order I questioned him a bit about how the food is made and if they take any precautionary steps to avoid cross contamination. Right away he became very defensive and avoided my question, which immediately made me doubt that he knew what I was talking about. However, he brought me a packaged, certified bun to show me how they store them and it actually seemed OK. Still, I wouldn’t have placed the order, but I saw that they had an “outside” kitchen, so you could watch your food being prepared. I decided to order the burger and see what happens.

They brought the bun out packaged just as the waiter showed me – great! After that everything just went downhill fast. As soon as the cook opened the package all thought of “gluten-free” was forgotten. Other buns with gluten were carried over mine, the patties were the same, the toaster was the same …

Apparently the waiter saw me watching this ordeal and remembered me telling him all the consequences I could have, if I ate something with gluten in it. After watching them prepare my burger for only a few minutes, I walked up to him, wanting to cancel my order. However, he offered to cancel it before I said anything and even seemed greatly relieved when I agreed. Still, I’m not sure if he wouldn’t have served me that burger, had I not walked up to him, even if he knew, it wasn’t safe for me.