A Gluten Free Guide dining out
When I was diagnosed with celiac disease several years ago I struggled to find a gluten-free blogger writing about eating out and traveling. There were plenty of great sites offering incredible recipes and tips on which products were good and which ones should be avoided – but gluten-free dining posts were almost non existent. And those that I did find talked about boring chains with gluten-free menus. Since I’d done a pretty good job of avoiding chains when I ate gluten, I was not thrilled to find out that those were the best places for me to eat out at.
I simply did not believe all the people on online message boards that told me my life of eating out and traveling were over, now that I was gluten-free. One evening, shortly after my diagnosis, I did a Google search for “gluten-free dining Atlanta” and three comforting links came up – the Triumph Dining site, The Atlanta Gluten-Free Dinner Club site and A Gluten-Free Guide’s blog. As it turns out, back then, Catherine who writes that blog, actually worked for a company that had business in Atlanta on occasion. Therefore, Catherine had to find out where to eat gluten-free when in town for work.
For the first time since my diagnosis, I felt like there was a tasty and adventurous gluten-free journey in my future. Catherine’s blog was a large part of making me feel that way. You see, she is kind of a “foodie” and like me, is not content to order plain chicken, rice and veggies when dining out for the rest of her days. When you read Catherine’s restaurant reviews, you feel as though you sat next to her and enjoyed the incredible food yourself!
It was Catherine who turned me on to a French gluten-free bakery, Valpi-Form (rarely found on Amazon) that makes croissants, though they are all but impossible to buy in the U.S. at present. I didn’t love the croissants that much anyway, but the Madelienes from the line are not to be believed! Catherine also posted a killer recipe for garlic bread, using Everybody Eats French baguettes.
Catherine doesn’t have to visit Atlanta as often as she used to, and I miss reading about her adventures here. In the past, I’d always go directly to the places she wrote about, after reading her Atlanta posts. But I still love reading about her adventures in NYC, Italy and anywhere else she goes. She travels a lot for work these days and has gluten-free travel planning down to a science!
Catherine is an inspiration to all of us to remember that gluten-free does not mean taste free, period. If you believe people that tell you to order a boring meal when dining out to be “safe”, you’re drinking some toxic Kool-Aid. And even if it’s gluten-free - it’s definitely not good for you!
Thanks Catherine – for always reminding us that living gluten-free can be as delicious as we venture to make it!
