Help Needed

[AussieJade]

Hello All!!

Im hoping u guys can help me out.I am planning to make my first international trip to the USA since being diagnosed a coeliac and am quite scared about it all I was wondering if u guys can help me out in pointing me in the right direction to find gluten free food. What are the common healthfood/gluten free food u guys have? Where can they be found? I will be spending most of my time in NY and some time in DC and maybe Boston.

Also any FANTASTIC food u know of that IS gluten free that wouldnt know about off the top of my head.

Any help would be much appreciated

Jade

xxxx

[paulasimone]

Also any FANTASTIC food u know of that IS gluten free that wouldnt know about off the top of my head.

GRITS! But you probably won't find any up north where you're headed - it's a southern thing. It's basically polenta, but we eat it for breakfast with butter, salt, pepper, sometimes cheese (delicious!!!!!), and in the coastal regions - a shrimp sautee - this is called shrimp n' grits and is awesome. equally awesome is stirring your bacon and eggs into your grits. *maybe* you could find some in DC, but that's still too north I think.

hmmm, that's all i got. i have an aussie cookbook (donna hay's "off the shelf" - excellent!), so I could tell you what we *don't* have here that you do:

"golden syrup": you can get Lyle's golden syrup at the gourmet store, but no restaurant or market actually cooks with it. i use its more flavorful, less cloying cousin "cane syrup", but again, that's a southern thing, and not even popular down here.

oh, what y'all call "corn flour" I believe is here "corn starch". ("corn meal" is still "corn meal".)

"sultanas" - what are these??? "golden raisins"?

"prawns" - i'm a little unclear on this, but we have two things here this might refer to - "shrimp" and "crayfish". crayfish are bigger than shrimp, like little lobsters, and they turn red when you cook them (shrimp turn orange). crayfish are another southern thing (often called "crawdads").

okay, this has been a totally fun for me and useless for you post!! I will try to redeem myself by pointing you to a blog from NYC that talks about all the gluten-free food up there:

www.celiacchicks.com

and i could recommend, as far as choosing any sort of ethnic dining in America, safest ones I've found would be:

upscale Indian

Argentine (NY definitely has this - pretty much giant steaks and wine, so it works out well gluten-free.

Spanish of course

island cuisine - Puerto Rican, Cuban - these tend to have lots of gluten-free options (starchy root "yucca" is gluten-free, so is banana-like "plantain" or "platano"),

upscale Mexican, California-style Mexican, and upscale Tex-Mex (with homemade corn tortillas)

i'm still paranoid about Thai - but I bet you've mastered it down there!

enjoy your visit and safe travels!

paula

[AussieJade]

Hey Paula!

Thanx for replying to my post!!!

Heheh Grits - Ive always HEARD Of them on TV etc but have never quite known what they were - OR That they were gluten free! Thanx for that.... but by the sounds of things im not going to be in grits country...

oh, what y'all call "corn flour" I believe is here "corn starch". ("corn meal" is still "corn meal".)

Thanx for that! Thats prob something I will need to know when looking up ingrediants in stores etc

"sultanas" - what are these??? "golden raisins"?

I believe u would say sultanas are raisons ?!? Im not etirely sure...but they're def in the raison family

"prawns" - i'm a little unclear on this, but we have two things here this might refer to - "shrimp" and "crayfish". crayfish are bigger than shrimp, like little lobsters, and they turn red when you cook them (shrimp turn orange). crayfish are another southern thing (often called "crawdads").[/quotes]

Yup Prawns are shrimp - I believe they're one in the same.

Thanx I have been visiting this site.

Argentine! I would never have thought of that cuisine....would love to try some Puerta Rican food ( we dont really have that here).

THANX!

Thankyou again My travels wont be till about August so Ill be back and forward on this site and till I become an EXPERT of USA gluten-free food lol.... hmm... then I will get to NY .... and try to work out the subway to actaully FIND The stores and restaurants lol ;)

Looking forward to reading more everyone

Jade

xxx

Sorry the "QUOTE" thing didnt work.......

[MySuicidalTurtle]

You'll be able to find a lot of health food sotres in the areas you are going and places to eat, too. Open Original Shared Link is useful and so is contacting support group leaders in the areas will you will be.

[mouse]

Oh, I just love Australia. My husband and I have been there twice. Once we did the Great Barrier Reef and stayed on one of the islands. The second time which is my most favorite, we stayed in Sidney near the pier for several days and then we rented a car. Drove down the Eastern Coast to Melbourne. We toured everything we could within driving distance of Melbourne. We were there about 2 weeks. We saw the tiny penquins which was so awesome. They are the cutest little things. We had planned on going back after we retired, but I got to sick before my Celiac diagnosis. And after two years of recovering, I don't have enough energy for much of anything. I pray I get well enough to go before we are to old. Australia is the most friendly country we have ever visited. I hope you enjoy your trip here as much as I enjoyed your country.

[AussieJade]

Oh, I just love Australia. My husband and I have been there twice. Once we did the Great Barrier Reef and stayed on one of the islands. The second time which is my most favorite, we stayed in Sidney near the pier for several days and then we rented a car. Drove down the Eastern Coast to Melbourne. We toured everything we could within driving distance of Melbourne. We were there about 2 weeks. We saw the tiny penquins which was so awesome. They are the cutest little things. We had planned on going back after we retired, but I got to sick before my Celiac diagnosis. And after two years of recovering, I don't have enough energy for much of anything. I pray I get well enough to go before we are to old. Australia is the most friendly country we have ever visited. I hope you enjoy your trip here as much as I enjoyed your country.

Hello there!

SO glad to hear u enjoyed ur trip down under And what a wonderful way to explore the east coast! I myself have never been to the Great Barrier Reef Its in my own backyard but 4 the ammount of money would always opt to go Overseas.... hmmmm... maybe I should re think that one day.

I have been to Sydney MANY times and find the harbour a really beautiful spot of Australia.... Id prop say its TRULY Australian

But my FAVOURITE place is ... home Melbourne. And im glad u enjoyed our fair state of Victoria and Phillip Island where the Fairy Penguins are I used to go see them all the time as a child when we had our caravan up that way

You know what! You shouldnt let ur celiac CONTROL your life and inhibit ur travels - I know how hard it it is to step outside your world once u've been diagnosed - but let me tell u there is SOOOOO much gluten free food in Australia - its now very accessible and in Melbourne we have some fantastic ALL Gluten Free restaurants - Pasta, Pizza, Fish and Chips, - there's a lot! And some I havent even tried yet

Thanx to Turtle for that link I stumbled across it the other day and its reallllly great! One thing im excited about

M&M'S!!!!!!!!

In Australia OUR M&Ms have wheat flour in them

Thanx!

Jade

[jkmunchkin]

Don't hold out for grits in NY. I actually thought that was a made up thing until I was in FL on vacation. LOL!! Not to say you can't find it in NY (you can find anything in NY) but it's definately not popular.

However we have lots of great gluten-free restaurants (or restaurants with gluten-free menus). My 2 favorites are Risotteria (which has great gluten-free pizza and rissotto) and Lumi which is upscale Italian.

Check out this link: Open Original Shared Link

There is also a couple Outback's in NYC, which is a popular restaurant chain in the US. Funny enough, it has an Australian theme. But they have a great gluten-free menu (depending if you are a fan of ribs, chicken... that kind of stuff).

As far as common gluten free foods go, well for breakfast I would normally have fruit, or if I'm home on a weekend maybe make myself eggs or have Fruity Pebbles (a mainstream cereal) or gluten-free cornflakes. I forget the brand I like but they're Honey'd Cornflakes. You can find them in specialty grocery stores like Whole Foods, which there are several in NYC.

For lunch I usually have either a salad, an omlette, grilled chicken with vegetables, or the guy down in our cafeteria and a deli by me at work has mastered making lettuce wrap sandwiches. Boars Head is a brand of cold cuts we have here that are safe for us to eat. I just pick whatever coldcuts I would want in a "normal" sandwich and have them use large lettuce leaves as my wrap, so to speak.

Dinner I'm usually home so that is much easier. I just kinda make whatever.

Whole Foods is a supermarket chain that you will be able to find lots of gluten-free snacks and foods such as cookies, pastas, cereals, mixes, etc.

Feel free to PM me if you have any questions. I often count myself lucky that I am a celiac living in NY. We definately have a lot more places that cater to our needs than some other parts of the country.

Also, I assumed when you said NY you were going to be staying in NYC (Manhattan), but if that's not the case hopefully I can help you with some options in other parts of NY.

[mouse]

Hi Jade,

Thank you for saying harbour as my brain could not think of the word . We stayed at a small wonderful hotel in Melbourne. They took such good care of us. Printed out maps for us everyday and loved that we so loved their country. We cannot go as I am still not fully recovered. My exhaustion seems to be far to much a part of my life. We go out to dinner quite frequently, but a long trip is definately out at this point. We have talked about visiting friends in Hawaii this coming Dec. but we are taking a wait and see attitiude. It would be an almost 12 hour trip and I really don't care to spend that kind of money, get there and spend 2 days or so in bed, recovering some energy.

When we did the Great Barrier Reef, I went snorkeling and was able to reach out and touch beautiful schools of colorful fish. It was so awesome and even now when I think of doing that, I drop 20 years off of my age. Aren't wonderful memories great!

[jkmunchkin]

Oh and wanted to add... don't worry the subway system here is really easy.

[AussieJade]

Jkmunchkin thankyou SOOOO much for your extremly helpful post! Im just flying through the msg board today but will answer it properly shortly - and I WILL take u up on that PM THANKYOU!! Jade.

[AussieJade]

Me Again! Seems I do have time to answer today

Once again Jkmunchkin thanx for taking the time to write your long reply Its VERY helpful.

The link looks good for some places i hadnt heard of yet - I see theres a Gluten free bakery listed!

Will def print that one out!

Oh and yes I am going to Manhattan.

I definitely like the type of food served at Outback but im not too sure if my friend will be impressed if we ate at a Aussie themed restaurant lol.... with meals like "The Melbourne" and "The Barbie".... hehehehe she'd ask WHY we come all the way to NYC to eat Aussie themed food I could twist her arm i suppose

Or storm off and say FINE! Im going to eat some good Aussie food WITH or wthout u

Once I find our appartment ill prob contact u to ask where the closest Whole Foods is Im quite excited to discover all the new and different gluten-free foods We're mainly getting an appartment so as I can cook a lot of dinners there.

Cold cuts! I didnt THINK of that - thanx for telling me about "Baors" - is that found in deli's as well as supermarket type shops?

Also! BREAD - do u have Gluten free bread at the whole food shops??? Is Gluten free bread readily availbale AND .... is there many types or only one brand?

Really appreciate ur help Im getting extremly excited about my trip as the days get closer

Jade

xxx

[jkmunchkin]

Me Again! Seems I do have time to answer today

Once again Jkmunchkin thanx for taking the time to write your long reply Its VERY helpful.

The link looks good for some places i hadnt heard of yet - I see theres a Gluten free bakery listed!

Will def print that one out!

Oh and yes I am going to Manhattan.

I definitely like the type of food served at Outback but im not too sure if my friend will be impressed if we ate at a Aussie themed restaurant lol.... with meals like "The Melbourne" and "The Barbie".... hehehehe she'd ask WHY we come all the way to NYC to eat Aussie themed food I could twist her arm i suppose

Or storm off and say FINE! Im going to eat some good Aussie food WITH or wthout u

Once I find our appartment ill prob contact u to ask where the closest Whole Foods is Im quite excited to discover all the new and different gluten-free foods We're mainly getting an appartment so as I can cook a lot of dinners there.

Cold cuts! I didnt THINK of that - thanx for telling me about "Baors" - is that found in deli's as well as supermarket type shops?

Also! BREAD - do u have Gluten free bread at the whole food shops??? Is Gluten free bread readily availbale AND .... is there many types or only one brand?

Really appreciate ur help Im getting extremly excited about my trip as the days get closer

Jade

xxx

So glad I could help

Outback is really great. I mean I've never been to Australia (although I've heard it's incredible), so I don't know if it would be like someone from France coming to NY and eating at a French restaurant... but hey I think it's worth it. LOL!!

You can definately find Boar's Head coldcuts in most deli and supermarkets. It's probably one of the more popular brands of coldcuts hear. There are other brands that are safe, but I've always been partial to that brand so I just kinda stick with that one.

You will definately be able to find gluten free bread in Whole Foods, and several different brands, including their own brand - but personally I'm not that fond of any of them. But then again, I find if you toast it and put enough peanut butter (or maybe you prefer vegemite then anything can taste ok). I actually do like Glutino sesame bagels (again toasted with either peanut butter with veggie cream cheese), but I don't think Whole Foods has those. Westerly may, which is another supermarket (but much smaller) in NYC that has a decent amount of gluten free stuff.

Since it seems you like sweets, Whole Foods also has their own gluten free bakery line called Gluten Free Bakehouse. In addition to some breads, scones and muffins; they have banana bread (which I love), and a carrot cake (which I also love), and some pies, brownies and cookies (none of which I've tried yet, but they get good reviews).

There is also a bakery down in the village called Babycakes that makes gluten free cupcakes. I haven't made it down there yet but they were just voted best cupcakes by NY Magazine (which is a very widely read lifestyle magazine here).

Definately let me know where you end up getting an apartment.

[momandgirls]

Hi Jade - If you make it to Boston, there are several restaurants that you may want to try. We have Outback Steakhouse - it's Australian themed but the food is good and they are very accommodating with gluten free foods. PF Changs is a chinese restaurant in Boston with a gluten free menu, as is Legal Seafoods (there are several locations). If you come to Boston, you definitely have to have seafood. It's what we're known for. Whole Foods market is also here and you can find a good selection of gluten free foods. We've been to Australia three times so far - my sister married an Australian and we've gone to visit. They've moved a few times so we've been to Emerald (way out in the middle of nowhere - or at least it seemed like it was!) and Brisbane and Toowoomba is where she lives now. We love it. We're going again this summer - we'll go to Sydney and Uluru and Toowoomba this trip. We love it there - I'm sure you'll have fun on your trip here and, hopefully, you'll make it to Boston!

[Guest Robbin]

Hi, I am in N. VA, and my dh works near D.C. --I recommend the Occidental Grill near the White House on Penn. Ave. for lunch. Call ahead when you plan to go and tell them you are gluten free and they will be helpful, I am sure. The lunch prices are pretty reasonable for D.C. Probably should reserve. On P street there is a Whole Foods --Large Market, you will find a lot of fresh foods there. There is also an Outback Steakhouse in Arlington. There are numerous steakhouse-type restaurants. If you see a Golden Corral, that is pretty good buffet-style that you can get salad bar, baked potatoes, veggies, and different entrees like roast chicken, steak, burgers, baked fish. I would ask at the hotel you are staying at to recommend a restaurant and then call ahead and check. I would also do a search online for Washington D.C. restaurants and check out the menus on some and the locations and give them a call ahead. I hope you enjoy your stay, and get a chance to try some seafood in Maryland and visit some beautiful countryside in VA I recommend a drive outside of DC to the countryside down Route 50 West, if you can. Lots of gorgeous views, small idyllic towns, vineyards, historic Civil War trails, etc. Virginia is pretty awesome. Hey, my son has an Aussie friend who never knew what rootbeer was--I recommend it!! gluten-free of course.